To read part-1 of this post click here
This post is for anyone who has a French press or a French press style milk frother such as those from Bodum or Bellemain etc.
Step 1
Pour heated milk (65-70°C) into your French press. Stick to about 1/3rd the maximum capacity. For example, if you have a small 300ml French press, pour about 100ml of milk into it for frothing. This is so because after frothing is complete, this can expand to bout 200ml or more of volume inside the French Press.
Step 2
This manoeuvre will do the initial aeration of milk and only needs to be done once. Keep the plunger at top of milk surface and make 3-4 slow and long strokes through to the bottom of French press. This step dictates the final thickness of your frothed milk, so you can do it 3 times for say, a latte or 4 times for a cappuccino. Refer the gif for visual reference of the manoeuvre.
Step 3
Take the plunger 1-2cm below the milk surface and make 10 short and quick plunges. Keep the plunger move limited to the middle portion of milk, avoid moving the lunger either to top or bottom extremes of milk. Repeat this 4 times, take plunger above milk surface and swirl the milk once. Now repeat the 10 short and quick plunge step again. The complete sequence is as follows:
10 short plunges - move plunger out of milk and swirl - 1 —> 10 short plunges - move plunger out of milk and swirl - 2 —> 10 short plunges - move plunger out of milk and swirl - 3 —> 10 short plunges - move plunger out of milk and swirl - 4
Finally remove plunger out of French press, give the froth one gentle swirl and tap the French Press gently on your counter top once, to get rid of bigger air bubble and pour your frothed milk into your coffee beverage.
Notes:
1. Pre-heating the French press with hot water will prevent a 3-5°C drop in frothed milk temperature
2. These instructions work well for cow whole milk with a fat content of 3.5%. No two milks are equal so increase or decrease the sets of short and quick plunges proportionately to get your desired thickness of foam with your chosen milk.
3. Low fat content will result in sweeter and frothier milk, but the foam could have larger bubble size. Swirl and tap your milk container a couple of times to get rid of the larger bubbles.
4. If you want to attempt latte art with this frothed milk, pour it back and forth between another container and your latte art pitcher to get better paint like consistency of frothed milk. The milk should stick to sides of your container if it has been frothed well.