spoonman Senior Member Joined: 4 Sep 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Brisbane - Australia Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Breville 800ES Grinder: De'Longhi KG100
Posted Sat Sep 8, 2007, 1:17am Subject: Frothing Issues
With my current machine it takes ~1 minute to froth 150ml of milk, this seems quite a long time.
Current I use a thermo-block based machine and was wondering if a boiler based machine is better ? Or is it down to the amount of steam coming out that will improve the speed ??
Posted Sun Sep 9, 2007, 11:35pm Subject: Re: Frothing Issues
Welcome to CoffeeGeek, spoonman.
1 minute to steam milk is common on the lower-end espresso machines. CoffeeGeek's First Look of a mid-range machine, the Gaggia Classic, showed about a minute to steam 7 oz (207 ml) of milk. The steaming times will vary on different machines, based on the method it uses to produce steam, and how it's delivered. For example, some machines have a wand with one hole in it, which would steam quite slowly. Others have 2, 3, or more holes on them, which will produce more steam pressure, and also contributes to better agitation of the milk (swirling, or whirlpooling). Obviously, of a steam tip has more holes, it has to have the capacity to deliver enough steam. Some thermoblock machines can produce better steam than machines which have a small boiler with little head space for steam. I think the machine designer has to balance steam capacity and wand design to get the best out of the machine. On my Isomac, for example, it came stock with a 2-hole steam tip, which I swapped for an aftermarket 3-hole tip -- the machine had plenty of reserve for the steam, so I can steam and steam away for a long time without losing pressure.
This obviously didn't answer your question, and not about your machine specifically, but maybe it gives you an idea about the characteristics of steam production and how it's related to duration and speed of steaming.
Dana Leighton - Espresso hack and CoffeeGeek moderator
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