How long should it take to develop the skill for creating consistent microfoam and latte art. I have been making espresso and latte drinks at home on my Simonelli Oscar for about 9 months now and I am still struggling with consistency.
My machine in not hard plumbed and I'm wondering if that has something to do with developing sufficient pressure to texture the milk. When I order a latte at a good coffee shop, I notice that the barista steams the milk in a few seconds, maybe 8 - 10 and the whirlpool begins pretty quickly, even while they stretch the milk. On my machine, it takes about 8 - 10 seconds to develop decent foam and get it up to 95-100 degrees, and then another 10 seconds to texture up to 140ish degrees, but I don't feel like I am getting good incorporation of the microfoam into the steamed milk underneath. I usually have to do a fairly amount of manual swirling afterward and when I back off on the stretching a bit, the milk is too thin.
So my really long question is, does my technique need further refinement or am I limited by the properties, primarily pressure, of my machine? Can I expect better results when I graduate to a production level machine?
Also, what is the best milk to use for latte art? I have been playing around with different types of milk from skim to whole and also soy and have had varying degrees of success in make good consistent microfoam. Whole milk steams the best while skim is the toughest. Soy can foam relatively well depending on the brand.
Thanx.
Joe
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