Help - in serious need of my daily capuccino!

[JustineMumsnet]

Can anyone recommend a simple, efficient capuccino/expresso machine. Had a Krupps one that was great but kept breaking, then bought Gaggia one that was useless (took forever to make expresso and never got milk to be really frothy) and that has now thankfully given up the ghost too. Ideally no more than £200 and needs to be able to produce starbucks quality froth. I need my morning coffee!

i brought back a load of lemons in my suitcase last time i went! lovely knobbly things

Toots, is it \link{http://www.electricshopping.com/shop/shop.do?cID=49&pID=345\this one}? What a bargain! You do realise though that if it doesn't froth And clearly I got some work to do on my tecnique) I'll have to ban you, don't you? (

I used to work in a coffee shop, the secret to frothing is holding the (warmed) milk level with the steam hole, then move the milk jug up and down, and then back to the top.

You have to warm the milk first ?

no mieow, you need to use cold milk, keep the steam hole level with the top to froth it up, then heat the milk with the steam thingy right in the milk. and when the big metal jug gets too hot to handle its ready

Ok I've ordered Toots' Morphy Richards Roma chappy and will go study my guide to milk frothing - will report back asap! Thanks for all the advice.

Thats it, misdee Warm the milk with the steam.. sorry I was sitting here thinking 'it got hot, was it hot before?? Or after?' lol

Skimmed milk does froth easier - something to do with the protein content? And old milk as well - fresh milk doesn't froth as well.

i have just bought dp a gaggia baby & it's ace. real proper cappucino. think i may have got to this thread too late though....

Crumbs - my reputation could be in tatters here

Go Justine. Frothing is peasy with the Morfia Ricardo. My only tip for the whole thing, which is probably the same with all these gizmo's, is to make sure you've locked the coffee holder on tight or it spumes coffee grounds in quite a hysterical manner. This has usually happened to me when I've had friends round and I'm trying to be cool but am too excited to do things properly.

Think Florence has got it right there. Hi Flo.

Callmemadam forgot to say you were right about the Cubika - not bad coffee but seriously underpowered. Used to take me 20 minutes to get it going properly. Limp, lame, flaccid, lifeless. I'm hoping my Morphy Richards Roma will, by contrast, be full of Roman potency.

ustine, I so agree about it being underpowered, so would love to hear if you rate your replacement, as like you I think I will have to upgrade, which is annoying.

Oh and don't bother warming the cups on the doofer. I do it with boiling water.

I'm back full of praise for my Italian Stalion - the Morphy Richards Roma. Quick, efficient and very, very frothy. Thank you so much Toots for restoring my daily capuccino and thus my faith in humankind. I only have one very slight issue which is that it's so efficient at frothing, the milk's not always piping hot by the time the froth is frothing over the side of the jug - any advice for me on that one?

Ra ra Roma! Sticking thingy a bit further into the milk will build the heat up without upward moving milk. Confess I do the coffee into pre-warmed espresso cups and then froth the milk in my pop art Chairman Mao mug from which all hot drinks must be consumed

Glad you like it. Will raise my Mao to you tomozza.

Coffee Geek that SD posted a link to is a fab site if you want to learn anything about coffee machines. My DH is a true coffee geek and has spent a lot of money on his coffee gear. However apparently the pod machines are a good bet as it dispenses with many of the problems involved with roasting and grinding beans properly, keep them fresh is even more of a problem.

How I do the milk frothing (although I am nowhere near as good as DH and generally prefer him just to make the coffee for me ) is as mentioned cold milk, cold metal jug (the proper shaped jug makes a bit difference). Put the steam wand into the middle of the jug a good inch or more into the milk and whack the steam on full, move the wand over to side and begin to draw the milk up the way, stretching it (increasing it's volume by two thirds) and adding air with a nice shhhhhh sound, no gulping big gasps of air into it as that only creates bubbles. When the jug is too hot to touch anymore you have probably stretched the milk as far as possible and I usually at this point plunge the wand back into the centre of the milk, down to the bottom and gradually draw it back up heating and spinning the milk as it goes. The aim is to get a nice jug full of heated (although not too hot, not above 160f) milk that has a nice microfoam texture and a thick frothy, not scummy head.

I am sure that it must be better with Italian milk and apparently their water has more something or other (calcium???) that makes the coffee taste better.

Might be worth remembering that your £200 budget would stretch further with a secondhand machine and e-Bay often have a few.

Enjoy your coffee!

Ooops just notice you have made friends with your old machine again. Also meant to add that a thermometer in the jug is helpful if unsure about the temperatures, stop heating the milk at around 140f as it will continue to climb to 160f without anymore heat.

OK DH says that the initial part of my milk frothing technique is wrong, he says start with the wand at the side of the jug with the tip about 5ml under the surface of the milk, put the steam on and start the milk swirling, then start to draw it up the jug. You can practice with a jug of water, it won't stretch but you can practice the technique without wasting any milk.