Capuccino/ Milk or no milk?

[Guest]

I liked to know a Europeans opinion on the "true" definition of a capuccino. Most of what I've read here states that a cp is 1/3 milk,1/3 foam and 1/3 espresso. My belief has always been that it is strictly espresso with only foam. I think perhpas the true answer is that either definitionis correct depending on what country or even region that your in. Bottom line is that I want to kow the tradition in Italy!! Thanks, and I don't want to hear the Starbucks defintion.

 

[Alun_evans]

You might want to buy the capuccino VCD from SCAE. It's s detailed video on how to make decorated capuccinos...the Italian way! Pretty good video although the background music through out gets on your nerves a little.

 

[redmoose]

n : equal parts of espresso and hot milk topped with cinnamon and nutmeg and usually whipped cream

also

espresso coffee mixed with frothed hot milk or cream and often flavored with cinnamon

and these are not starbucks

 

[pablos]

If I got a cappuccino with whipped cream I'd smack the barista. I've never seen one with whipped cream either here or anywhere in Europe.

The other day this lady ordered a cap from me, and when I served it to her, she said, "this isn't a cappuccino."

To make a long short, I asked her where she usually buys her cappuccinos. And she replied "7-11"... where they have a machine that mixed powdered "milK" with instant "coffee" and "vanilla powdered flava".

I thought that was cute.

 

[topher]

Macchiato=espresso topped with a dollop of froth...Pablos..I have had that happen to me before too....what can you do :roll:

 

[Guest]

cappuccino milk or no milk

from what i have learned there are two types of cappuccino there is wet and dry variation the wet consist of half milk and half foam as for the dry it has more foam and less liquid and also the wet is also used for the latte art.

 

[noobii]

yes, what ernie said. i just learned it today.

 

[NW JAVA]

I usually just ask my customer what they would like. " a dry or wet" or are they confused over what a Latte' is and what a cappy is......See besides what we all think, what really matters is that your customer gets what they expect, and better than the last place they tryed it. My.02

 

[pstam]

I usually just ask my customer what they would like. " a dry or wet" or are they confused over what a Latte' is and what a cappy is......See besides what we all think, what really matters is that your customer gets what they expect, and better than the last place they tryed it. My.02

This is not a good way. There are different names and it makes people confused, in my opinion. We wuld help to make people in a right direction, not else. So, going with the original recipes and it gives your the perfect tastes.

The original recipe for cappuccino in Italy is same amount of espresso, milk and froth. That is really true.

The so called wet and dry cappuccino is just American style and Italian style cappuccino. But we prefer only dry one. The wet one is nothing but milky coffee.

 

[Guest]

what ever, I'm just saying what the market in the NW is like....not china.

 

[KG]

Macchiato=espresso topped with a dollop of froth...Pablos..I have had that happen to me before too....what can you do :roll:

Yes it fact Macchiato means "to Mark" so it would be you are Marking the shot with a drop of foam.

However many people get confused because of the Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks.

 

[pstam]

However many people get confused because of the Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks.

I think so.

I would prefer follow the original direction of Italy. In fact, the name is not so important to change the taste, but we can make people understand each other. Just like English, it is not good to change the meaning of many words. Otherwise, we cannot talk to each other.

"Can I have an apple?"; "What do you mean by 'apple'?".

 

[phaelon56]

If you can really truly get a consistent texture that yields "pourable microfoam" (the type of foamed milk that yields great results for latte art), it's not easy to just vary the amount of foamed milk vs fluffy foam.

In our shop and due to local preferences we stretch the milk to 80 degrees for lattes before plunging the steam tip and stretch it to 100 degrees for cappas in order to get more foam or a lighter fluffier layer of foam. When a customer request a latte with "no foam or very little foam" we can control the amount of foam going into the cup byt holding a flat bladed spatula knife across the pouring spout edge of the pitcher. When they request their cappa "wet" we release just a bit more foam at the end of the pour. When they request it "dry" we don't hold back any foam at all.

I'm in agreement that an ideal ratio is 1/3 to 1/3 to 1/3 but we also need to accomodate hte desires of our customers or they will go elsewhere. That's not to say that we can't educate them and we often do. If I sense that a customer is open minded I often suggest going with a smaller cup size and getting a quad shot (our standard shot for all drinks is a 1.5 oz double ristretto). They are typically surprised by how good the drink tastes - usually because they asspciate espresso with the bitter taste and burnt taste of Starbucks.

And an espresso with whipped cream is an "espresso con panna".

 

[pstam]

If you can really truly get a consistent texture that yields "pourable microfoam" (the type of foamed milk that yields great results for latte art), it's not easy to just vary the amount of foamed milk vs fluffy foam.

In our shop and due to local preferences we stretch the milk to 80 degrees for lattes before plunging the steam tip and stretch it to 100 degrees for cappas in order to get more foam or a lighter fluffier layer of foam. When a customer request a latte with "no foam or very little foam" we can control the amount of foam going into the cup byt holding a flat bladed spatula knife across the pouring spout edge of the pitcher. When they request their cappa "wet" we release just a bit more foam at the end of the pour. When they request it "dry" we don't hold back any foam at all.

I'm in agreement that an ideal ratio is 1/3 to 1/3 to 1/3 but we also need to accomodate hte desires of our customers or they will go elsewhere. That's not to say that we can't educate them and we often do. If I sense that a customer is open minded I often suggest going with a smaller cup size and getting a quad shot (our standard shot for all drinks is a 1.5 oz double ristretto). They are typically surprised by how good the drink tastes - usually because they asspciate espresso with the bitter taste and burnt taste of Starbucks.

And an espresso with whipped cream is an "espresso con panna".

I would almost agree with all of your opinion.

Few things to be mensioned here.

1. The caffe latte do not have foam, and we never do it. It has a problem of lack of the fat. When you froth, the fat goes to the foam and if you pour only the liquid, the fat loose and the caffe latte does not taste good enough.

2. The people who liked wet cappuccino may change to dry one, as mensioned. That is what we are doing. We make only dry cappuccino in all our shops. And I believe that it work quite OK.