Milk Steaming Like A Pro

We might be purveyors of coffee beans, but we know our milk too: oat, soya, coconut and dairy – it pays to be ‘au fait au lait’. The icing on the cake when it comes to making the perfect cup, the milk in your coffee needs to be steamed to perfection to complement your beans.

Here's some tips to get your dairy milk just right using a steam wand. Check out our blog about steaming milk alternatives for further information

1) Fill your milk jug to just below the spout of your jug, no higher. It will expand rapidly when we add air, and we don't want it overflowing.

2) Place the steam wand arm into the notch of the spout, and the tip just below the surface of the milk, at an angle of about 2 o'clock.

3) Start the steam and keep the wand in this 2 o'clock position until the milk starts spinning in a circle.

4) Then raise the wand slightly so the tip sits just on the surface of the milk, and you hear the famous "ripping paper" sound the milk makes. This gets air bubbles into the milk.

5) After a few seconds, drop the tip of the wand back under the surface of the milk and keep it steady to allow it to heat through the milk.

6) Keep your hand on the base of the jug while the milk heats, and right when the jug gets too hot to touch, turn the steamer off. Only once the steamer has stopped do you remove the want fully from the milk, otherwise it will spray everywhere.

7) Bang the jug on a flat surface to remove any of the bubbles and get a nice smooth texture (unless you want cappuccino-style milk, in which case keep your bubbles!)

8) Pour into your coffee in a circular motion to evenly distribute it through your coffee. There's no way we can teach latte art here in writing - you'll just have to join us on one of our classes.

Not got an espresso machine? Have a look at our options (with top-notch milk steaming capabilities) here.