I really struggled with foaming milk until I found the right video. The early ones as well as the instruction manual just said stick it in and it gets foamy. I wasn't able to get any foam until the milk started boiling!

But I found a better video that explained that you need to have the steam wand almost at the surface so it's pulling in air, and after a bit of practice I think I'm getting it now. I think some steam wands have a hole to pull in air where mine doesn't.

[–] FloofahNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Try this …

First heat a small cup of milk in the microwave. Turn the machine steam wand on, and wait for steam to emit. Then dip the end of the steam wand in and out of the milk while keeping the tip near the surface, this’ll foam the milk nicely.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Interesting you say that, everything I've seen says cold milk foams better!

I seem to be getting the foaming action going well now. I've done some more practice today and I'm pretty happy with how it's going. I don't normally have milk in my coffee so I'm going through way more than normal 😃

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The knack is to heat the milk with the wand "deep" and also texture (apparently the jargon) the milk with the wand "shallow".

The combination gives you the temperature and foam you want. After some trial and error.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 months ago

Yes, that's what I saw in some of the videos. Thanks for the tip!

[–] FloofahNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Another thing I do is heat the espresso head plus the cups by placing them in boiling water from the kettle for a short while before extracting. Makes the coffee in the cups stay nicely hot afterwards. We only have a lower end Sunbeam machine, but hot coffee can be made in a couple of minutes without leaving the machine on for a long time to heat it all up.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 months ago

The Bambino seems to heat up really quick. 10 seconds or so, quick enough for it to be ready by the time I've put the coffee in the thingymajig.

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