My daughter was home for the weekend. Unlike her old man, she has worked as a barista in a couple of shops and was enjoying being on the receiving end for a change. The latte was acceptable (no art critic she!) but she did comment that my steaming pitcher should be stored in the fridge (clean and dry) rather than room temp. She was taught that the colder the milk the better the foam, and pouring cold milk into a room temperature or top-of-the-machine warm pitcher is bad form.

I've not heard this before, and assumed in the past that milk was to be used cold for food safety reasons.

Can anyone tell me if she has learned a local coffee culture, or is this knowledge widespread?

Thanks
PocoJoe

I've heard the same info & keep my pitchers in the freezer.

I keep mine in the fridge as well but after using it once, it becomes room temp and I don't really notice much difference. I think I remember reading about keeping the pitcher cold from David Schomer.

I think it's widespread. The advertisements for commercial pitcher rinsers have statements like this:

Steaming pitchers need to be clean and cooled down, both for sanitary purposes and achieving quality texture to the milk, before you can steam again.

Thanks Everyone!
Storing an empty pitcher in the fridge might just take my loving bride over the edge. Glad to have learned something, however!
Joe

From my understanding, to achieve a good texture, you need your milk to swirl nicely for as long as possible, once you have incorporated enough air. This will break down bubbles and make micro-foam. The colder your milk is at the start, the more time you will have to get the texture you want, reason being you do not want to burn your milk.

Cheers

MatP

A cold pitcher allows the barista more time to finesse the stretching/texturing of the milk; the extra few seconds are especially helpful for baristas with less experience. I store mine in the fridge, but honestly it doesn't seem to matter if I'm preparing a line of drinks on commercial equipment where the steam time is around 15 seconds.

I just stick mine in the Freezer for maybe 10-15 minutes before starting. And I have more than one pitcher if there are multiples to pull.

They cool quickly, and no reason to get the wife tweeked up.

bob

I generally keep my pitchers in the freezer, and if I need to cool one rapidly for whatever reason I just fill it with ice water.

Starting with your milk and pitcher as cold as possible is a big help for getting good texture for people like myself who are less than amazingly skilled at making good microfoam, since you have more time before the milk gets too hot. More talented baristas might not need it as much, but I personally notice a big difference.

I'm no expert, but I've observed many expert baristas and I never see any of them pull a milk jug out of the fridge, they are always just sitting on the counter at room temperature. Then they pour amazing latte art with gorgeous foam. I think good foam has more to do with technique and equipment than anything else.