After reading so much of ya'lls advice on HB, watching tons of youtube videos, burning through probably 3 gallons of milk, then lot's soapy water, then more milk... I finally did it. Kind of. Still lots of road left to travel, but I wanted to share cuz I'm pretty stoked.

Also any tips or tricks on different pitchers that made a difference, milk steaming breakthroughs, things people said that made a difference etc, are all appreciated!

I'm not into latte art so no tips about that.
However while your foam looks thick, I see many small bubbles as well, I don't know why. I would work on that as well.

Those bubbles are small. Keep in mind the picture is magnified much larger than a normal cup.

Getting the micro foam too foamy is something I'm struggling with for sure. I'm having to force myself to stop stretching long before I think I should stop, and then work on incorporating it. It's getting there. I tend to be doing small qty's of milk, and with the 4 hole steam tip, stretching happens quick, like in 3 seconds, and then I have to move on to texturing. It's an act of faith on my part that 3 secs or so is going to be enough, and yet that seems to be the ticket.

Technobuyer wrote:Getting the micro foam too foamy is something I'm struggling with for sure. ....

Here is an easy fix :

(edited for brevity)

Looks like you are drawing "on top of" the milk with foam. You may be generating excess foam that separates from the milk within the pitcher, and as you pour, you are waiting until you reach the foam to then start drawing.

A few suggestions.

- Work on a more consistent microfoam by spending less time near the surface injecting air (just a few moments of hiss), then dip the wand slightly deeper to get a whirling milk to blend in the air without the hiss.

- Use two distinct pour steps. The first one will hold the tip slightly higher, with the cup tilted, and let the milk settle to the bottom. Pause when the cup is maybe 3/4 full, drop the pitcher tip down as close as you can get to the surface, and pour the pattern. When done well it sort of glides along the surface as you pour.

I am a fellow amateur trying to describe my understanding, and I'm far far from being the forum expert.

Yes, you nailed it. That's exactly what I'm doing. I either get too much air, or not enough. Usually too much. It does seem easier with whole milk vs 2%. Thanks for the feedback! I started making the kids vanilla steamers for breakfast this morning, just so I could practice steaming milk.

Yeah.. mine looked similar when I started.. some things that worked better for me..

The bubbles are usually happen when you first start the pour and don't have a nice smooth entry of the milk into the crema. You can try starting near an edge of the cup and get the right height so the milk is sinking then you can move the stream back and forth and should not get bubbles.

(Assume you tap the milk to get all bubbles out and do the swirl thing to incorporate foam better)

Some espresso beans give more crema and your extraction technique and machine can also impact the amount of crema. If your crema is too thin, latte art is more difficult.

Much of the quality of the foam is in how you incorporate the air. When I started, I was putting tip in, turning on steam and then lifting the wand to get air.. this causes too much air to get incorporated at once. I now try to get a good 'roll' or 'whirlpool' BEFORE adding any air. The tip goes in deep enough to create a good roll without adding air. I do all kinds of gyrations with the pitcher (tilt, move tip close to side, then slightly away) and when a good roll happens pull the tip (that should now be in a vortex) slightly up. you should hear chirps intermittently, not constantly and I find it adds air at a better rate. sort of hard to explain without a vid. From turning on the wand to getting the first chirps can happen in 3-5 seconds with practice and experience.

It is a very subtle thing, adding air.. and after one year of really focusing on this aspect (latte art), I am still improving on the quality of micro-foam. Originally I thought this would be a one-week study.. no so..

I guess, enjoy the journey and play with every possible technique adjustment you can think of.. eventually your experience will give better quality foam.

I would think the best way to learn would be working with someone who has a reasonable skill at it and feed them free beer or something..

And if you err, err on the side of too much foam, for I find foam makes it sweeter and richer and even if the art isn't eye popping, they will love the taste and the feel of your treat!

The most useful advice I've gotten about getting the milk and foam to mix properly (which is the most difficult part of latte art, to me at least) is to steam in one pitcher, then pour the steamed but inadequately mixed milk into another pitcher along the side of it. That seems to mix it together well, making the latte art pattern show up in the cup really easy. It's a little work but it's pretty fail safe.

Moka 1 Cup wrote:Here is an easy fix :

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That looks amazing!