STEPS KEYPOINTS
1.Fill your pitcher The first step is to fill your jug with milk. While this may sound like an obvious step, it’s actually quite important to get the right amount of milk in your jug. Not only to produce the best-steamed milk but for conserving milk. Fill the milk halfway up the jug until the surface of the milk hits the lower nudge or ‘v’ of the jug spout
2. Purge the steam wand Crank up your steam wand and let it run for a couple of seconds to purge any leftover gunk trapped in the tip and allow the wand to heat up a little
3. Angle the steam wand Position the steam wand approximately 20–30 degrees towards you. Make sure it’s also directly in front of you and that you won’t be working at an awkward angle
4. Position to the milk jug Keeping the pitcher parallel to the counter, lift it straight up to the wand. Make sure the tip of the wand – and no more – sits in the milk. Finally, tilt the jug to the side
5. Temperature Control Insert the milk thermometer to the pitcher left side
6. Steaming milk Step is called ‘stretching’ and is when you turn the steam on and have the nozzle of the steam wand below the surface of the milk to make a hissing sound (paper tearing sound). This process creates micro-foam by letting air gently into the milk.
The key is to have the nozzle just a fraction under the surface of the milk in order to create foam while making the milk spin in a whirlpool motion.
Latte: 2-3 seconds
Cappuccino: 7-8 seconds
Once you create enough foam for your coffee — more for a cappuccino less for a latte — you move onto the next stage: is called ‘spinning’ and is when you submerge the steam wand nozzle another fraction below the milk — literally half a centimeter and continue to spin the milk in a whirlpool motion.
You should hear no hissing sound other than the occasional leftover bubble being eaten up by the steam wand.
This spinning process mixes the microfoam with the milk in order to ‘polish’ the milk. The key to spinning the milk is to tilt the jug a little to get the perfect whirlpool
7. Turn off the steamer After the milk reaches the preferred temperature. (65℃)
Milk that is steamed at a lower, steady temperature will have a richer, sweeter flavor profile. If you overheat the milk, it will taste burned, because you’ve essentially denatured the proteins, preventing foaming and scalding the milk
8. Cleaning & Sanitize Lower the pitcher and immediately wipe the steam wand with a clean, green cloth. If you leave milk on the wand, it will quickly harden and can become difficult to remove. Be careful when wiping—the steam wand will be extremely hot, then purge steamer
9. Give it a swirl You can further groom the texture of the milk by tapping the pitcher on the counter and giving it a spin to tap out the air bubbles

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