Angle the pitcher until you hear the "tearing paper" noise, and your foam should look like wet paint in the pitcher when you're done.

I wasn’t trained at sbux as I had been a barista before. I was most confused that the steam wands had temperature adjusted shut off as i was used to manual ones that relied on you to hear the right pitch for temperature.

You aerate the milk for 3-5 seconds or else you’ll end up with too much foam. You have to angle the steaming pitcher a certain way on the manstreta 2 for it too make the correct sound

The milk steaming routine is: pour your milk to the appropriate line &put it back in the fridge; fully submerge the steam wand and begin steaming, then pull the pitcher down until you hear the paper tearing sound. Aerate 1-3s for a latte and most beverages, 6-8s for cappuccino (don’t aerate above 100degF); fully submerge the steam wand and set the pitcher down so that a whirlpool is created, and let the auto steam finish; remove the pitcher and sanitize your steam wand, blasting steam through it for two seconds; then groom your milk before pouring into the beverage

My trainer did one to show me, then i did a few, then she had me steam all the different alt milks and heavy cream and everything

Standards were SUPER gross in the late 90s


we steamed huge 1liter pitchers, each labeled with what type of milk it was. Whole was standard till mid 2000s

First gross part was we didn't make milk for each drink - we batch steamed these immense amounts of milk constantly.

la marzocoo machines had a turn crank. You'd have to "blow-out" the wand if it sat so it didn't shoot hot water into the milk. Then you'd put the steam wand to the bottom of the huge bucket of milk. Turn the crank all the way to full blast and somewhat slowly bring the wand tip to the surface of the milk to get the ripping sounds. We didn't so much have an "amount" of time to foam, we'd have how high the milk came up on the pitcher, so it didn't overflow. You could tell someone didn't foam the milk enough if it "screamed" too long. Like how it sounds when you steam heavy cream... but it was bass filled scream since it was SUCH a large amount of milk.


we'd steam the milk watching the thermometer till it got to 160 but under 170 and then turn it off. The temp would then slowly rise another 5 to 10 degrees. If you let it run for too long it'd burn the milk and make it taste/smell like burnt pudding. If it was getting close you could slowly close the crank down till it turned off or spun the crank so it shut off fast.


And then we'd wipe the steam wand off with a damp white towel that sat in a little plate - didn't have sanitizer. We got in white towels and blue towels. White was for ONLY using on the steamwands, and the blue were for everywhere else.


we'd then let that huge thing of milk SIT there and use the milk as it came across. Lattes were made by pouring the milk up less 1/2 inch, and taking a spoonful of foam to dollop on the top. Cappuccinos were hardly ever made correctly. We'd just fill the milk half-way (to the sirens eyes) and then scoop foam on top. The milk was OKAY to sit there till it dropped below 155. Then we could RESTEAM IT! Standard stated you could re-steam it only once - which is still gross. But some places would just keep steaming and steaming it over and over. ALSO, some would be like - "OH, the GIANT horse trough of milk isn't ENOUGH" let's add COLD fucking milk to the already steamed shit and STEAM it the hell back up!


you had to rinse the pitcher after you used all the milk, but sometimes you'd get a pitcher of milk that was burnt, and used over and over and not rinsed at all. It would be brown at the bottom, and you'd have to scrape the burnt milk off the bottom of the pitcher, It'd come off after a soak if it was really bad.


if you added milk to the soy pitcher, you'd have to clean the pitcher. same with anything but apple juice in the non-dairy.


When they switched over to smaller pitchers and make milk for each drink fresh, WHOLY CRAP, baristas where like: "what the hell we'll be here ALL-day making milk!" "no way we can make all the drinks with these!" and everyone learned the correct way to make a cappuccino making fresh FOAMED milk was really hard for some people They still just foamed milk and spooned the foam on top.


it was a big deal making the switch to even the first small pitchers. Some stores refused and would hold on to the "big pitchers" and DMs would have to tour stores to make sure NONE of them existed in the store.

what everyone else said about the paper tearing and wet paint, but when i train i also really emphasize the grooming (tappin the bubbles out)

it’s crazy to hear all this i was just trained to stick the wand in and set it on the little shelf until it auto shut off 😭 this is on a mastrena ii

Put pipe in white then buble done

This is just a barista tip: if you want silkier foam, hold your pitcher at a ~45 degree angle while you aerate. This works best with whole milk but hey, what doesn’t?

During a lunch rush with a coworker yelling, "No! Not like that!!" 😂

Originally, 3-5 sec for lattes, then later 1-3 sec for lattes, always 5-8 for caps, and after I was fired for "showing frustration at work by banging pitchers on the counter" I went to work for a license store and two months later they introduced milk grooming. 🙄😂

I teach people with notfat milk and three tall iced cups so they can see what's happening as it settles.

5 seconds aeration for lattes, 8-10 for cappuccinos. Comes out pretty well for me.

I wasnt even taught </3

Pull it down until you hear the paper tearing sound then aerate for 1-3 seconds for a latte and 3-5 (or 6-8 can’t remember) for a cappuccino. You don’t want it extremely bubbly but the smooth foam

Align steaming wand into pouring dip on pitcher; Pull down lever, but do not touch bottom of pitcher. Pull down pitcher until tearing paper and hold it in this position for 3-5 seconds (6-8 for cappuccino. Put pitcher back on mastrena drip tray and let milk steam to appropriate temperature. Tap pitcher on counter firmly and swirl it around a bit until all bubbles are gone. Pour into espresso in swirling motion and finish off with a sexy rosetta. :)