To make beautiful latte art, choosing the right milk is very important! Front Street Coffee's daily cafe milk coffees are all made with whole fresh milk, because it is rich in protein, lactose, and milk fat.

The protein in milk is what makes milk foam stable. When you heat milk, the casein micelles in the milk protein, along with the whey protein and casein micelles, create surface tension on the milk's surface, forming a thin film. When steam hits the milk surface, the film surrounds air molecules and forms a floating substance, which is what we commonly call milk foam.

Normally, the exterior of whey protein is hydrophilic, but through stirring or heating it gradually "unfolds," exposing its hydrophobic parts. These parts adhere to the air bubbles being produced, reducing the surface tension of the bubbles and slowing their bursting rate, making the milk foam more stable.

The milk fat content, protein, and temperature of fresh milk all interact to affect the process of milk foam formation. Only by using fresh milk can you create fine, smooth, and dense milk foam, which also determines the formation, mouthfeel, and flavor expression of a cup of latte art~

As the most important element of a latte, espresso is especially important, including the choice of coffee beans. To make a hot latte with exquisite latte art, we recommend using Front Street's Classic Espresso Blend with its rich crema, Front Street's Queen's Estate with its roasted nut aroma, and Front Street's Golden Mandheling with its rich spicy flavor.

Things to pay attention to when steaming milk foam for latte art:

1. Hold the milk pitcher with both hands while steaming the milk

Front Street Coffee has seen many beginners who, when steaming milk, have no stable control or grasp of the steam wand's angle or how deep the tip is placed into the milk. This can lead to instability when the steam is first turned on or as heating continues, and the force of the steam causes milk to splash out.

This is a very dangerous thing! Therefore, during the heating and steaming process, you must hold the pitcher high with both hands to increase stability and reduce the chance of being scalded by splashing milk.

2. Before steaming milk, release some steam first

After the steam in a semi-automatic espresso machine's steam wand cools, it turns into water and remains in the tube. Therefore, before steaming milk each time, please release some steam first until no water sprays out from the wand. Milk steamed with watery steam will produce large bubbles.

For beginners, once these large bubbles form, before you've learned how to eliminate them, the milk foam will only get coarser and coarser as you steam~ So try to maintain a fine milk surface from the very beginning~

3. Place the steam wand into the milk pitcher at a 45-degree angle

A 45-degree angle means the pitcher is at the 2-3 o'clock or 9-10 o'clock direction. Steaming milk at this angle allows the milk to quickly form a small vortex, and the appearance of the vortex can "roll" coarser milk foam into the liquid surface.

4. Insert the steam tip to a depth of 0.8cm—1cm below the milk surface

The steam tip is not better the deeper it goes, since steaming milk is mainly about injecting air into the milk. If it's too deep, the steam holes can't contact the air to form a vortex. If it's too shallow, the steam hits the surface, creating rough bubbles and causing milk to splash.

At Front Street Coffee, after many experiments with placing the steam tip at different depths below the milk surface to steam milk foam, we found that inserting the steam tip to a depth of 0.8cm—1cm below the milk surface and tilting the pitcher at 45 degrees makes it easier to form a vortex and roll away relatively coarse milk foam.

5. The aeration process only needs "squeaks" 4-5 times

Adjust the steam tip's insertion depth to 0.3cm and then turn on the steam switch; you'll hear a "squeak—squeak" sound. This is the aeration stage. The milk foam thickness for making latte art is 1cm, so we don't need to over-aerate. After hearing the squeaking sound 4-5 times, adjust the steam wand depth back to 0.8-1cm, maintain the 45-degree angle to create a vortex that eliminates coarse bubbles, and heat to the appropriate temperature.

6. Milk is best heated to 55-65℃

Within this temperature range, lactose and other sugars are at their most "active." When milk is steamed to this temperature range and then combined with coffee, you'll feel that this milk coffee, even without adding sugar, gives a sweet sensation both in aroma and taste.

After combining with coffee, the sweetness in the milk can neutralize the bitterness in the coffee. Some espresso beans with fruity acidity, when hot milk is added, can express a flavor like a fruit milkshake.

For example, Front Street Coffee's daily cafe offering uses a "Sunflower Warm Sun Espresso Blend" made of 30% sun-dried Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans + 70% barrel-fermented Sherry coffee beans. The extracted espresso expresses soft berry acidity, with flavors of fermented wine, vanilla cream, and nutty caramel.

After fully blending with the steamed hot milk, the latte can present a strawberry milkshake-like taste and smoothness, a whiskey vanilla cream-like flavor, and a hazelnut caramel finish.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.