Hot milk variations

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

Each breakfast we have coffee made from a pint of semi-skimmed milk and about 2/3 cup of water. The mixture is then heated in a microwave for 6 minutes before ground coffee is added and stirred in.

The query concerns the milk/water when it comes out of the microwave. Sometimes it has an obvious skin on top, sometimes it has quite thick foam with a light skin, and sometimes just foam. Why the differences? All the milk is delivered by the same milkman who owns the business. There are 3 deliveries per week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) and the differences do not appear to be related to the delivery days.

Any ideas?

[MichaelRParticipant @michaelr]

Sorry Gary, Milk has no place in good coffee leave the milk out and enjoy coffee at it’s best

Just my opinion and preference.

MichaelR

 

 

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

I tend to agree, but my wife loves it for breakfast ‘cos it reminds her of her childhood, so that’s what we do. Who am I to tarnish memories?

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Cows do not produce milk to an exact specification 🙂

Also there may be variations in the distribution of the microwaves inside the oven chamber. That may cause localised overheating. The starting temperature of the milk and water mix may also affect the result.

Robert.

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

The milk always comes out of the fridge, so is likely to have a pretty consistent temperature, but the water could certainly be a factor. We have an old Victorian house with a quite deep water main, but even so there is an obvious temperature difference throughout the year.

I think Robert’s suggestion of the milk variation is the most likely, ‘cos I always put the same milk jug in the same position on the turntable and ‘cook’ for 6m10s before stirring in the ground coffee and waiting for 5m before serving.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

My Mum always heated up whole milk in a dedicated saucepan (usually until it boiled over) then she would stir in a heaped teaspoon of Nescafe. I remember her distress when the powder became unavailable, and she had to use these new-fangled granules instead – they really weren’t the same.

My father drank tea at home but Camp Coffee essence in hot water with milk and lots of sugar at work in his shop.

I weaned off sugar in my mid-twenties, and am really a tea lover, but I drink cappuccino when I’m out and sometimes make it a home in a proper machine. Espresso and black coffee are abominations best saved for removing paint or staining wood.

I still take a guilt pleasure in microwaving a mug of semi-skimmed milk and adding a spoon of Nescafe (granules) now and then, but it’s not the same taste as over-boiled whole milk.

Neil

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

If sometimes skin then I guess overheating or heat for long time. Different amount of cream or water/milk ratio will impact. Placement in the microwave will impact heat distribution.

I microwave milk on it’s own in cafetiere about 1min for one coffee worth then foam using plunger. I should try it your way… but only one cup worth.

 

 

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

There used to be special saucepans called milkpans with a) a pouring lip, and b) a taper wide at the top to contain the froth if it boiled.

Farmers get a report on their milk from the dairy because they are required to meet specific levels of fat, protein etc and have to modify the cow’s diet to meet it. Failure means rejection of the load and a whole day’s income literally down the drain. Rather than meaning a strict uniformity it means the milk will vary daily as the farmer struggles to minimise supplementary feed costs while meeting spec.

I never realised some people have weird ways of making coffee.

 

[Oily RagParticipant @oilyrag]

Lots of unknowns here in your question:

Is the milk delivered in a glass bottle? Is it homogenised? Is it from grass fed cattle, or hybrid fed, or is it stall method produced? Is the milkman sourcing his milk from a variety of farms?

I never heat milk in a microwave, always use a milk pan on the stove. I avoid Homogenised milk due to the homogenisation process causing the fat globules to be absorbed through the alimentary canal wall directly into the blood stream instead of the fat being broken down by gut microbes. I prefer my milk raw – unpastuerised and full fat – the taste is exceptional. I often refer to this milk as 94% fat free when questioned!

I drink only tea, made in a tea pot with loose leaf, strong and with the raw milk – what my dad used to call BWM tea (British Working Man tea!). When I lived and worked abroad I would ship my own tea and use sweetened condensed milk (Nestle being the best) bought locally.

[WingoParticipant @wingo]

Semi skimmed milk is a made up mixture. All milk is separated then cream added back to make semiskim or “whole milk”.

Resulting mixes may vary that could add to the variation.

Whole milk was just that, cow, pasteurised, bottle until we accepted the EU ideal of standardisation of all milk.

Any excess cream, well that’s now a bonus to the processor.

[Oily RagParticipant @oilyrag]

You are correct in this if the milk comes from ‘Big Aggri’ (the large dairy companies) but there is a growing shift, certainly in my area, of small farmers selling from the farm gate and offering raw unpastuerised milk. This is not only unpastuerised but also not homogenised.

I have a friend who is a leading producer for large dairy companies, his herd is around 250 cattle and they produce an average 3,200 litres per annum. He told me that there are concerns within the industry that the homogenisation process could be potentially driving obesity levels and more worryingly cancer. The industry is trying to move away from the single use plastic milk cartons and move back to glass bottle distribution for environmental reasons. This move would allow homogenisation to be abandoned.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

You can buy non homogenised milk at Waitrose (if you’re rich), and you can buy non pasteurised milk if you’re willing to risk TB. To blame the EU for homogenised milk really is stretching it, can Wingo justify that?

And by the way, tea made with evap or condensed milk is vile, but it takes all sorts I suppose

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Although more concerned with a lack of foaming, this might have some relevance:

Notice to Producers – Non-Foaming Milk – October 19, 2020

Also discussed here:

https://www.home-barista.com/knockbox/why-some-milk-foams-better-than-others-t102664.html

I’ve found that older milk tends to foam less, and with poorer quality (i.e. larger and less persistent bubbles), when steamed for cappuccino/cafe con leche.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

As an aside heating water in a microwave should be done with caution. OK if you’re not going anywhere near boiling, but if you overdo it you can get a flash boil which sends scalding water all over the place. This is not an urban myth, SWMBO was very lucky to get away with it. The font of all knowledge describes it well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheating

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

Thanks for all the interesting comments. Just for the record, our milk comes in glass bottles.

[duncan webster 1]

On duncan webster 1 Said:

And by the way, tea made with evap or condensed milk is vile, but it takes all sorts I suppose

But it used to be the norm in the Empire in Africa until refrigeration got everywhere in the late ’60s so some of us grew up with that or powdered milk on cereal and in tea. Later in England we got green-top from a farm in the village but they only do sheep now.

[Hugh Stewart-Smith 1Participant @hughstewart-smith1]

When I visit my in-laws in Malaysia, they, for my benefit only, take delivery from a Mr Singh who brings milk which is straight from the cows and in plastic bags hanging from the handlebars of his bike. We, or rather , mother-in-law will boil it for 2 minutes before my consumption making use of the tea-bags which I always bring with me. I’ve never suffered as a consequence.

btw, I far prefer my milk ‘with nowt taken out’ and I’m not convinced that semi-skimmed milk has an benefit over the ‘full fat’ type. Picking it up from Sainsburys just happens to be considerably more convenient than visiting a Sunday farmers market for the ‘proper stuff’

Hugh                                                                                                                          Amadeal Ltd

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I have coffee black and no sugar, made with ground coffee and in a drip feed machine, which ensures the water is not too hot, as boiling water burns coffee, and that is first thing in the morning, in my ex- Starbucks 450 ml mug before pouring it onto the bag. Although I do use coffee bags at times in a standard mug, but allow the water to go off the boil. I occasionally have a Dolce Gusto Cappuccino, using pods, but no sugar. I mostly drink tea throughout the day, made in a pot with tea bags, in a standard mug, with semi-skimmed milk, and approximately 1.2 grams of sugar. I can’t stand sugar in coffee, but I don’t like tea without a little sugar, in my much younger days I had three teaspoons of sugar, that would taste quite horrible to me now.

Regards Nick.

[Oily RagParticipant @oilyrag]

As Bazle says – in the far reaches of the Empire tea was generally only available with condensed and sweetened milk. It used to be nicknamed ‘British Army Tea’. I had an uncle who was in the North Africa campaign in WWII and he only had tea with condensed milk. It is tolerable if you cannot get fresh milk and in the Far East it is difficult, believe me. In China and Japan it is impossible to find fresh milk (probably why all their teeth fall out before the age of 50!). India, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam it is available but you have to search for it.

I rarely drink coffee, especially in England as I find it is closely related to mud. However, one coffee I came to enjoy was Vietnamese black cherry coffee prepared in the ‘Coc Loc’ system (this required an accent over the first O and a dot under the second O). Freshly ground coffee and water just off boiling (90 – 95C).

[Author]

Posts