First post on Reddit, so sorry if I do something wrong! I apologize in advance for the waffle of text.

I am the classic new barista who feels like they don’t know what they’re doing, but I am also almost always left on my own for my shifts… For reference, I don’t work at a Starbucks, but we’re a small cafe that sells a small portion of Starbucks’ products.

I have a bunch of questions, but right now I just really need some guidance on properly steaming/stretching/foaming (are they even the same??) milk! I work alone, had maybe two half days of training, and have just been trying to learn on my own for the past couple of weeks. My coworkers, on the rare times I even get a chance to work with them, either explain things differently or don’t seem to necessarily care (they reheat milk for instance, which I instinctively don’t feel is good and also have seen online saying is a big no, so I don’t), and they’re not what I would call the training type.

I really want to get better at this and am frustrated with being inconsistent on my milk. I will pass out my drinks and sometimes I feel like they are super light, even though I feel like I got the consistency I see in people’s videos right. Who wants to drink straight foam?? So clearly I don’t feel like I’m getting the consistency I see online. I feel horrible passing these drinks out, but don’t always have the time to remake. On the other hand, sometimes I have drinks where I get very very little foam and I dread getting a cappuccino order (I don’t fully understand the difference in milk texture).

I think I tend to over aerate my milk rather than under. I’ve seen tutorials where you should aerate first then let heat, my boss taught me to heat then aerate at the end. I’ve been trying to practice on my own drinks but don’t want to waste milk and I have no coworkers to make drinks for.

So, my question… How much of a weight difference should there be between a steamed cup of milk and a cold cup of milk? (I realize this is almost an impossible thing to answer in writing and not in person, and maybe I’m way overthinking this)

Basically I’m the greenest of beans and have no one to ask for guidance. I wasn’t a coffee drinker before I started this job, so maybe this a huge factor of what’s hurting me as I don’t have much to reference. I’m almost thinking of trying to take a barista course, I’ve heard mixed feedback on these, would it be worth it for me since I don’t have anyone around me for training?

I would take and appreciate any and all sorts of feedback! All things milk and even if it’s tips on other bits of being a barista! Thank you thank you, lovely baristas of Starbucks!

TLDR- Alone barista can’t consistently make milk do what she wants it to do and is sad and frustrated. Help?