How do I know if I've steamed my milk properly?

There are many factors that go into producing great coffee. From the coffee bean itself, to the grind size and even steaming the milk. When producing your favourite coffee drink, you could have mastered the process of making the perfect espresso, but if you haven’t properly steamed your milk your coffee will be seriously affected, potentially not tasting

as creamy and as thick as it should. 

To be able to steam milk properly, there are two main things you need to keep in mind; not to burn the milk and not to add too much air to the milk.

Many people enjoy having their coffee with hot milk, but not many people know that heating up your milk beyond 65° Celsius will burn the milk and leave it very thin with a burnt taste. It’s really important to be mindful about how much you’re heating up your milk for this reason.

A lot of people who enjoy lattes, cappuccinos and other coffee drinks with a lot of milk in should be aware about how much air they’re adding to the milk. When placing the steam wand into the milk jug, it should just below the surface of the milk so it can stretch the milk effectively. This should last around 5 seconds, then the steam wand should be placed further into the jug to spin the milk in a whirlpool to create that creamy texture which we all love.

Practicing how to steam your milk perfectly will enable you to create great coffee shop quality drinks consistently, so that you and any guests will always be impressed with each drink.