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How to Froth Milk For Coffee (Barista Magic!)

Here it is! Our how to froth milk for coffee guide. This guide is for beginners and should help you get your froth on!

Ever wondered how barista’s create those awesome little swirls in a cup? Is it magic? Do they use special tools?

You will find out here, but first watch this little video which explains everything.

Now that you have a little demostration give it a try! And practice, practice, practice.

How Do you Froth Milk for Coffee at Home?

If you have an espresso machine then you will be using your milk wand. But if you are doing everything on the cheap try out these super easy methods.

Step .1

Heat up you milk to 66 Celcius (140 – 155 degrees Fahrenheit). Heat on sovetop or in microwave.

Make sure you don’t overheat milk because it will taste bad and won’t froth as well. Also under heating can lead a lack of sweetness.

Step .2

Place warm milk in a jar that has a screw top, make sure to screw on tight!

Now shake your milk to get froth, the froth formed will be larger bubbles. Now give it a tamp on your bench to pop some of the bubbles.

Step .3

Add you milk to your espresso shot using the same technique as if you had a machine.

It wont be that pretty like a barista artist but it will have some delicious foam on top. Enjoy!

How to Froth Milk For Coffee Using Espresso Machine – 8 Easy Steps

Frothing milk with an espresso machine is quite easy because most machines are equiped with a steaming wand.

The arm forces hot steam into the milk warming it up gradually leaving a layer of foam (froth).

To froth milk you will need a milk pitcher specially designed for espresso machines. The best milk pitchers have a temperature gauge on the side ensuring you do not over heat the milk or under heat.

Buy the Best Milk Pithchers Here!

Frothing milk can vary depending on the coffee type you are creating but here are the steps for general frothing.

Step .1

Pour cold milk into your milk pitcher, and fill to the base of the indented pour spout.

Step .2

Now prepare milk wand on espresso machine. Make sure it is clean, free from clots and steam is ready. Test right before adding into milk.

Step .3

Add wand into milk pitcher. As a good guide have wand sitting in spout grove for stability and control.

Insert wand so that the tip is just below the surface. This will enable steam to be injected into the milk.

Step .4

Always keep the tip of the wand near the side of the pitcher, create a vortex in the milk.

Step .5

Move the milk pitcher low and keep the steam wand high, closer to the edge or further from the edge in order to incorporate air into the milk, try to break up larger bubbles.

Your bubbles should get progressively smaller as you steam and a good tip is it should sound a little like a fine jet flying past.

Step .6

Holding pitcher keep wand high until milk pitcher begins to feel warm.

Once warm raise pitcher and dip wand into the milk deep keeping the vortex going.

Step .7

Keep heating with wand deep into milk until you reach the desired temerature.

Once reached, turn off steam and remove wand.

Use double the volume for a cappuccino or 1 1/2 times the volume for a latte.

Step .8

Now the texture of the milk should be smooth (not pixelated or bubbly) and similar in appearance to silky melted ice cream.

If bubbles are present, make sure to give your pitcher a good tamp on the bench to dissolve bubbles. Let sit for a few seconds.

Step .9

Straight away pour the foamed milk into your espresso drink.

Depending on the drink type pour milk in from a higher height to get the milk under the espresso shot ending in a low height to add cream froth.

Here is were the latte art is performed mixing the white creamy milk with the brown creamer of your espresso shot to create a beautiful coffee finish.

This will take alot of practice so don’t be too concerned with your look.

It is more important to make a great tasting coffee that looks ugly than having a beautiful looking coffee that tastes aweful.

Now enjoy your creamy delicious cup of coffee, just like you would in your local cafe.

What is the Best Milk for Frothing?

The best type of milk to use for frothing is whole milk. This creates a thicker, creamier foam that looks and tastes amazing!

Using lowfat and skimmed milk creates larger quantities of foam with larger air bubbles.

If you need a non-dairy alternative, almond milk or soy milk can be used in a frother but the results are very thin.

What is the Best Way to Froth Milk?

Of course using a steam wand is the best for making amazing coffees. But this all depends on your budget and your taste.

If you want sensatioanl looking coffee that will impress your friends and family buy an espresso machine with a milk wand attached.

There are other products you can purchase that automatically froth milk but they don’t do as good as a job as a machine.

Using the stovetop or microwave are your other options but they offer average result.

What is the Point of Frothing Milk?

The idea behind frothing milk is to create a sweet, creamy texture that goes with your espresso shot.

Heating milk increases its sweetness, but only to a certain point.

Milk is at its sweetest from 57-66°C(135-150°F). When you go alot hotter, you will lose the sweetness of your milk.

Heat your milk too hot, you’ll scald the milk.

To get the appropriate temperature you should use a thermometer, a milk pitcher temperature gauge or do it by feel.

If achieving your temperature by feel, you’ve hit the sweet spot when the outside of the milk pitcher is just beginning to get uncomfortable to touch due to heating. Turn it off.

Do you Froth Milk Before or After Coffee?

This is a personal preferance but it is recommended to froth your milk first then pour your espresso shot. Once ready add milk then add froth to the coffee.

The espresso creama will suffer if left to long while milk can sit for a little longer.

Do not pour milk in first!

I hope this article has helped a little to get your coffee making skills to the next level.

How to froth milk for coffee is essential to making a beautiful looking brew and adding to your coffee experience, enjoy!

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