Milk

Equipment, technique, or just drinking the stuff

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Milk

Postby motoman » Fri May 22, 2015 10:35 am

I have mentioned before that my Latte Art is just a trifle below standard, I can produce and excellent 3D Blob and an occasional childish representation of a human rib cage that was meant to be a rosette.

In order to improve my technique I purchased a stick on thermometer strip that claimed to highlight the exact temperature of 65C when the milk would be perfect for the purpose. I attached the strip to the base of my Motta jug and with high hopes started to heat the milk, first with just the tip to expand the milk and then the plunge to heat it up to the required temperature.

So up goes the heat, up, up, up, my asbestos hand could no longer stand the pain so I snatched it away. The temperature strip was unchanged, each black section marked from 60C to 90C gazed blankly at me. At last one section began to turn blue, the sign that the milk was heated to the temperature indicated. Trouble was it started to show at 85C, and yet another dream of artistic fame shattered. Why do we fall for the rubbish they claim will aid our (I mean my) pathetic attempts to impress the family and friend.
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RE: Milk

Postby CakeBoy » Fri May 22, 2015 2:45 pm

That is very disappointing Pete. Near enough scrambled egg milk with that one by the sound of it!
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Postby GreenBean » Sat May 23, 2015 7:11 am

Those temperature strips are very slow acting. They are good for use on something like an aquarium where it has time to settle to the correct temperature.
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Postby motoman » Sun May 24, 2015 10:03 am

My son loves his Tassimo, having tried it I asked if they make coffee pods or disks whatever they are.( He uses machines with both.) For some strange reason he took umbrage (Still doesn't taste like coffee), his only recourse is to attack my latte art skills. Very unfair as I gave him a perfect cow pat and his partner a beautiful display of bursting boils.

My two hole steam tip has a very powerful action that could clean the paint off the Fourth Bridge. Would a different tip help?
La Valentina Levetta
Mazzer Mini
Huky 500T
Bodum s/s Press Pot(Covered in dust)
Mokka, Vietnamese Press and other pots(unseen since I fell in love with La Valentina)
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Postby CakeBoy » Sun May 24, 2015 10:54 am

A single tip would potentially make the flow more controllable but will not necessarily help with texturing because essentially the power is still there. Anna has five holes and is insane. We find very little stretching is required then move just below the surface to the centre, still slightly angled to create a 'wall of death' type vortex. It's all over in a few seconds (I can hear your puns beginning now Pete :)). We don't always open the valve far, and we always flush her well to dry steam as she is so fast there is no time to recover from any sort of water entry and if any gets into the milk the microfoam simply doesn't form.

Have you tried a cocktail stick temporarily up a hole to see how it suits? Of course, the remaining hole will be off centre so it's not an exact facsimile of a one hole tip :)
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