StereoHeathen Said:

For great microfoam, generally you'll stop stretching when the milk is about body temperature (when it feels neither hot nor cold) and continue "rolling" the milk with the tip submerged until it is too hot to comfortably hold.

If you continue stretching the milk up into the 100s of degrees you'll tend to get larger bubbles, or milk that is not smooth but visually grainy.

It looks like you've got a fair start at pouring a heart, though, it's not bad at all. It definitely looks more cappuccino than latte style, and the amount of foam in your milk will determine to some extent what the best way to pour art is (cappuccino generally being faster, so the foam doesn't blob out or white out the entire surface of your drink).

The best way I learned how to pour latte art was really just watching videos on youtube. Not instructional videos, but just videos of people pouring art. That way you get a sense of technique, pitcher position, where to start and where to end your design, etc. Just sort of, how the process really looks.

That said, practice is the only way to get any good at it. But once you figure it out, it's a bit of an "aha!" moment. Because once you can do it, you can do it, and the only thing left is to get better.

Posted March 14, 2012 link

StereoHeathen Said:

For great microfoam, generally you'll stop stretching when the milk is about body temperature (when it feels neither hot nor cold) and continue "rolling" the milk with the tip submerged until it is too hot to comfortably hold.

Posted March 14, 2012 link

StereoHeathen Said:

For great microfoam, generally you'll stop stretching when the milk is about body temperature (when it feels neither hot nor cold) and continue "rolling" the milk with the tip submerged until it is too hot to comfortably hold.

Posted March 14, 2012 link

Gig103 Said:

I'm going to try this tomorrow night, because watching Youtube, the one thing I couldn't tell was when to stop stretching.

I will ask questions that I think I know the answer to, because I don't want to waste my time if I'm way off.
1) To stretch the milk I put the tip just below the surface and get that occassional slurp-slurp sound which is adding air to the milk
2) When you say "submerge the tip" you mean all the way down so even as it rolls there is no air reaching the tip?

Posted March 18, 2012 link

1. Well, it shouldn't be so much of a "slurp-slurp" sound, as at "tsst-tsst." But yes, start with the tip just below the surface, and lower your pitcher just slightly enough so that you get that short, staccato sound that indicates that you are adding air to the milk. Do this until about 80-100 degrees. Then you will move on to step two.
   
   
2. When you submerge that tip after you have finished introducing air, you just barely raise your pitcher so that the tip is just BARELY covered by milk, so that you stop adding air. The entire steam wand is hot, and if you submerge it completely, you will scald the milk, even if your final temperature is below 170 degrees.

thedotben Said:

Well, it shouldn't be so much of a "slurp-slurp" sound, as at "tsst-tsst." But yes, start with the tip just below the surface, and lower your pitcher just slightly enough so that you get that short, staccato sound that indicates that you are adding air to the milk. Do this until about 80-100 degrees. Then you will move on to step two.

When you submerge that tip after you have finished introducing air, you just barely raise your pitcher so that the tip is just BARELY covered by milk, so that you stop adding air. The entire steam wand is hot, and if you submerge it completely, you will scald the milk, even if your final temperature is below 170 degrees.

Posted March 19, 2012 link