I am looking for the most practical steaming tip for an E61 HX machine to steam small amounts of milk (1-2 cups).

I currently use a 1-hole tip with good but not great results. I need something that will enable steaming small amounts, not too fast, with good control and ability to create good swirl.

I understand there is no single truth which steaming tip works best as it probably depends on many factors like the machine itself, boiler pressure, amount of milk, type of milk, type of jug, technique/experience, etc. I can also guess that an experienced Barista can probably get good results with any kind of tip.

It is still interesting to hear any related personal experience/recommendations and tips for tips.

sbenyo,

Sounds like understand the overall view of this, so I'll just share my personal experiences as I also steam very small amounts of milk as you do.

My VBM came with a 2-hole tip and it's all I need...but at first, I was wondering about different tips also. After a while, however, I found it was "Operator Error" as I wasn't doing it right...so now I'm fine with the 2-hole. I get lots of "swirl" and if not paying attention, can blow the milk out of the pitcher!

So I need to have just enough steam but not TOO much (and also the proper amount of air intake). That was my earlier problem: I needed to turn the steam knob up a bit more -- had it too low so I was just warming the milk, not steaming/frothing it.

Am I able to steam perfectly every time -- or even MOST of the time? No, steaming/frothing milk IS an art, and it takes skill...but I'm fairly new at this so I expect I'll be more consistent in due course.

My previous Rancilio Silvia had a 1-hole tip (probably due to its small-capacity boiler) -- but I never used it as I didn't make any steamed-milk drinks, just espresso, so I can't say how I'd fare using a 1-hole tip with the Silvia or even now with my VBM. But IMO, the manufactures of these machines know what "generic" tip will work the best (as per the steaming capability of a given machine's boiler) for most steaming chores, so I look to my sadly-lacking "skill" as being the weak link instead of the tip.

Yes, I've heard of "latte art steam tips" but not sure what makes them "special" vs. other steam tips of the same # of holes (and perhaps the same hole size also). But really, that's out of my league right now...maybe later!

Good luck,

-- BR

I have a 2 hole that came with my Classika PID. I find it plenty for the small amount of milk I steam for my wifes latte. I just got the smaller Espro Toroid pitcher, and it's great: I can just fill milk up to the mark I use for a cup, put the pitcher on the driptray, aim the steam tip straight down in the middle, and get good microfoam hands free (just touching for temperature). With this little amount it gets heated up pretty quick, so I don't think I'd want more holes than two.

On my Bezzera machine I have gotten used to the stock two hole tip. If you tilt the wand in a vertical plane so that one hole is submerged and one is just flush with the milk surface you can control the stretching quite well; with some practice I got it with as little as 5 oz of milk in a 10 oz pitcher. If you use water with a drop of dish detergent for practice you can actually see the air being sucked in.

My favorite "slow" tip, that is, one with gentle pressure which allows for incredible finesse in steaming, is the Sproline Foam Knife 1.
I may be biased, having used this tip at work for almost two years. That said, I found that using this tip with the right technique allowed me to create the greatest quality foam, especially when steaming very small amounts of milk, compared to any other I've used.

However, I don't know whether or not it would fit on your espresso machine's steam wand, and also it is quite expensive.

to produce silky smooth milk foam, you need to balance the following:
1. steam volume
2. steam pressure
3. frothing time
4. milk volume
5. milk temp
6. air
7. milk consistency (2% is silkiest while higher milk fat gives the drink a richer mouthfeel).

the lower the milk volume, the less time you will have to stretch, texture, and heat the milk. To increase the time, you need to reduce the steam volume. By reducing the steam volume, the pressure will drop thereby affecting milkfoam quality. Ideally you want a high pressure a you can get without blowing the milk ut of the frothing pitcher, but you also want enough time for the milk to texture. With low volumes, this time is limited if you've got lots of steam volume, so you need to lower the steam volume, and increase the pressure This can be done by simply plugging up some of the holes. You should also start with the coldest milk temp you can attain, to give you more time.

For a small steam boiler (1L or less), a single hole tip will give you the most time to develop the silky texture. I have a 1L Bellman stovetop steamer with a modified tip that produces the silkiest milk I've ever had, as good as the best commercial espresso machine I've had the pleasure of consuming a latte from.
I chopped the tip off with a jeweler's saw, and then used a pair of pliers to pinch tube end, forming a very, very thin slit.. Then I pinched the center to form two sharp holes. The quantity of steam was not huge coming out of it, but the steam came out with a very sharp profile at very high pressures (probably similar to the sproline knife profile tip).

I couldn't find it in my heart to hack up any of my machines though. Maybe, if i could find a replacement steam wands. It looks ugly but worked really, really well and can steam as small a quantity as 2oz)

If you have powerful steam capability, low milk volume steaming can be tough without some form of modification to these variables. Commercial machine with huge boilers make the best microfoam, however are unable to handle very small quantities.

I'd love to see more folks post milk steaming videos for comparison...

A lot of good and a lot of misinformation IMO. How fast the milk comes up to temp is in direct relation to the volume of steam. The number of holes in a tip in and of itself is irrelevant to how long it takes to heat the milk. The total area of ALL holes determines the volume. Velocity of the steam, the speed it exits the holes, is the primary factor in ability to texture. The same volume of steam spread across multiple SMALLER holes will virtually always give better texture because of higher velocity for a given volume of steam. Velocity is what mixes the air with the milk. Time is a very VERY minor factor in milk texture quality. It does not take a lot of time to get excellent textured milk. In fact I get better texture for a cap' in 8 seconds on the Cyncra with 4x1mm hole tip than I do with Vesuvius and 4x0.9mm hole tip in ~20 seconds. Partly/mainly because of much greater pressure drop and hence declining velocity with Vesuvius than larger commercial steam boiler. (Same went for previous Quick Mill V2B, VBM Double Domobar & Fiorenzato Bricoletta) The angle of the tip holes is also very important. The old style Cyncra Acorn reduced volume 4 hole tip sucked, the new style (same volume of steam and hence speed) is outstanding for almost effortless texturing. Very different hole pattern.

Years ago I found it far easier to get good texture with Miss Silvia and after market 4 small hole tip than stock 1 hole, 4 hole gave higher velocity easier to get good rolling vortex.

I also have the Sproline tip and it was an improvement. I saw improvement with the tip, but my foam had good days and bad days.

Recently I picked up a Espro Torrid pitcher. With the addition of the Torrid, I have foam that is the best I have had, ever. And technique doesn't really seem to matter. I'm just sticking the steam wand in the milk about 3/4" and letting it rip.

The wife really questioned why we needed another frothing pitcher when the Torrid arrived, but after the second time of use it has become the most prized possession in the kitchen.