As others mentioned, it seems like your stretching might be too long on the marshmallow pours. Rather than judge the timing by temp, use the volume/height of the milk inside the pitcher to decide when you've stretched enough.

Sideshow wrote:For micro-foam, you might want to try having the tip near the surface (eliciting the "ch ch ch" sound) for a shorter period of time. .

one of website says, The ch,ch,ch sound should rise the milk's temperature until 40C, Then plunging the steam tip until the desire temperature, was this true?

CorvusDoug wrote:Hi Jay,

Finding a few latte art-focused Instagram accounts is a fantastic way to learn how to pour latte art besides just practicing. There are tons out there but a couple of my favorites are @_turner__ and @coffeestation_latteart.

+1 and Thank you Corvus Doug for favorite instagram

CoffeeBar wrote:one of website says, The ch,ch,ch sound should rise the milk's temperature until 40C, Then plunging the steam tip until the desire temperature, was this true?

I don't know what website you were viewing, but it's not how I approach frothing. For temp, I just use my hand on the side of the pitcher. I stop steaming the moment before the pitcher becomes uncomfortable to touch.

As for the ch-ch-ch sound with the tip at the surface (the first step), keep getting that sound until you get the desired foam texture. If you want microfoam, do it for just a short period of time. My machine has a pretty powerful steaming function, so I just make that sound for a few seconds. If you want drier, stiffer, more traditional foam, then make that sound a little longer. You'll have to play with the timing with your particular machine.

Hey Fellas,

Definitely gonna work on my pours with the aforementioned recommendations, and I'll follow up with some pics in a week or so.

Appreciate all the advice from everyone!!


Just checked out those recommended instagram accounts, and started following them. Thanks Corvus Doug.

Mrjag, interesting...I will try that next time.

shmakdoz wrote:I'm still trying to figure out how to prevent "adding too much air"

It's purely a matter of time - the longer you keep the tip at the surface making the "kissing" / "tearing paper" sound, the more air will be incorporated into the milk. Watching the level is a good way to control this, as mrjag says. When you've increased the apparent fill level by about a third, you're ready to submerge the tip to roll the microfoam you just made into the rest of the milk.

Temperature is also a rough guide - when or shortly after you start to feel warmth at the bottom of the pitcher while stretching (with most machines), you're ready to submerge. But this depends on many factors, including the volume of steam being delivered and at what pressure. If you have 4 holes and a powerful machine, more steam is delivered per second and the temp of the pitcher can rise faster than the temperature of the milk (especially if one or more steam jets is close to the inside of the pitcher). If you have a single hole tip and a less powerful machine, the milk itself will be what's warming the pitcher so the temp you feel in your palm may even be below that of the milk and will continue to rise after you turn off the steam.

There's a scientific explanation for the milk-vs-pitcher rate of rise difference. The specific heat of milk is about 8 times higher than that of stainless steel, so about 8 times more thermal energy is required to raise the temperature of a gram of milk 1 degree than to raise the temperature of a gram of stainless steel 1 degree. Also, a weaker steam jet from a single central tip will transfer relatively more of its thermal energy to the milk while passing through it than multiple strong streams, so the steam itself will cool off in the process.

Hey Bluesman,


Thanks for the clarification, and scientific explanation.

Gotta lot of things I need to incorporate. Who woulda thought coffee could be such a big deal huh?!

Obviously it's better to texture your milk correctly to begin with, but in the event of overaerated milk, you can usually pour some off and have something workable (with a lot of swirling). Last night at a latte art throwdown I unthinkingly cranked the steam on their Synesso all the way up and my milk was pretty much structural before I could blink. I poured a fair amount off the top and was able to get decent rosetta out of it.

Hey guys,

It's been about a month now of practicing and using the milk steaming advice provided by everybody. Here's a few pics of my progress. Not perfect....but progress.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks

Looks great! Those videos that were referred to are a good start for learning latte art.