To pour great latte art you need great milk.
Two things to remember with milk, temperature and texture.
Temperature.
We aim for 65 degrees C. You can use a thermometer to measure this point or it is about the point where most peoples hands find it painful to keep their hands on the side of the milk jug.
You can go hotter than this if this is your preference but try to stop before the milk takes on a “porrigedy” smell. This is the milk cooking like porridge and will taint your coffee taste.
Texture.
Our aim is for a jug of smooth, silky, paint like liquid for us to paint our latte art with.
We do this by carefully adding air into the milk in our milk jug. The key factor here is the positioning of the steam tip relative to the surface of the milk.
Below the surface will give no air “texture” into the milk.
With the tip on the surface air will be added to the milk.
We use these two positions to get the amount of air into our milk that we need to pour our coffee. Less air, for flat whites, more air for cappuccinos.
We have a few helpful guides to help us. The steam makes a distinctive sound, like a slurping sound or paper tearing, when air is being placed into the milk. You can also see the volume in the jug rise as you heat.
Steps.
Clear the steam arm with a short blast of steam to blow out condensation.
Place the steam arm in the spout of the jug. You can use the milk jug spout as your guide.
Find the middle of the jug and move the steam tip to the side. Around 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock in the milk jug and at a slight angle so the milk will “spin”.
With the steam tip below the surface of the milk turn the steam to full.
Add the air in early by lowering the milk jug to move the steam tip to the surface of the milk. Listen for the sound of air being added to your milk. Get a little or a lot depending on what you want to make.
Once you have the volume of air in the milk that you want raise the milk jug to get the steam tip underneath the milk surface and concentrate on getting the milk spinning. This motion helps to keep the bubble size fine to achieve that silky texture.
Turn the steam tap off with the steam tip under the milk to keep it from blowing big bubbles.
Practice!
Now you have your jug of silky paint you can get busy doing latte art!
