Dumb coffee quote

[Jonathon]

The latest coffee click bait in The Age isn't a bad one, but it has the dumbest quote I've read for a while:

"the milk is right when the jug is too hot to keep your hand on it for more than three seconds"

For who? An 18 year old in his first job might reach this point at maybe 60 degrees, but an experienced kitchen worker is likely to reach this point at 70+ degrees and some chefs' hands are so used to hot things they'd barely notice it at 75-80 degrees.

Mugshot: 'An extra-hot latte please' | goodfood.com.au

[mwcalder05]

I use this method at work and it works for me. It's a case of checking and drinking your coffee and seeing how hot it is and then calibrating your hand differently. While I don't agree it's a technique for everyone, it's a good starting point.

Michael

[timdimdom]

i have seen the quote rather often in the literature. you do have a point about it being a little far fetched for a beginner, but the range for the temperature threshold for pain in the hand between people is quite narrow... so at most its about 5 degrees either way - not too bad if you didnt have a thermometer on hand?

[Jonathon]

i have seen the quote rather often in the literature. you do have a point about it being a little far fetched for a beginner, but the range for the temperature threshold for pain in the hand between people is quite narrow... so at most its about 5 degrees either way - not too bad if you didnt have a thermometer on hand?

Yep I agree that without a thermometer it's the way to go. My advice to newbies is to start steaming with a good instant read thermometer and after they've done it for a while they'll get very used to what 60 degrees feels like.

I used to do a lot in the chocolate world and most chocolatiers can put melted chocolate to their lips and tell to within 1-2 degrees what temp it is, in the range 28-40 degrees.

[Juvv]

90% of commercial places overheat the milk. it shits me to tears and is one of the reasons I hate buying coffees. Id rather make mine at home

[javaNOTcode]

90% of commercial places overheat the milk. it shits me to tears and is one of the reasons I hate buying coffees. Id rather make mine at home

Amen to that!

Even with my crappy technique and entry level machine I'd still rather make it myself.

[kava]

The latest coffee click bait in The Age isn't a bad one, but it has the dumbest quote I've read for a while:

"the milk is right when the jug is too hot to keep your hand on it for more than three seconds"

For who? An 18 year old in his first job might reach this point at maybe 60 degrees, but an experienced kitchen worker is likely to reach this point at 70+ degrees and some chefs' hands are so used to hot things they'd barely notice it at 75-80 degrees.

Mugshot: 'An extra-hot latte please' | goodfood.com.au

It's probably not a bad measure. I use a measure similar to that when judging when a fire is ready for me to grill food on it - Hold my hand 12cm above the grill surface and count the seconds before I can hold no longer. 1-2 seconds = high. 3-4 seconds = medium. 5-6 seconds = low. Scientifically it's rubbish compared to using a thermometer but people keep asking for my recipes!

[Rocky]

Wouldn't work for me. I'm a wus when it comes to heat - so my wife tells me (so it must be true).
Don't like hot showers, washing-up water etc.
I'd let go by about 50 degrees I reckon.

[cirrus]

What if you have guitar fingers? Takes a while for those to burn.

[Kevo]

Are you serious cirrus?

[mwcalder05]

Valid question Cirrus. I play guitar and have calluses but if you use the techniques correctly and use the palm of your hand, this shouldn't be a problem.

[Yelta]

Valid question Cirrus. I play guitar and have calluses but if you use the techniques correctly and use the palm of your hand, this shouldn't be a problem.

Unless you have calluses on the palm of your hands, caused by, ummmm, all sorts of things.

PS I use a thermometer.

[Journeyman]

I was told to use the hand technique in a barista course in Melb. Worked well enough to get me to making lattés better than probably 80% of cafés I visited. But on advice from TampIt I bought a couple of thermos, not overly expensive but not the cheapest, and used a medical thermometer to calibrate them around 40ºC. Both were slightly out, circa 4º + 5º. My palm technique was also out by about the same amount, although it seemed to vary day-to-day by maybe 2º.

Then I used the thermos to work out what was happening with the thermo on my EM7000 and now use that to get my luvverly milk.

I think you could use the hand as a guide once you have practice at making good milk but for a novice, the variation is too much and they'd wind up without the sweetness you get when milk is just right.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

The strangest imaginable use for a thermos JM