Seperate frother for milk for lattes?

Stheno

Hey

I've a fairly cheap coffee machine which does an okay espresso and has a frother.

I've no bother with the espresso, but mainly drink lattes, and anytime I use the frother to heat up the milk, it leaves me with a cup of what I can only describe as burnt milk with a hint of coffee, it's utterly foul.

Am I doing something wrong or is it a symptom of a crap machine?

It's a Russell Hobbs Caffe Turino, the coffee from it is fine, it's just the milk

Muahahaha

I don't know the brand of machine but it's likely that is your problem. Frothing for lattes is different than for cappuccinos. With lattes you're trying to create a microfoam where the bubbles in the milk are tiny and the milk has a velvetty mouth feel to it. Put 'micro foam' into YouTube and you'll see a good few videos demonstrating how to achieve it.

Thing is though some machines (and especially the cheaper ones) can't produce microfoam with the frother attached. It just isn't up to the job. Even on a Gaggia Classic, which is a €300 machine many owners swap the steam wand for a Rancillo wand to get the microfoam they're after.

Hope this helps, I'm just changing the steam wand on my own Gaggia this weekend so I'm on a bit of a latte microfoam holy grail myself:)

Vexorg

I use one of these when I'm feeling lazy or using the aeropress. Results are OK foam wise, maybe too foamy, but no burnt milk, consistent results and easy to clean.


PS. You could try a jug thermometer to take the milk off the steam before it burns.

PPs is the milk spinning in the jug, if not you could be over heating the jug in one spot causing the burn.

Bohrio

Vexorg wrote: »

I use one of these when I'm feeling lazy or using the aeropress. Results are OK foam wise, maybe too foamy, but no burnt milk, consistent results and easy to clean.


PS. You could try a jug thermometer to take the milk off the steam before it burns.

PPs is the milk spinning in the jug, if not you could be over heating the jug in one spot causing the burn.

Plus one on the hostess

I have the same one which I use at work and as long as you use proper milk you will get a decent foam (too much sometimes) and perfect temperature. You can use it to froth or just to heat the milk up without frothing, or you can just use it to mix the milk without heating it.

Silent enough and quick, worth every penny.

If you are looking for something even cheaper go for one of this

link

You can find even cheaper ones than the one above

Stheno

Vexorg wrote: »

PPs is the milk spinning in the jug, if not you could be over heating the jug in one spot causing the burn.

It looks like it's being whisked? Like a tornado action?

Vexorg

Tornado/whirlpool is what you are looking for.

This utube vid has all the basics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7OEGkbYn_w

Stheno

Vexorg wrote: »

Tornado/whirlpool is what you are looking for.

This utube vid has all the basics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7OEGkbYn_w

Thank you

So I've using a plastic jug, and scalding the life out of the milk going by that vid
I have a thermometer that I can use, will take those tips and try it over the weekend.

Much appreciated

Will probably still go for the hostess out of laziness though!