Follow along:
What You’ll Need:
Fresh beans, your milk of choice, milk pitcher, dry cloth, wet cloth, 8oz mug.
Step 1: Make Your Perfect Espresso
Refer to our “Perfect Espresso” page to prepare your cappuccino!
Step 2: Pour 6oz of Milk
Take your milk pitcher and pour your milk of choice up to the 6oz line (shown inside pitcher). TIP: By keeping your milk cold and pitchers chilled, you are giving yourself more time to froth your milk before it gets too hot to steam.
Step 3: Steam Milk
Press the steam preheat button in standby. When the steam light is solid, insert the wand into the pitcher at a 45 degree angle. Turn the steam knob towards you until you hear a click. Bring the wand to the surface of your milk to aerate the milk and prevent it from “screaming.” Unlike a latté, where you would submerge the entire wand into the milk, for cappuccinos you want to keep the tip of the wand close to the surface of the milk the entire time you steam. This ensures your ratio of macro foam is larger than micro foam or hot milk. Steam until desired froth or until the pitcher is hot to the touch. Turn off the steam knob while the wand is still submerged, wait for air to stop to remove the wand from the milk. TIP: Always use two hands when steaming milk.
Step 4: Clean and Purge Steam Wand
(Caution: Hot) Take your damp cloth and wipe your steam wand immediately after steaming milk. To purge is to activate the steam feature for only a quick moment on its own after you have wiped it clean. Purging the wand helps release excess milk in the wand. Make this a strong habit as this is what preserves your machine for years of coffee to come.
Step 5: Pour Milk into Double Espresso Shot
Cappuccinos are a smaller hot beverage that allows macro foam to sit on top of the micro foam and hot milk. This gives a creamier experience. TIP: When a drier cappuccino is desired, steam the milk for a cappuccino before pulling your espresso shot to let the milk’s foam separate for an extra 10-20 seconds, this will give you the option to control how much macro foam is in your cup. Some use a spoon and scoop off the top layer of the foam to add directly on top of your beverage.
