Ok, I've been using my espresso machines for 3-4 years, first an expobar, now a profitec. My skills making good milk for art has completely died, I must be doing something wrong. Here is what has changed prior to this happening:

- New machine: profitec (cant be this. . .it is better in every way)
- Started roasting my own espresso blend with hottop.
- blend: 25% Monsoon malabar to just before second crack, 25% monsoon malabar to mid-second crack, 25% nicaragua, 25% brazil (both to mid second crack. Flavor-wise, this blend is perfect to my palate for americano in the morning. (I recently added 10% robusta to try to thicken the crema, but it adds too much bitterness to me)

When I pour i just can't seem to get the microfoam to come to the surface to create a nice art, or at all.

I don't know if it is the espresso or the milk. I used to be able to do it very well.

Can someone suggest any things to try?

I realize this is a 1st-world problem, but I want to be able to do this for my guests.

thx

Can you post some pics? Is there crema on the espresso prior to pouring milk? If so, then try stretching a bit more. Key is 'a bit'. The Profitec is a strong steamer and the window for too much and too little stretching is small. Then a lot of focus on texturizing to ensure a swift whirlpool without any more aeration. The issue for me has always been on the milk side and never the espresso side.

Pics would help a lot. My guess is that your milk is not textured correctly or your pouring technique needs to be changed a little.

I will post pics next time I pour. There seems to be plenty of crema (at least none has dissipated). I do feel like the window of perfect stretching is small with this wand.

What is the best positioning of the wand for the stretch and texturing? Angled from the spout, against the side? I've seen so many different videos and they all seem to differ. Also, i saw one that said the whirlpool shouldn't be a horizontal one, but vertical. What is the best method? Any video you recommend that really captures the best technique?

Thanks!!

Video is better for analyzing your pour

Is your milk too thick so you just end up with a big blob on the top? Or is it too thin where you don't get anything really showing on the top? Have you recently switched milk (what milk are you using)? Do you notice that there's a thicker layer of foam on the top and just warm milk underneath? Were you ever able to get nice art with the new machine?

I've been working on this for a few months now and finally I'm able to pour nice art consistently. it was a struggle. Here's my process:

1) Place the wand in the spout part of the pitcher with the wand at about a 45 degree angle, tip in the center of the pitcher. (I don't think the specifics of this matter too much.)

2) Turn on the full steam power and stretch the milk by adding air. You don't want to add a lot of air, so make sure the tip is still partially into the milk during stretching. I keep my fingers on the bottom portion of the pitcher and as soon as I stop feeling the coldness of the milk, I stop adding air and completely submerge the tip of the wand.

3) Then I move the wand to the side of the pitcher and angle the pitcher to create a whirlpool of milk. This is the hard part for me. I don't always get a nice swirl going and sometimes this can effect the quality of my foam. This part seems to vary wildly by machine and person. Many tutorials talk about getting a 'vertical rolling motion' of the milk, but I've not been very successful with that. The key is just to get the milk moving so that you can integrate the foam throughout.

4) Once the pitcher is too hot to hold, turn off the steam wand. I then give the pitcher a nice swirl on the counter and sometimes bang it on the counter if there are any bubbles. If you end up with too much foam on the top, you can pour off some of that into the sink and then swirl the pitcher more. I found this helpful for getting a nice layer of foam to make good art.

Hope this helps. From what I've read, every machine is different and it can sometimes take weeks+ before you get good at making microfoam on the new machine. If you can answer some of the questions at the top of my post, I think we could narrow down the problem for you.

The other tip I found that helped a lot is to pull the shot and foam the milk simultaneously. Previously I was making the milk, then pulling the shot. The added time here was bad because my milk was separating and I was losing my integrated foam. Being able to pour within a few seconds of finishing steaming was one of my breakthroughs. It also has the added benefit of giving you a nice rich crema canvas.

Good questions and the answer is: both. Sometimes I dont get anything at the top and sometimes I get too thick foam at the top. Otherwise, I am doing pretty much what you are describing, but will keep working at it. Also, yes, I was able to get good art early on with this machine, but the problem began even before I roasted my own. thx

Okay, gotcha. I was having the same problem and it's basically impossible to make good art when you don't have perfect microfoam. Once I was able to get much better foam, the art came "easy". I would try to work on a repeatable method for steaming. It sounds like you are sometimes over stretching the milk, and other times under stretching it. See if you can use the "as soon as I stop feeling the coldness of the pitcher" as your guide and work from there. I found that to be a pretty good marker as it is fairly repeatable. The next thing to work on is getting a solid whirlpool going.

It sounds like you are right where I was a few months ago before I had a few "breakthrough" moments where it all started to come together. The problem was always my steaming. I could usually tell before I even started to pour if it was going to work.

Yep. Agree it's the milk steaming. One big 'chug' during stretching and I know the attempt is hosed. Or I stretch perfectly and then screw up the texturizing whirlpool. I got the thermometer out of my milk because it would impact the vortex and keep coarse bubbles trapped behind it. Once these issues happen, forget art. But get them right and you'll knock out the art easily. Pouring can also be challenging...balancing height, pour speed and the wiggle.