Improve frothing for latte
Improve frothing for latte
I have a Delonghi Stilosa machine with the steam wand outer piece removed so only the actual wand is present, I have tried doing techniques based on videos but no matter what I try the result is always extra foamy. I'm sure it's probably due to the wand itself but it's there anything else I can try to reduce the amount of foam?
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If the result is TOO foamy, you might be frothing a little too hard or long. The biggest general tips I can give are:
-Try to keep the tip fully under the surface of the milk, you want the froth sound to be gentle and not see large bubbles being created. -Once the milk no longer feels cold, push the frother a bit deeper so it is no longer adding air, but is only rolling the milk.
I know you mentioned already watching videos, but I got the best explanation from Lance Hedrick in his LEARN TO STEAM SILKY MILKY IN 5 MINUTES! and his more detailed HOW TO STEAM MILK FOR LATTE ART
Yeah I think one of his videos was the one I watched but I don't remember the plunge part. I haven't been doing that so that's probably the problem. Thank you!
The Stilosa also can't do steam for very long at a time. When the "ready" light on the front goes off you want to turn off the steam and wait for the light again. In the mean time make sure to keep the milk moving by gently swirling the pitcher.
When I had my Stilosa I also found that after the first round of steaming, there would still be lots of larger bubbles in the milk (which you don't want as they prevent a good microfoam), but at the right lukewarm temperate, while waiting for the machine to heat again I could get close to the pitcher and breathe onto the milk and that would help pop a lot of those bubbles. Which is fine as long as you're not making drinks for guests 😅
Yeah the intricacies of this machine bug the hell out of me. I feel like the machine only holds temp for a very small amount of time.
What machine have you moved on to since owning the stilosa? I'd like to move up to something but nothing on the market that's less than $1,000 really feels like a good upgrade, and I'm not sure if I want to spend a G on an espresso machine quite yet.
I remember the feeling 😅 though it's kind of nice to really know what you don't like about the lower end machines when you upgrade.
I upgraded to the Bambino Plus and (a little later) a Niche. Definitely a whole different game. I've had them for about a year now, worked on my puck prep and dialing in, and both my espresso and latte art have improved 100x. The steam isn't super powerful (still leagues above the Stilosa, and it has a proper steam wand) so it takes some practice to get a great microfoam but it is very doable.
At this point my main issue with the Bambino is the lack of temperature control. I drink a lot of light roasts and it generally does well, but I'm getting a lot more picky about the espresso so I'm starting to look at higher end machines with temp control. But the Bambino Plus has been a great machine.