Latte art: the barista's artistic coffee

The role of milk foam is often underestimated in the art of coffee. It not only provides a velvety soft feeling on the palate, but also ensures precise application in latte art. The perfect milk foam should be fine-pored and homogeneous. To achieve the ideal consistency of milk foam, you can first practice with cold water and a drop of washing-up liquid to avoid wasting milk. When it comes to real milk foam, don't forget to drain condensed water from the steam valve before frothing. The milk to be prepared should be cold or at refrigerator temperature so that it can be frothed for as long as possible. If the milk exceeds 65 °C during frothing, the homogeneous, fine-pored consistency can no longer be achieved. Now fill your milk jug one third full with chilled milk and hold it straight under the steam wand. The steam lance should be just below the surface of the milk. Turn the steam wand on fully and decide whether the sound is more of a shuffling or screeching noise. If it is a screeching noise, the steam lance must be immersed even deeper into the milk. Once the desired milk volume has been reached, the nozzle can be immersed even deeper to froth the milk at the very bottom and achieve a homogeneous froth. In the meantime, you should keep checking the temperature. As soon as you can no longer hold the bottom of the jug with your bare hands, the maximum temperature has been reached and the milk should not be heated any further. Do not leave the milk to stand still after frothing, but keep it moving by rotating it. After frothing, we recommend tapping the milk jug firmly on the work surface so that large air bubbles are dissolved and only the fine foam remains.