Espresso Question: Can I steam half&half or cream?

[Rabrrrrrr]

Obviously I could just run a test sample and find out for myself but it's more fun to post on DU and ask y'all.

I'm wondering if the higher concentration of stuff in cream and half&half makes it killable by steam, or if I'm good to go.

[Must_B_Free]

1. the heavier, the worse it steams

in my experience, I use 2% milk

But if you want to steam that, you probably get better results from taking the rubber tip off and just potting the metal steam nozzle right at the top of the 1/2 and 1/2.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. That's what I was afraid of.

Sadly, I have no milk here. Only cream and half&half. Which, considering all the bad that could happen to a person, that ain't such a bad position to be in.

[hlthe2b]

8. Half and half will do just fine....

[Must_B_Free]

9. you can water it down a little, too

but try it.

The critical thing is to have good steam, sometimes I don;t turn the knob far enough and don't realize that the heater is off on the steam side... then I ged bad foam.

For an extra treat, put some honey in the bottom of the steam beacon.

I have also used thick chocolate milk mixed with %2 milk.

[debsianben]

2. Yes, you can

Certainly. Lots of coffee shops do it all the time...if they have a latte with steamed half-and-half instead of steamed milk, its called a "breve." Anyway, yes, it's possible and un-problematic to steam half-and-half, and the result is delicious.

The things you learn at DU, eh?

[pnorman]

13. The directions that came with my first espresso machine,

was pretty emphatic about using low fat milk for the cappuchino. That was almost 20 years ago, and I scrupulously avoided anything heavier than 2% ... until now. I'm going to run out right NOW, and buy some H&H. I feel like a DORK for so slavishly following directions without even considering an experiment. (Hell of a fan of Chomsky I turned out to be!).

My present espresso machine "entrains" the milk by jet-effect vacuum, and makes a very nice and thick foam. Almost anything (short of buttermilk) ought to work just fine. THANKS, DU gang!

pnorman

On edit: I can't believe I misspelled 'espresso', after all these years in this fair city! (Hell of a Seattleite I turned out to be!).

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. Wow - you lost out twice

Not a good Chomsky fan, not a good Seattleite...

What does it mean "Jet effect" vacuum?

I want the automatic $1,300 espresso machine I saw over Christmas that has it's own water supply, a bean storage bin, and auto grounds ejector. Probably can make ten cups or so before having to empty the bin and replenish the water. Drooooooooooool. Ultimately, of course, i'd like on that dumps grounds into a trash can and is connected to the tap so I never have to add water and has a direct line to the milk jug in the fridge. Oh, and it would be voice activated so I could shout from the living room "Cappuccino!" and by the time I wakled to the kitchen, it is already encupped.

[pnorman]

15. I spelled it correctly in the text,

but I screwed up in the subject line ("expresso"!). May Noam forgive me!

Here's my ESPRESSO machine: http://www.aabreecoffee.com/capespumesma.html Instead of that milk container, I use the optional flexible tube off the sidearm, and stick it in a small tumbler of (2%) milk. In the other container, the milk seemed to go 'bad' after a while, probably from too much in & out exposure. There's no control over the final temperature, and it doesn't come out quite as hot as I'd want it. 30~40s in the microwave does it just right.

"jet-effect" vacuum? ... here's a much fancier device using that principle: http://www.alstomenergysystems.com/pro05.htm

PS: There was no H&H at the corner grocery today, so I bought heavy whipping cream instead. No good! ... it barely 'lifted'! On the market are some foamers (aereators) for making cappucino. I might consider one of those, after I try out the H&H variant first at an espresso joint.

pnorman

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Way nicer machine than mine!

Mine was about $30. Real cheapie. But it works. :-)

Thanks for the info - now that I've seen the pic, I understand the jet-effect vacuum.

Sorry you couldn't find any H&H. Bummers! But you can use that cream to make something else delicious!

[pnorman]

18. When I first came to Seattle in 1980,

the downtown tap water was very good. Since then, it went downhill by degrees. By now, it REEKS of Chlorine on certain days. My first espresso machine, a very sturdy one that lasted almost 15 years, finally succumbed to kidney-stones. Since then, I'd been using bottled water for all my coffee & tea. But several months ago, I began using a BRITA filter water pitcher. It works just fine. http://www.brita.com/202i.html

I also bought some special cleaner & descaler powder which ought to handle the kidney-stone problem, but haven't used it yet. It looks like a tedious operation, so I'll devote a (rainy) afternoon to cleaning & descaling ALL of my coffee & tea apparati.

pnorman

[Liberal Christian]

20. I used to have the same problem in Wyoming

Our water came from a river about 20 miles away, so they loaded it with chlorine for its trip through the pipeline. It smelled like a swimming pool out of the tap.

I got a Brita filter right away and used it constantly. I also bought a new stainless steel tea kettle when I moved into that house. When I moved out seven years later, the inside of that tea kettle was like new. The tea kettle at church, OTOH, in which they'd always used plain tap water, had stalagmites and stalactites all over the inside.

I'm sold on Brita filters.

[radwriter0555]

21. ooo I love that brita filter. My fridge has an in-door water

cooler that gets refilled by hand and it came with the brita, like the pitcher model. It makes a huge diff on taste and quality and gets rid of that chlorine.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. We have to use a sink filter for our drinking water

one of those superduper ones that takes everything bigger than about 0.7 microns or something.

Never had a coffee pot or kettle calcium-up on me yet. :-)

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. Have you tried running white vinegar through a few brew cycles?

That always did the trick for me when I had deposits.

Good idea to go with the filter. MUCH better water. :-)

[opiate69]

3. Half & Half, Yes..

My fiancee drinks "breves", which are lattes made with H&H insead of milk, and they always steam them.. not sure about heavy cream, though.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Thanks everyone!

I'll give te H&H a try! I didn't know it had an official name. "breve" - now I know!

[hlthe2b]

5. Of course.... A latte made with half&half is known as a BREVE

Cream content does affect the ease of "foaming" the milk, as nonfat and lowfat milk actually do best. But, any form of milk can be used to produce a great cappacino or latte.

[emulatorloo]

6. I haven't had much luck w it, but your mileage may vary

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Look at that - in five minutes, 6 answers

See - I said it was more fun to ask DU!!

And I learned the word "breve".

We rock!! Even those of who aren't females who enjoy geeky things.

Okay, I'm off to make a breve!

[Capn Sunshine]

11. One caveat

Use LESS that you usually put in the pot; it foams like crazy at first.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Well, that didn't work too badly.

Didn't work greatly, either, but not too badly. Apart from the H&H I sprayed on my sweater and the wall and the coffee machine and the counter...

I'm not very good at using that steamer thing, and it's a cheap espresso maker.

So, not the high level foam I'd like, but it still tastes darn good. Mmmm mmmmm. Just right for a Sunday's evening of writing.

[alwynsw]

17. The real thing uses skim

but 1% or 2% seem to work pretty well in our machine.

[radwriter0555]

19. I can steam ANYTHING... and yes, you can do half n half.. it works

just fine.

Gotta find the rythm....

[Seldona]

24. Half and half works.

We use it alot at our coffee shop.

Never tried it with cream, but I imagine it would work.

With the cream, I would work the nozzle of the steamer in and out of the top of the milk and you shjould get a good head of foam.

Almost like whipping.

[pnorman]

25. I see this thread is STILL alive.

Wazzamatta? ... all this coffee talk keeping everybody awake? As expected, there's plenty coffee stuff available on the web. Here's where I usually check out for coffee info: http://coffeegeek.com/ I've been considering roasting the beans myself. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I now know almost enough to make a sound decision.

pnorman

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. Dude, I haven't slept since I unpacked the espresso machine

and started this thread two days ago....

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzz

:-)

Thanks for the coffeegeek link! Hadn't seen that before.

[pnorman]

27. Yeah, I like that site.

It's a good place to look, for some really knowledgeable evaluations of geek-gear. There's where I located my syphon coffee-maker: http://www.hariousa.com/cofsypnouv5c.html

I don't actually have a licence to carry a brief-case, but those 500 ml. brief-case models still come in handy. I picked my Nissin model after reading this: http://coffeegeek.com/proreviews/detailed/thermosnissan/bottles (There's a Titanium model somewhere on that webpage, if you have $$$$$ to burn).

I'll check them out later on milk frothers (Can't let that whipping cream go to waste).

NOW GET TO BED; YOU'RE MAKING ME NERVOUS!

pnorman

[Rabrrrrrr]

29. You need a license to carry a brief-case?

I don't understand. Unless you mean you're not a yuppie.

I have a Nissan thermos - not one that would fit in a briefcase, at least not any briefcase I'd want to carry - and I love it! Expensive, but it works beautifully. Keeps coffee hot for HOURS.


bbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[pnorman]

31. I said: "GET TO BED!"

EDM (Elderly Downwardly Mobile) -- Not to mention Sleepless In Seattle.

pnorman

[pnorman]

32. Hey Rabrrrrrr!!

You can wake up now. I checked out the milk foamers on that coffeegeek.com web-page. They were a little condescending towards "faux foam", as compared to the "micro-foam" that a "good machine" could deliver (ie: $1500 or better). But they had a few kind words to say about the Nissan hand-frother; mainly because it had "style". Instead I ended up buying this little beauty for $20.00: http://www.aerolatte.biz/indexl.html

It worked up a nice foam with what remained of that heavy whipping cream, but it was more of a confection than a beverage. next time I'll try H&H.

pnorman

[Rabrrrrrr]

37. Wow - nice frother!

The coffeegeek site is a tad obnoxious about the foamning. I liked how they said that the noobs could get "acceptable" foam from one of the "cheaper" machines - cheaper meaning the $399 model. My espresso make is a TRUE cheap one - cost about $25-30 AND came with a coffee grinder (that was ten years ago, but even now, it goes for a mere $50 or so).

Sheesh.

$399 is NOT cheap to me.

Perhaps I could steam the H&H or cream to get it warm, then beat it up with a wisk. Might not work, but worth the experiment.

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. Wow - I've been reading coffeegeek for like a half hour now..

as addictive as coffee itself.

WOW! What a great site!

[Liberal Christian]

34. Did I forget to tell you about coffeegeek.com?

Found it about a month ago. Great site.

[Bertha Venation]

28. Yes.

When H&H or cream is used, your beverage is called cafe bravè (I think).

Ah.... moonlighting in a coffee house... wonderful memories.

[Dookus]

33. LOL...

is this the new "thread that will not die?"

Two and a half days on one of the simplest questions I've ever seen!

Long live the steamcream thread! Huzzah!

[pnorman]

35. I'm just frothing up my post count,

but I've got a long way to go before I hit 1000+ posts. But most here learned a few things they didn't know before. So relax, have a nice glass of warm milk, and get to bed.

You want Heat (and hopefully, some Light?) Try this:
I'm still supporting Dennis Kucinich. No, NOT because he's odds on to win the General Election, or even the Democratic nomination. (But things may suddenly turn so sour, that Dennis may be perceived as a hard-headed "moderate"). But the nature of the problem is so deep-seated and fundamental, that "pruning that nauseating punk" off the tree, may not solve the problem. For that, this nation (and the rest of the world) needs a popular MOVEMENT. We saw the beginnings of that in Seattle during WTO Week, and it's been repeated throughout the rest of the world. It's still ALIVE. If we're afraid to lose in the short run, we'll NEVER win in the long run.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win." --- Gandhi

pnorman
STAND UP, KEEP FIGHTING http://shows.implex.tv/wellstone/

[Rabrrrrrr]

36. don't you be threadjacking!

:spank: :spank:

:hi: :party: :bounce: :hi:

[pnorman]

38. Trying to get the last word in, are you?

Don't try that on a guy (actually, an elderly fart) as far behind in posting count as I am!

COFFEE GEEK RULES!!

pnorman