Frothing
6 10 2009Posted by Robert @ 10:00 am
The process of using a steam wand on an espresso machine to make a velvet hot foam usually from milk. Compressed heated air from an espresso machine flows out of the steam wand and into the cold, liquid milk.
A Barista then skillfully uses the steam wand to draw air into the milk until the mixture reaches 155 to 165 F and turns the milk into a mixture of air and heated milk.
Author’s note:
The true art of a barista comes out in the frothing of the milk. It can make or break the drink in my opinion. If the wand is too high the milk will be too bubbly and not velvety, yet if the wand is too low the milk will just be heated and will be too hot to produce any good foam.
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Just a note: Someone ‘big’ in coffee (can’t recall if it was Mark Prince or James Hoffmann) tweeted the other day about retiring the terms “froth” and “frothing.” Preferred terms include steaming and texturizing.
Hmm. I’d agree with that. I might even change my reference of this term. I’d still keep the term around just let people know it was deprecated.
Thanks for the heads up. I certainly can’t keep on top of everything.
Oh btw I edited the spelling of texturizing and then deleted your other comment. But no other changes were made.