Importance of Milk in Coffee- From the Training School
24 January 2020 by Matt Lawrence
Importance of Milk in Coffee
Temperature
Pouring overheated milk onto an espresso only burns the taste of the coffee, leading to what people like to call ‘bitter’ The perfect milk temperature is between 60 and 70c. Too hot and the flavours destruct.
Type
Most drinks can be made with any type of milk. Drinks such as a flat white are traditionally made with whole milk. Whole milk generates a more stable ‘Microfoam’ from its higher percentage of fats and proteins to give the drink a silkier appearance with a fuller ‘Mouthfeel’
After water, fat is the main component of milk and what gives it a rounded taste. Full fat milk contains about 3.25-2.5% fat while low fat milk contains about 1%. If your barista doesn’t ask what type of milk you want in your drinks its for one of two reasons. The first is that you are in front of an average barista who is dishing out low fat milk to everyone. The second reason is that you’re lucky enough to have found yourself in the hands of a good barista who wouldn’t consider using anything other than full fat milk (Unless requested otherwise by the Customer)
Keep it fresh, keep it refrigerated and never! Reheat
When frothing or steaming milk it is vitally important to use fresh milk, refrigeration slows down the natural degeneration of the milk fats. Never reheat milk or add fresh milk to milk that has already been heated as the proteins will no do their job as well second time around.
ML
24/01/2020
