Latte art is all the rage for social media, but do people order them for the taste or just the clout? At home I find steaming milk annoying and then it just feels like I’m sitting down to a glass of hot milk when I’m finally done. What are other people’s thoughts? Do you like milk drinks? Do you make them at home?
That makes about as much sense as asking whether people actually like coffee. There are so many variations of “coffee with milk”, and they’re usually prepared without latte art.
Personally I don’t really like steamed milk anymore, I’ll either drink my coffee without milk or with cold milk. Heated milk has a peculiar flavor that’s distinct from cold or room temperature milk, and at some point I started disliking it. Also, it has to be cow milk for me.
A lot of places overheat the milk until it becomes “construction foam” (Bauschaum). That would explain the bad taste.
I’m frothing milk at home when I want a cappuccino, so I put it into a metal vessel and hold the vessel with my hand during foaming so I can feel when the milk is nearing 80C (feels uncomfortable)
But as coffee goes, everyone has their own taste, so if you prefer cold milk - you do you. (I have another friend who likes the milk scalding hot, close to boiling - when she’s visiting I’ll make her coffee like she prefers, even if my mind goess “THIS IS SO WRONG”)
Even 80C is too hot for me. I shoot for 65C. As soon as the milk has an egg smell it’s too hot and I don’t want it! That happens way before boiling point.
Are you doing cold milk with espresso? What’s your milk to coffee ratio?
Maybe 3:1 or 5:2 coffee:milk. I don’t like my espresso blazing hot anyway, so the lower temperature suits me fine.