I like a little bit more fat than the whole milk. 5% to 6% seems to create the most sweetness and the best mouthfeel. To get there, I either use a pint of 2% with a pint of half and half, or a quart of whole milk with a pint of half and half.

There is an issue of the extra fat interfering with the taste of the coffee. My feel on this is that there is absolutely no relation between a good espresso blend and a good cappa or milk blend. For milk blends, it's best to use the coffees one finds at Viennese cafes for coffee with whipped cream or for breakfast cafe au lait. Mostly, these are medium-dark roasts using Bourbons or Kenyan SL28s. If you want higher end flavors, you'll need a melange of dark and very light roasts. The best shot for the high end is coffees with pit fruit, rather than citrus or berry, flavors.

This advice applies only to shorter milk drinks like machiatos, cortados, or 5 ounce cappas. For coffee flavored milkshakes, all bets are off.

Jim, again, thanks for your input. As a point of interest, here's the reply that I got from Horizon Brand after emailing them; asking for any information related to milk products and the specialty coffee industry. Alta Dena Dairy, here in SoCal, never returned my voice message to their marketing manager. I suppose if I had pushed it, I could have found an upper management marketing type who would have had knowledge of this market. This response looks like it suffered from "...stuck in customer service with no interest in passing it on!" Never accept the happy cow icons on milk packaging as an indication of caring on the part of the corporate dairy machine!

Thank you for your recent e-mail to Horizon Organic. We appreciate your interest in our products.
Here at WhiteWave, our specialty is high quality foods. Unfortunately, this knowledge does not extend to the foaming function involving coffee making. We recommend contacting someone who specializes in this field. Thanks again for contacting the Consumer Affairs Department.

Sincerely, Evangelina Vargas
Consumer Response Representative
Ref: N775636

In retrospect, I had better luck from two water treatment and filter manufacturers on the same type of request, and I'd venture to say that there are much higher gross dollars being spent on milk than water filters! Maybe I just didn't find the right marketing and sales contact? I've been polling the shops I visit here on the Coast, and Clover in the Bay Area, Alta Dena down South and Horizon (the corporate cow people) have come up more than once. For the best response, I think the trick is to get to the field sales person who services these accounts. "Follow the money."

Al

alsterlingcafe wrote:(And yes Regulator.....I'm going to leave for SLC within the next 3 wks or less!....Please put a Cappuccino on the Bar'by for me!)

i will be here.

the biggass grill may still be in the basement.

jon

For cappy's I use 2 oz espresso,2 oz whole milk,2 oz heavy cream.The froth is more velvety than just milk.