Steaming your milk for the perfect cappuccino can be one of the most frustrating skills to master on your journey to home barista extraordinaire! There are lots of tips on how to do it better, but the thing that will ultimately take your milk to the next level is practice as you get to know your machine.
Especially at home, you only get to practice a couple of times a day.
But there is a trick, that we originally heard from professional barista trainers, that help you practice without massive wastage. It's a little dishwashing liquid in some water, simple as that! This helps you get used to the angle of your steam wand, the depth it should sit in the liquid and the sound you need to listen for, without even using milk! Try using cold water from the fridge so that it doesn't heat up as quickly and you have time to play around.
This solution mimics the texture of milk and you can easily see if your technique needs tweaking by checking out the size of the bubbles.
