Deciding On The Right Milk To Go In Your Latte Maker
One of the greatest sights on earth for every coffee lover is the top layer of a cappuccino cup, the foam.
Who would never delight in getting a foam mustache at the first sip? There's something about it that titillates our senses of sight and taste.
It adds up to the caffeine kick down under, it's a prelude to the wonder that is our coffee for the day.
So if you are getting your fix using the coffee latte maker at home that also makes awesome cappuccino, there's the eternal question when it comes to foam: whole milk or skim? We get into the heart of the matter and dig out the real answers, balance the pros and cons and offer a compromise.
Let's dig in! The Case of the Whole Milk The truth is if you would want to have a good coffee drink, whole milk gives it the best flavor.
It's a simple, hard fact - more milk fat, more flavor.
However, aside from the fact that milk fats carry loads of calories (bad news for people keeping their weight off) they also decrease foam.
Seems like skim milk is the way to go if you like the top of your cup really frothed! Is Skim Milk or Non Fat Milk the One True Solution? While it would seem to be utterly logical that skim milk or non fat milk is the answer to getting the best froth or foam, there are actually 2 downsides to skim milk.
First is the fact that it doesn't have enough milk fats to give your coffee drink much needed flavor.
Losing out on improved flavor that milk accomplishes for our coffee drink is a direct consequence of using non fat milk on our coffee.
It is a known fact that steaming milk to a perfect consistency for lattes and cappuccinos takes a long time and practice to develop.
Frothed milk for coffee should have a texture baristas know as "microfoam" - extremely small foam bubbles resulting from steaming milk to make it look completely smooth and think after frothing.
How is this done? The process mainly involves introducing air very gently into cold milk for just a short while and a period of smooth mixing creating a vortex in the pitcher where the frothing is done.
Because it is not laden with milk fats, skim milk is undoubtedly a lot easier to make loads of foam from.
However, this skim milk foam not only lacks the taste whole milk foam has, it also lacks the proper consistency.
You can't get creamy microfoam out of skim milk or non fat milk.
Instead you get what baristas call hard foam that's rigid.
Reconciling Milk Needs The solution to this dilemma? Have a 1% or 2% instead of complete skim milk.
It will not bring about the best flavor that comes with whole milk, but if you are watching calories, it is like having your cake and eating it.
A bit of the best of both worlds.
1% or 2% milk with what milk fat they have can still do wonders for the overall consistency of whatever coffee drink you're whippin'.
Who would never delight in getting a foam mustache at the first sip? There's something about it that titillates our senses of sight and taste.
It adds up to the caffeine kick down under, it's a prelude to the wonder that is our coffee for the day.
So if you are getting your fix using the coffee latte maker at home that also makes awesome cappuccino, there's the eternal question when it comes to foam: whole milk or skim? We get into the heart of the matter and dig out the real answers, balance the pros and cons and offer a compromise.
Let's dig in! The Case of the Whole Milk The truth is if you would want to have a good coffee drink, whole milk gives it the best flavor.
It's a simple, hard fact - more milk fat, more flavor.
However, aside from the fact that milk fats carry loads of calories (bad news for people keeping their weight off) they also decrease foam.
Seems like skim milk is the way to go if you like the top of your cup really frothed! Is Skim Milk or Non Fat Milk the One True Solution? While it would seem to be utterly logical that skim milk or non fat milk is the answer to getting the best froth or foam, there are actually 2 downsides to skim milk.
First is the fact that it doesn't have enough milk fats to give your coffee drink much needed flavor.
Losing out on improved flavor that milk accomplishes for our coffee drink is a direct consequence of using non fat milk on our coffee.
It is a known fact that steaming milk to a perfect consistency for lattes and cappuccinos takes a long time and practice to develop.
Frothed milk for coffee should have a texture baristas know as "microfoam" - extremely small foam bubbles resulting from steaming milk to make it look completely smooth and think after frothing.
How is this done? The process mainly involves introducing air very gently into cold milk for just a short while and a period of smooth mixing creating a vortex in the pitcher where the frothing is done.
Because it is not laden with milk fats, skim milk is undoubtedly a lot easier to make loads of foam from.
However, this skim milk foam not only lacks the taste whole milk foam has, it also lacks the proper consistency.
You can't get creamy microfoam out of skim milk or non fat milk.
Instead you get what baristas call hard foam that's rigid.
Reconciling Milk Needs The solution to this dilemma? Have a 1% or 2% instead of complete skim milk.
It will not bring about the best flavor that comes with whole milk, but if you are watching calories, it is like having your cake and eating it.
A bit of the best of both worlds.
1% or 2% milk with what milk fat they have can still do wonders for the overall consistency of whatever coffee drink you're whippin'.
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