Hi, welcome to our first latte art
tutorial.
My name is Nico and I will 
accompany you through various videos
and introduce you to the world of latte art.
In today's video I will focus
on the basics of preparing the
perfect cappuccino.
In particular, how to create a creamy, fine-pored
milk foam consistency
and how to pour the milk into a cup
to decorate a cappuccino with a heart.
For the preparation of the espresso, 
I am going to use our "Espresso Nero".
It is our 75/25 (Arabica/Robusta) bar blend
with a strong coffee body, nice notes
of nuts and a beautiful golden-brown "crema".
Since there are important steps that need to be followed for milk steaming,
this video will take a little longer
than the next tutorials, therefore
let's get started!
First, a quick overview
over the equipment you need
to decorate a cappuccino with latte art. We need a portafilter machine
with adequate steam pressure. Today, I will work with a dual-boiler espresso machine from "Rocket".
But with the right steaming technique, a dual circuit system is perfectly capable of creating the right foam consistency.
We need a grinder to freshly grind the coffee beans,
we need a stainless-steel steaming pitcher with a pointed spout.
Stainless steel allows to
control the temperature of the milk very precisely,
which is important to avoid overboiling of the milk.
You can purchase milk jugs in different variations, with individual spouts.
There are wider and thinner spouts,
but you can pour every latte art independent from the spout.
The wider the spout, the more milk will flow and the other way round.
Everyone should find the milk jug and spout, which works best for them.
It is very important for milk steaming, to fill the milk jug half full.
What happens if I use too little milk?
Then, the milk heats up too quickly and I can not focus the right foaming technique.
What happens when I use too much milk?
Then, later there will not be enough space for the volume of the foam. What else do I need?
Milk! Today, I am using fresh whole milk with 3.5 g fat and 3.3 g protein.
The protein content is responsible for the foaming ability of the milk.
The content of fat determines the taste,
but has no influence on the consistency of the foam.
Why? What happens during milk steaming? The steam brings air into the milk.
The air is coated by protein molecules,
in this way, many small air bubbles are formed, which create the foam.
The more proteins attached to each other, the more stable the foam will be.
Another important requirement is the starting temperature of your milk.
The milk needs to be cooled, coming directly from the fridge.
For latte art and milk steaming in general, time is an important factor.
The more time I have for steaming, the more creamy the consistency of the milk will get
and the finer & smaller the bubbles will be.
How do you steam milk in a right way and create the perfect consistency?
The key to latte art is a creamy consistency of milk foam.
The crux of steaming milk is the ratio between two phases.
1.) Whipping air into the milk and 2.) Heating the milk
The first phase of whipping air for latte art should be as short as possible
so that the volume of the milk won`t become too big.
It should take until the milk has reached body temperature.
During whipping air you can hear a typical slurping sound as foam is generated.
The volume of milk is increasing, foam is rising in the jug.
To keep the submerging depth of the steam tip consistent
slowly and carefully move the pitcher downwards.
Once, I have created my desired amount of foam,
respectively, that the milk has reached body temperature,
I submerge the steam tip deeper into the milk and the second phase begins.
This phase is equally important, because air is being distributed in the milk.
During this phase, no more air is whipped, the milk is heated to the right temperature.
Here, you should pay attention
that the temperature doesn't rise above 70 °C (158°F), because lactose will be burned
and the subtle sweet flavour of milk gets lost.
Above 70 °C milk proteins are coagulated
and the texture of the foam will become more and more firm. Milk temperature can be surveilled easily
be holding the pitcher on its handle with one hand and feeling the exterior with the other hand
to check the temperature.
As I said, maximum temperature lies between 65°C and 70 °C
and that is exactly the temperature, which is tolerable to touch.
Once, I have achieved this temperature,
we always stop steaming. Always!
If I have not created the right foam texture up to this point, it is impossible to improve it.
Other important steps, before every steaming, start by briefly opening the valve to get rid of condensation
until only dry steam emerges.
After every steaming process, wipe off the steam wand with a clean, damp tissue
and quickly open the valve to get rid of milk residues.
To find the correct position of the steam wand,
you can use the spout of the pitcher as a guide.
submerge the tip about 1 cm under the milk
and place the steam wand not in the middle of the pitcher, but slightly shifted.
This position is very important to generate a vortex during steaming.
To create a creamy milk foam,
you should slightly swivel the pitcher and tap on the work surface.
In this way, larger bubbles burst.
After milk steaming, you should not wait too long pouring it, because the foam will disconnect again from the rest of the milk.
Now, I have talked long enough
and the preparation of my cappuccino can start.
I am going to decorate it with a heart. The first cappuccino, I will prepare more slowly
to show all the steps.
The second cappuccino, I will prepare at normal pace. Enjoy watching!
Hold the cup in an angle of 45 degrees and position the milk jug 3-4 cm away from the cup`s edge.
Pour the milk in the centre of the espresso and fill the cup halfway.
Then, lower the pitcher, spout close to the "crema", slightly tilt the milk jug,
slowly set the cup upright again and pour the milk steadily.
When the cup is upright again, raise the milk jug cutting the dot into a heart.
I hope you enjoyed the video!
Next time, I will show you how to pour different shapes
Tulip and rosetta
In the meantime, I link our online shop, where you can find all of our coffees, which you can easily order from home.
Follow us on Facebook or Instagram. Now, enjoy pouring a heart. Until the next video tutorial. Ciao!
 
