The fas­ci­na­tion of frothy milk

If you’re look­ing for a real treat, you can’t beat a ­coffee with a light and frothy milky top­ping. The ­ultimate in cof­fee cul­ture, cap­puc­cino and latte ­macchiato hold a par­tic­u­lar fas­ci­na­tion for us. The frothed milk com­bines gen­uine skill, pure en­joy­ment and an artis­tic touch. The most tal­ented baris­tas in the world com­pete to pro­duce the most beau­ti­ful milky foams at in­ter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tions such as the “World Latte Art Cham­pi­onship”, cre­at­ing real works of art from cof­fee and frothy milk.

"We have been pro­cess­ing milk since 1895. De­vel­op­ing new ap­pli­ca­tions is al­most in our genes."

We have a more mod­est ap­proach to frothy milk in our every­day lives. We want to cre­ate an en­joy­able, frothy cof­fee ex­pe­ri­ence with the min­i­mum of ef­fort. But we still want a fluffy top­ping that doesn’t just dis­ap­pear after a few sec­onds – and the milky froth needs to cope with choco­late pow­der or a caramel top­ping.

Wanted: milk pow­der for the per­fect cof­fee top­ping

A well-known Swiss man­u­fac­turer of Ne­spresso-com­pat­i­ble cof­fee cap­sule sys­tems was on the look-out for the per­fect milk froth when it ap­proached the HOCHDORF Group. Two-cap­sule sys­tems are be­com­ing more pop­u­lar with cof­fee lovers. “The grow­ing num­ber of sin­gle-per­son house­holds has in­creased the need for por­tion-sized milk and cof­fee quan­ti­ties,” ex­plains Chris­t­ian Fanger, Key Ac­count Man­ager in the Dairy In­gre­di­ents di­vi­sion at HOCHDORF for many years. The ad­van­tage is ob­vi­ous: a car­ton of milk only stays fresh for a frac­tion of the time of the milk pow­der cap­sules. Then it needs to be thrown away.

Along­side the longer shelf life, a two-cap­sule sys­tem that com­bines cof­fee and milk pow­der to pro­duce frothy cof­fees also of­fers other wel­come ben­e­fits: you need a sep­a­rate milk pan and a milk frother to make cap­puc­ci­nos or latte mac­chi­atos if you don’t have a ma­chine that does it, as Chris­t­ian Fanger points out. These be­come a thing of the past with the two-­capsule sys­tem: the cap­puc­cino is eas­ier to make and the prepa­ra­tion and clean­ing time is re­duced to a min­i­mum.

In search of flavour – milk is not just milk So how can we cre­ate a de­li­cious drink with a del­i­cate milky froth from a milk pow­der cap­sule? As an ­expert in milk pow­der, it’s a ques­tion that gets Chris­t­ian Fanger ex­cited. “It is all about com­bin­ing the flavours har­mo­niously. Each milk pow­der has its own ­character and re­acts dif­fer­ently when it is com­bined with ­coffee.” Chris­t­ian Fanger has no doubt you achieve the best re­sults with the most nat­ural milk pow­der pos­si­ble, pro­duced in a gen­tle dry­ing process. Swiss milk, or milk based on a diet of grass and hay, is par­tic­u­larly good. “The type of feed gives the milk its unique taste and in­flu­ences its nu­tri­tional value,” he em­pha­sises.

Flavour may be the key fac­tor when it comes to cap­puc­cino, but it is still re­as­sur­ing to know that the milk pow­der cap­sules from HOCHDORF taste good and are healthy too.

The se­cret of frothy milk – it can’t be taken for granted

A good cap­puc­cino or latte mac­chi­ato has a bal­anced, rounded flavour. In terms of taste, the cof­fee pow­der and milk pow­der are equally im­por­tant.

With­out a frothy top­ping the most de­li­cious cap­puc­cino is just a milky cof­fee. HOCHDORF, or the milk pow­der de­vel­oped by HOCHDORF, de­liv­ered the per­fect milky froth. “It was a chal­lenge that was made for us. We have been pro­cess­ing milk since 1895. De­vel­op­ing new ap­pli­ca­tions is al­most in our genes,” says Chris­t­ian Fanger. It’s not just about de­vel­op­ing the per­fect milk pow­der ei­ther; you also have to meet the spec­i­fi­ca­tions for the in­tended end pack­ag­ing.

"Our em­ploy­ees were able to es­tab­lish the exact com­position of our milk pow­der using lab­o­ra­tory tests. But that didn’t solve the prob­lem of op­ti­mum froth­i­ness." 

“I can share one or two com­mer­cial se­crets with you,” he laughs. To make a lighter froth flow from the cap­sule in the de­sired quan­tity, it re­quires a pow­der with spe­cific qual­i­ties. And here it’s also im­por­tant to note: the milk pow­der has to fit in the pack­ag­ing, in this case the cap­sule. “So there needs to be a clearly de­fined bulk den­sity.”

If it is too high, the pow­der will spill over the seal­ing edge when the cap­sules are filled and there won’t be an air-tight seal. If the vol­ume of pow­der is too small, you might be able to seal the cap­sule per­fectly but it won’t pro­vide the right quan­tity or qual­ity of milk froth.

So what about the froth­i­ness? “Milk pow­der needs to have the right com­bi­na­tion of milk fat, lac­tose and pro­tein to cre­ate a re­ally good froth,” ex­plains Chris­t­ian Fanger. HOCHDORF also adds sun­flower lecithin, which is a nat­ural emul­si­fier. “The lecithin quan­tity that oc­curs nat­u­rally in the milk is not suf­fi­cient to cre­ate a lovely, sta­ble froth. Sun­flower lecithin also helps the sol­u­bil­ity of the pow­der.” Pow­der sol­u­bil­ity is also very im­por­tant for the qual­ity of the cap­puc­cino or latte mac­chi­ato. If the pow­der doesn’t dis­solve com­pletely it stays in the cap­sule and the cap­puc­cino or latte mac­chi­ato con­tains too lit­tle milk. It might not af­fect the milk froth, but we won’t enjoy the cof­fee as much.

Fi­nally, the per­fect froth also needs the ideal ma­chine set­tings. The water needs to run through the cap­sule at a spe­cific pres­sure and the right tem­per­a­ture to en­sure that the cof­fee is not bit­ter and the pow­der froths nicely: one area that lies out­side the re­spon­si­bil­ity of the milk pow­der pro­ducer.

The process tech­nol­ogy is our best kept se­cret

“Our em­ploy­ees were able to es­tab­lish the exact com­po­si­tion of our milk pow­der using lab­o­ra­tory tests. But that didn’t solve the prob­lem of op­ti­mum froth­i­ness by a long way.” The biggest se­cret, by far, lies in the en­gi­neer­ing and pro­cess­ing tech­nol­ogy – or when and in what order the in­di­vid­ual steps in the process occur. “We are keep­ing our cards close to our chest on this one,” ex­plains Chris­t­ian Fanger. “And that in­cludes the stor­age and trans­port of the milk pow­der.”

Pro­duc­ing milk pow­der for cap­sule sys­tems is a cross-lo­ca­tion process for HOCHDORF. The two-­capsule sys­tem man­u­fac­turer now sells its prod­ucts in Switzer­land and abroad. There has been a strong pub­lic­ity cam­paign in­ter­na­tion­ally and the cap­sules in­tended for ex­port are man­u­fac­tured at our plant in Pren­zlau (Ger­many). “We have un­der­gone the nec­es­sary process and prod­uct de­vel­op­ment for the pow­der for the sec­ond time,” ex­plains Chris­t­ian Fanger. To cre­ate the same prod­uct at a dif­fer­ent plant is no mean feat, but we have risen to the chal­lenge. All things con­sid­ered, it’s a great suc­cess story for the HOCHDORF Group.

It seems the en­tire cof­fee cul­ture with its cap­puc­ci­nos and latte mac­chi­atos still has a touch of mys­tery about it. It’s a fa­mil­iar fea­ture in ad­verts al­most every day: those funny, mis­chie­vous cof­fee agents bring­ing cof­fee cap­sules straight into our liv­ing rooms. That’s what cof­fee rep­re­sents – an in­ter­na­tional prod­uct with a touch of fun.

Further information

• Overview "Brief encyclopaedia of milk-based coffee specialities"
• Short article "The perfect coffee"