Cowless milk tip - Page 4

May 19th, 2022, 2:16 pm

GDM528 wrote:How many holes at the tip of your steam wand?

UPDATE: I am using the original, Decent single hole tip. Yesterday I tried the three hole tip from Kafetek and it did not work as well, at least for my style of steaming with the nut milks I use. I did not want to spend a week or two experimenting so I went back to the single-hole tip this morning.

May 19th, 2022, 2:41 pm

Thank you for sacrificing your foam for science! I get there's multiple factors at work here, but the heat transfer rate may be one of them. I've been trying to compensate by throttling back on the steam valve, but the attenuated steam output doesn't agitate and build the foam as quickly - one step forward, one step back. Perhaps one of the tricks to non-dairy foaming is a narrow-aperture single-hole steam wand.

#33: Post by **Kaffee Bitte** » May 19th, 2022, 3:02 pm

Single hole tip will definitely help. Lots of home machines are pretty weak on the steam compared to commercial machines. This can be an advantage and the opposite as well. I tend to make drinks in the 6 ounce range and steaming 4 ounces of milk is difficult to get good foam in the small window of time. My three hole tip machine is impossible. Lol. The single seems to give you a little more time to manage.

#34: Post by **Jake_G** » May 19th, 2022, 6:24 pm

It can be done with whichever tip you prefer, but the volume of milk must match the pitcher. You really don't want the milk level to be any lower than about 1/2" (13mm) from the bottom of the spout. While it took some time to adapt, I moved from a range of single hole tips to a 2-hole tip on a 70's Gaggia baby to a Silvia 3-hole tip on my S20 to a 4-hole tip on my GS/3 and Cremina.

They all work in their own way and the quality of foam is basically equal, once you learn how to control the roll of the milk with the steam you have available. Saying one is "easier" than another isnt really quite right. Faster or slower, yes. More violent or more smooth, yes. But a fast and violent steamer can be quite easy to use once you understand how to hold the pitcher and harness the power. A slow and steady steamer can also be difficult to use for someone who is expecting the steam power to roll the milk for them. It's all relative.

Cheers!

- Jake

#35: Post by **drgary** » May 20th, 2022, 12:43 pm

Agreed. The latte art I posted above was done on an Olympia Express Coffex (Maximatic) with a stock four-hole tip.

#36: Post by **CSME9** » May 20th, 2022, 1:20 pm

I've been getting good results with a stock 2 hole tip using Silk Next milk, it varies not all cowless low carb/sugar milks perform well for me.

#37: Post by **GDM528** » May 30th, 2022, 4:54 pm

Have there been any happy outcomes from the various tests and experiments - what makes good foam - does it take a particular brand of non-dairy milks, or are there non-spooky additives that improve frothing?

Selfishly, I'm interested in what I can do to get Costco's Kirkland Oat milk to behave better...

#38: Post by **drgary** » May 30th, 2022, 6:07 pm

GDM528 wrote:Selfishly, I'm interested in what I can do to get Costco's Kirkland Oat milk to behave better...

It works well as is for me, about as well as the Oatley Barista. But then I'm not trying to get minutely detailed rosettas. Is that what you're trying to get to? As a refresher, here's what I posted earlier and is typical of my results with it. You'll see some bubbles that aren't minute. This was done on my vintage Maximatic with a stock four-hole tip. Sometimes my outcome isn't this good, but that's on me.

I tried some liquid sunflower lecithin in home-made oat milk and it didn't help foaming.

#39: Post by **Kaffee Bitte** » May 30th, 2022, 7:46 pm

No matter what you will rarely get true microfoam like with milk. It's close and on occasion it will perform very well, but not quite. Even commercial machines at my work will not perfectly microfoam oat milk where as regular milk is just quick and easy.

I like oat milk for it's flavor and also its way of just stepping aside and letting the coffee shine. And every time I get some passable latte art out of it I am thrilled it worked. It won't last long but it looks good.

I do find it can make a very nice dry foam for cappaccinos, especially oatly barista. Still doesn't last long, but the drinks themselves don't last long so....