We all know that a cup of perfect cappuccino can be drunk only in your favorite cafe, because there professional baristas know all the secrets of cooking.
On a professional coffee machine, where silky milk whipped in a pitcher is poured into a portion of fresh espresso, a truly masterpiece emerges. But if you want coffee at home like in a coffee shop, it is quite possible to prepare a drink yourself - by whipping milk in a French press.
To do this, we need:
● Water, ideally filtered or bottled
● Freshly ground grain, from 6 grams per 100 ml of water to 10/100, the proportion depends on your favorite cooking method
● Milk, we recommend a high percentage of fat
● French press for whipping milk
Notes: we prepare cappuccino coffee in any way convenient for you. For example, in a cezve, the recipe is in our blog, in the section “Self-barista”.
Let's prepare milk
We do not try to be perfect, but we will try to achieve the desired consistency.
1. To begin with, you need to heat the milk, it can be done in the microwave or on the stove, the optimal temperature of milk - 55-65 degrees (after 70 degrees the milk is overheated, loses its sweet taste and begins to acquire a bitter unpleasant taste).
* Readiness can be checked tactilely, scooping the milk with a spoon, if it is hot enough, but not yet scorched - it's time to remove from heat.
2. Pour the milk into the French press, the volume of milk in the device should contain ⅔ of the device, lower the piston and start pushing up and down.
3. First, to create a foam, make 5 full dips and rises of the piston.
4. Intensively repeat the same movements at the top of the French press, so that the foam does not have large bubbles.
5. Lower the piston to the bottom 2/3 and also intensively raise and lower. This replaces the steam kneading process and removes large air bubbles from the foam surface. Milk gives the device resistance, and thus all layers of milk are covered.
6. Slowly and carefully remove the piston, large bubbles appear, so the milk in the French press immediately need to "knock" and mix in a circular motion. If necessary, repeat.
7. Pour the milk. Ideally, pour the milk into a pitcher, but you can use the flask itself, a French press, a wide measuring cup or any container with a pointed spout.
8. Prepare coffee. The finished coffee in the cup should be at the rate of 100 ml per cup with a volume of 300 ml.
. Pour milk into coffee. In order to create latte art at home, you need to mix the milk well in the pitcher or replace it, add a small amount of foamed milk to the coffee and mix in a circular motion of the cup into a uniform consistency. At the same time do not forget to mix the milk in the pitcher in parallel. The cup should be kept at an angle and aligned as it fills.
Notes: The closer the pitcher's spout is to the surface of the coffee, the more foam gets on it, the higher - the more milk with foam sinks in the coffee.
10. And now enjoy the drink!
Advice from our chef barista Olesya Zhadan: “After whipping milk, you should act very quickly, because the foam separates from the milk and then it will be almost impossible to create latte art. Despite the high visual similarity of cappuccino made in the French press and coffee machine, the texture and behavior of milk will be different. The milk foam from the French press will have a high content of air inside, such foam will be quite dense, less elastic and delaminates quickly. That's why milk should be poured into coffee immediately after beating. ”
Don't expect the drink to taste like a coffee shop, because we don't use espresso, but a home brewing method with a lot of water. Either way, feel free to experiment and find your perfect homemade cappuccino or latte!
Everything you need for the perfect coffee at home can be purchased from our website in the “Shop” section. We are all home baristas)