I figured out something interesting tonight while frothing soy milk...

[Meltdown]

I figured out something interesting tonight, if you don't 'cook' the soy milk long enough, it retains that pungent 'soy' taste, many of us don't like.

So what I did tonight, by mistake, was actually let the milk continue to froth and 'cook' for an additional 5 seconds after the jug was too hot to touch.

I ended up with best looking (silky shiny on the latte), and best tasting (no pungent soy taste) milk I've yet had on my Bezzera Mitica.
The Mitica has a really strong steam wand, so if your steam it not as powerful, maybe go a bit longer.

Give it a try! I am now happy to say for the first time since having my Mitica, that my soy latte rivals that of my local cafe (who was my benchmark)

[LeroyC]

Yeah that makes sense. More heat generally = less flavour. I can't imagine you'd taste the coffee through that superheated soy either. Unless you waited a while for it to cool before pouring it into the coffee.

[kyeba]

How many sugars?

[Meltdown]

Yeah that makes sense. More heat generally = less flavour. I can't imagine you'd taste the coffee through that superheated soy either. Unless you waited a while for it to cool before pouring it into the coffee.

The milk just tastes more neutral, it tastes fine and not burnt if I sip the milk directly from the jug. The trick is to get rid of the strong soy taste while not burning the milk.
And yes, because the milk was a lot less pungent, I could taste the coffee now much more clearly.

[Meltdown]

How many sugars?

I don't use sugar anymore and it changed my life. Its also impossible to taste the coffee properly when you have sugar. I sprinkle cinnamon on top immediately after pouring the milk, this 'melts' the cinnamon and avoids it becoming dust which one can easily get down the windpipe causing your coffee to go everywhere! This happened to me in a cafe once lool, its one thing to have a piece of food go down your windpipe and cough, but quite another to have your mouth full of coffee and cough

If you must use sugar, use coconut sugar, if you want a fancy latte, look on youtube how to make a StarBucks Dolce Latte. You can use coconut sugar to make the syrups too.

[pyrmontboy200]

I figured out something interesting tonight while frothing soy milk...

I would've thought overheating the soy milk like this would increase the chance of it splitting, especially when using more acidic beans. Also I've found at higher temperatures soy turns to 1980s cappuccino foam pretty quickly. Bonsoy at 65 deg suits me the best.

[Yelta]

I don't use sugar anymore and it changed my life. Its also impossible to taste the coffee properly when you have sugar. I sprinkle cinnamon on top immediately after pouring the milk, this 'melts' the cinnamon and avoids it becoming dust which one can easily get down the windpipe causing your coffee to go everywhere! This happened to me in a cafe once lool, its one thing to have a piece of food go down your windpipe and cough, but quite another to have your mouth full of coffee and cough

If you must use sugar, use coconut sugar, if you want a fancy latte, look on youtube how to make a StarBucks Dolce Latte. You can use coconut sugar to make the syrups too.

G'day meltdown

Would you mind telling us how not using sugar changed your life? sounds like an interesting story.

Powdered cinnamon is the finely ground bark of a tree, it doesn't melt, I suspect what's happening is the powder is absorbing moisture from the milk.

[Meltdown]

G'day meltdown

Would you mind telling us how not using sugar changed your life? sounds like an interesting story.

I grew up my whole life having sugar in my tea and coffee. And every day was a coin flip, I'd wake up feeling unfocused and low on energy, and quite depressed really, but I didn't know any better, so thought this was just how life was.

Back then I drank mostly tea, and the occasional cup of instant coffee, then I started having honey in my tea, and realised I enjoyed it and found I could no longer enjoy sugar in coffee as it tasted so synthetic.
So I cut out sugar completely. Within about 2 weeks, I was feeling a lot happier about life, my mind was a lot sharper, and my memory became insanely good. I feel like this massive grey cloud has been lifted off my brain and now I can see and think much more clearly. One time I was out of honey, so borrowed a housemates sugar for a couple of days, and immediately the cloud was back, and I felt very depressed, and it was from the sugar!

Since then its only honey now or coconut sugar. And my life is the better for it

[Meltdown]

I would've thought overheating the soy milk like this would increase the chance of it splitting, especially when using more acidic beans. Also I've found at higher temperatures soy turns to 1980s cappuccino foam pretty quickly. Bonsoy at 65 deg suits me the best.

I don't know what the temp of the milk is but when I get a thermo I'll let you know.
But it certainly doesn't split, and it tastes better, and has an even shinier wet paint look, and makes better latte art. So all indicators are telling me this is the correct technique. Perhaps it only works for this brand of soy milk, who knows. I'm in NZ and haven't seen Bonsoy on the shelves.

[LeroyC]

Like some of the others this doesn't make any sense to me. But I'm intrigued and rather than discount your experience without trying it myself I might just have to give it a go. I try to avoid soy milk now, but I'm sure a few coffees won't hurt.

[itsmeyd]

I've given up on Soy milk. It usually curdles. I've resorted to black or filtered coffee.

[papagoose]

It's hard to say without knowing the temperature. I aim for about 70-75 for milk, but 65-70 for soy. That's still too hot for me to hold the jug, though. So for me, if I can comfortably hold the jug, then it's under-temperature. And I totally agree that soy flavour seems to change a lot depending on temperature, and it seems more sensitive than milk. It's different for different brands of soy milk too, so it's well worth having a play with a thermometer to see what you like best.

Curdling is interesting too, it is linked to acidity but often you can just use more soy milk to prevent curdling. For coffees with just a little soy milk eg. plunger or aeropress, it can look a bit like miso soup, but adding a little more soy milk returns it to normal. For espresso based drinks, I think there is just a limit on the espresso/soy ratio eg. I have a 250ml cup which is fine for a double shot soy latte, but it will curdle if I try to do a double shot latte in a 180ml cup. Can't even think about a soy piccolo or macchiato...!

[Vinitasse]

"I aim for about 70-75 for milk"

Seriously????

[readeral]

Measure on a faulty thermometer ?!

[LeroyC]

"I aim for about 70-75 for milk"

Seriously????

I guess heat takes precedence over flavour for some people. Would go nicely with that extra large, single shot latte with 3 sugars and a vanilla shot.