Alex Espresso Machine
13
Steaming Milk - Technique
As you face your espresso machine, point the steam arm over your drip tray and open
up the steam knob in order to purge out any unwanted water that may have collected
inside the wand due to condensation – you do not want that added to your delicious
beverage!
Next, position the steam arm so it is facing directly toward you and slightly angle it 45
degrees from the base.
Holding your half-filled steam pitcher with the handle facing you, submerge the tip of the
steam wand approximately an inch below the surface of the cold milk. Your pitcher
bottom should be parallel with the countertop. The steam arm should gently rest in the
spout of the steam pitcher. Now slightly tilt the pitcher left, keeping the arm away from
the side of the pitcher.
Open the steam knob completely and position the pitcher so the tip is just below the
surface of the milk. This action creates the
„stretching‟
of the milk – in other words,
adding air to the milk. When done properly, the sound you hear at this point resembles
„sucking‟. You continue this until the milk reaches an approximate temperature of 100
degrees or “body temperature”.
After your milk has reached this „body temperature‟, submerge the tip of the steam arm
approximately one inch below the surface of the milk. This process continues to roll the
milk over itself again and again – breaking the large air bubbles into tiny air bubbles –
resulting in a new, creamy and sweeter,
texture
of the milk. When your milk has
reached approximately 155 degrees or the pitcher becomes too hot to hold then turn the
steam knob off.
Using a steaming thermometer is helpful when you are learning to steam milk. As you
gain more experience and become more comfortable with the process you will be able
to steam milk without the help of a thermometer. If you notice in the procedure above
we mention temperatures and we also mention “body temperature” and the pitcher
being “too hot to hold” We mention this because body temperature is 98.6 which is real
close to 100 degrees and when the pitcher becomes too hot to hold the milk will be
around 150 degrees. This makes it very easy to steam milk without a thermometer. You
will “
stretch
” the milk until the pitcher becomes body temperature and then you start the
“
texturizing
” of the milk until the pitcher becomes too hot to hold on the bottom and
then you‟re all done.
