As every Linea Mini owner knows from experience and many others know from reading reviews of the machine, it is a prodigiously powerful steamer. It steams like a true commercial machine - which is great if you need to make big gulp lattes (for friends of course). But it can be a challenge if you are steaming small quantities of milk for a single macchiato.

Part of this is, of course, technique related. More skilled baristas than I can manage to froth perfect microfoam in tiny pitchers because they do it all day long. But if you don't dial the valve to the correct pressure and get the tip in exactly the right spot it's easy to overstretch or overheat a small quantity of milk. One trick is to just add more milk to the pitcher which buys more time, but it's wasteful.

So I thought it would be nice to have a smaller less powerful steam tip to the stock Linea Mini tip. First I checked with LM. The Mini comes stock with the same 4 hole steam tip as the GS3. It's a 1.2 mm hole size (part L178). Unfortunately, this is the smallest size LM sells. The L173 tip, used on the Linea and GB5, is apparently 1.4 mm. And the Strada uses a 1.6 mm tip.

I recently attended a David Schomer talk at Coffee Fest Portland and he had high praise for the Foam Knife 1, which just so happens to fit LM machines but it costs over $100. So I decided against that option. Incidentally, at Coffee Fest I saw that Brew Global is coming out with a similar less expensive steam tip (estimated price of $89) but it's not available yet.

Finally, I discovered that Slayer supplies six different steam tips in 0.1 mm increments ranging from 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm (size 0 to 5). All are 4 hole and look almost indistinguishable from the LM tip and will fit the LM 1/8" BSP threading.

So I contacted Slayer to inquire and they were more than happy to sell me a single steam tip (any size) for $20 plus shipping. So I ordered the 0 tip (1.0 mm size). As you can see from the photo below the Slayer tip (right) looks just like the LM tip (left) except for the size of the holes.



The Slayer tip works great on the Linea Mini, especially when steaming small quantities of milk. I get much better control as this tip reduces the flow rate by about 30%, which makes it easier to dial the steam knob to the right level. The challenge with the larger holed tip is it goes too quickly from nothing to too much with small quantities of milk. Even steaming larger quantities of milk is not a problem with this tip, but it does take a little longer.

But it's easy enough to swap the old tip back on if you want. Another alternative would be to dial down the boiler pressure, but that's more hassle and not as easy to change back and forth. Anyhow, thought I'd pass along this tip (pun intended ) in case it's helpful to other Linea Mini owners.

Thanks for all the Linea Mini info Ken. It helped push me over the edge and order one! I received mine in black last week and am really enjoying it.

I've had pretty good luck with the stock tip but on my previous machine, a Reneka Techno, I used the Foam Knife 1. I'll have to pull it off and try it on the Mini this weekend. I'll let you know ASAP.

Glad you're enjoying it! And looking forward to hearing about how the Foam Knife works on it.

I hear great things about the Foam Knife. I almost bought one for my Oscar, which had beastly steam power.. but I actually opted for the LM tip that ships with the Linea Mini.. and I had great success with it.. granted I usually don't steam less mik than 3oz.

So far I'm really loving the stock steam tip. After dozens of lattes I've gotten used to the power and might even increase it to the 2.0 bar some day. LM was smart to dial down the boiler pressure for USA. Anyone who is not used to commercial steam performance is certainly bound to be frustrated and want to find a better alternative in the way of the steam tip. I don't know if you guys recall, I had the sproline foam knife but sold it earlier this month. I had tried it on my Mini and it made no difference in helping control the power, at least to me. I had bought it for my Cremina but the difference was indeed better but not by much, and compared to the round tip stock steam wand, the results were identical.

The key to overcoming the power was to simply control it with the knob and not constrain it with smaller holed steam tip, which permanently limits how quickly you can steam. The better you get, the less time you'll need once you learn how to harness the full power of the beast that Mini is. For portions larger than single latte, you'll want that higher flow.

weebit_nutty wrote:LM was smart to dial down the boiler pressure for USA. Anyone who is not used to commercial steam performance is certainly bound to be frustrated and want to find a better alternative in the way of the steam tip. I don't know if you guys recall, I had the sproline foam knife but sold it earlier this month. I had tried it on my Mini and it made no difference in helping control the power, at least to me. I had bought it for my Cremina but the difference was indeed better but not by much, and compared to the round tip stock steam wand, the results were identical.

My Mini is an early serial number and tops out at 2.0 bar so maybe it was before they made that change. What is your steam boiler set to? Good to know that the Foam Knife doesn't ease the power. The Slayer 1.0 mm tip definitely does.

Nice tip, and relatively cheap compared to other options. Thanks for passing that on.

However, I haven't had much problem steaming with the stock tip. I think my machine is set a bit lower than the early ones. I haven't checked, but I think the steam boiler tops out at 1.5 bar. This may be a compromise to make steaming a bit easier for non-pros like me. It's still plenty fast, but pretty easy to control. Occasionally I do overstretch the milk a bit though.

just unboxed my linea today, so I haven't had a chance to steam yet. But I noticed steam gauge is at 1.3, which is lower than I expected. Any consensus on what it should be set to?

Mine kicks on at 1.5 and off at 2.0 bar. So maybe they have dialed it down a half bar or so? Enjoy your Mini, I'm sure your gonna love it!

keno wrote:My Mini is an early serial number and tops out at 2.0 bar so maybe it was before they made that change. What is your steam boiler set to? Good to know that the Foam Knife doesn't ease the power. The Slayer 1.0 mm tip definitely does.

LM stated that they dialed the power down, when I asked them why mine wasn't at 2.0. It was 1.7. In every video I've viewed online, the noticed the steam pressure was never at 2.0, always at 1.7 bar or very close to it.