Heard a barista say something about steam wands that stopped me mid-sip

I was grabbing my usual morning latte at this place on 3rd Street and overheard the barista tell a trainee that you should always purge the wand before you steam milk, not after. I always thought you did it after to clean it out. Turns out if you don't blast a little steam first, you're just pushing old dried milk into your fresh pitcher. Now I'm wondering what else I've been doing backwards my whole life. Anyone else ever learn a tiny tweak that made a huge difference?

3 comments

3 Comments

logan_ellis21d ago

Actually that makes a lot of sense for temperature too. If you don't purge first, the cold water sitting in the wand drops your milk temp way down and messes up your timing. I've been steaming for years and never connected why some batches came out cold. It's wild how one little step change flips everything you thought you knew.

tara79321d ago

Oh man, that's such a good point about the cold water in the wand! Ngl I've been guilty of skipping the purge when I'm in a rush and wondering why my milk took forever to heat up. So does that mean the first few seconds of steam are basically just heating up the water that was already sitting there? That's gotta throw off the whole texture too right, like the bubbles would be way less consistent?

harpery4720d ago

Oh totally! I actually read somewhere that baristas who compete swear by purging before every single steam to keep the temperature consistent, and it makes so much sense now why my texture was always off on rushed mornings.