Not to dissuade anyone from getting a Fluffy Coffee, but you can always ask for a good ole latte. Made on our house espresso machine.

Soy mini Fluffy. Yeah, soy, not even the good stuff.

How about some examples of FM spacebar's latte art?

Paging FM Spacebar

Yo T-Money,I was just thinking about this a few days ago while talking about coffee drinks with some buds. Towards the end of my time at EA, I started working on the non-coffee fluffy coffee. Being a non-coffee drinker and also just a non-warm beverage drinker, I still saw the appeal in the idea of the fluffy. It's got the foam, it's sweet, and it has very little coffee in it. So, I started working on this drink, but I was never able to truly perfect it. The steps were:- add maple syrup to the glass (as you would a fluffy)- add chocolate syrup to the glass (what?)- add milk to the glass (same amount as a fluffy)- steam it (wait, is that why the steam head has chocolate in it?)- add more chocolate to the top of the drink, with maybe a dash of cinnamon (seriously, this has way to much fucking sugar in it)- drop in two ice cubes to bring the temp down a smidge (c'mon, fuck a guy)My general consensus was that the coffee acted as a bitter agent that balanced out the sweetness of the maple, and by only adding Hershey's syrup to it, it essentially became a fluffy hot chocolate with maple syrup. As you know your way around beverage making in general much better than I, what would you recommend to bitter it up? Like a stone-ground dark chocolate dusting thing on top? I can't imagine I'm the first person to come through that wasn't a coffee drinker, so I'm posting this here to offer a solution for anyone else who is in the same situation that I was.

T$, you sound like you know more about making coffee than me. I hope it's ok to give my take on making a fluffy in a glass.I only stick the wand all the way down in the beginning (not touching the bottom of the glass), then as soon as it starts going I pull it out to the surface of the milk. This is always the hardest part - if it's too high up on the surface it splatters everywhere and makes this noise like you would when trying to spit a hair off the tip of your tongue. Too deep and it's making that warbly sound and could also get it everywhere. There's a sweet spot in between that sounds like when you go to the dentist and they use that thing that sucks spit out. I know, these analogies are very appetizing. I never made a fluffy where the milk was cold, so it's better to err on the side of it being cold. Once the glass is warm in your hand, then the milk is too hot. Interesting that the syrup gets inside. I'd assume that wiping off the wand after use, and then letting the steam run of a second or two would prevent that from happening.

Neals!Have you tried this drink? If you like it with the Hershey's, no need to change it up with a bittering agent. If it ain't broke...That said, some dark chocolate sounds like it could be nice.And just a note on your order of operations here-- I would advocate for not steaming in the glass on a few grounds. First, it's really difficult to gauge temperature without being able to feel through the container. It is difficult to get a proper vortex inside such a small container. Overflowing is a real risk. Also, you are not supposed to steam a liquid that has sugary stuff in it. It clogs the steamwand. We just had our steamwand cleaned and it is steaming like a CHAMP now. Steaming as good as 10k Marzocco machines. But I'd imagine part of the reason it needed cleaning so badly was we steam maple syrup right on the wand.-T$

tmoneygetpaid wrote:Neals!Have you tried this drink? If you like it with the Hershey's, no need to change it up with a bittering agent. If it ain't broke...That said, some dark chocolate sounds like it could be nice.-T$I made it a handful of times during my last few weeks at Electrical Cafes. I never offered it to any clients because, well, obviously that'd be a fucked up thing to do. I no longer have access to a steam-wand and the people at Starbucks won't let me touch their machines. Alas...Glad to hear the steam-wand is back to full throttle! Are the espresso pulls still spraying liquid everywhere? Also, I appreciate the craft coffee point of view you are offering here. I remember reading a AMA with Paul Stanley where he described communication and feedback as a TWO WEEK STREET! (which I think meant two-way street), so I'm happy this dialog is happening. Also, please point future interns here so they can continue to work on my idea of the non-coffee fluffy coffee.

If you want the cafe-approved type of foam where the bubbles are very small, which you can pour into a shape, you just can't get that without steaming inside a bigger container and pouring it over. You can't get good circulation, which is a requirement. If you don't care about that "presentation" element, or if you prefer sticky thick foam these are moot points. And the sugar from the syrup does get inside the steam wand tip, and even inside the wand past the tip if you steam it. There's a bit of back-suction that pulls whatever you are steaming back into the wand. You can turn on the steam right after you finish to flush it out, but some still collects inside slowly.I have no stake in making a drink this way or that, I just feel the compulsive need to represent the craft coffee point of view, having worked in that world for some time. Maybe on the cappuccino message boards there's an aside conversation about analog recording and some dude is describing that you should clean the heads in your tape machine and calibrate that sucker.