# Milk - Seasonal Variance - is there such a thing?



## Glenn

Is the milk you serve stable and reliable?

Do you find that sometimes it lacks texture, won't stretch properly or is too thin to work with?

What brands do you find most reliable?

How much wastage do you produce?

Is milk in Summer better than milk in Winter?

I'm hearing more and more about the difficulties barista's face working with the product that fills more than 60% of the cup.

Get your side of the story across here or ask questions about the white stuff...


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## TimStyles

Harold McGee's 'On Food & Cooking' is a fantastic place to start. Half price at Foyles (Charing Cross Rd) at the moment, too!


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## Glenn

Thanks Tim - I will check it out - the reviews are pretty positive on Amazon too

However, my curiosity stems from real life examples and seeing how others handle the variances that can naturally occur.

Not so apparent if using Cravendale but definitely noticeable for semi-skimmed vs full fat milk etc.


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## YouriV

I find that the suppliers make the difference. It is a good idea to check the expiry date to make sure that it's fresh when it arrives. The biggest problem is the stability of the foam. Milk that is 4/5 days olds usually looses it's stability and the foam just falls apart.


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## TimStyles

I think it actually comes down to seasonality, change of feed, hormones in cows more than 'freshness' of milk. Also storage of milk, and especially the role that exposure to light plays on milk, should play a more significant role than simply 'age'.

It should go without saying that baristas ensure that their milk is fresh - taking a step beyond that and looking into chemical makeup of the milk and it's resultant behaviour is surely where we should expect professional baristas to be at.


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## Hugo

Having had my fair share of milk problems I'll share what I've gone through at Relish.

When we opened I used milk from a standard dairy, always less than two days old but quality was erratic. In an effort to do the right thing with local and organic I started using milk from an icecream maker called Roskilly's. It was all Cornish and mostly from the dairy's own herd, but then they started to buy in from OMSCO, the Organic Milk distributor, to cope with demand. This led to wildly erratic milk again, one day beautiful, silky foam, the next just fizzing away. It was sold as barista milk, with a premium price because it was local and organic, so I asked to return the shite stuff but they said no so I dropped them.

Thankfully I have a mate who certifies organic farms and knows lots about the dairy industry. He found a farm about ten miles from me that has it's own herd, processes it's own milk and delivers daily. The farm isn't organic but the herd is an excellent one. Because the milk is from one place the variation in quality is gentle and predictable. Quality drops a little at the end of summer as the cows are brought in, is stunning at the moment, and will drop again when the cows are put out in the spring. But because it's from the one herd it changes gently and I can deal with it. Another real bonus is my money's staying in county.

If I run out for any reason I resort to Cravendale because it's idiot proof and doesn't have off days.

I don't know how many places have the opportunity to buy milk from one, local herd, but I'm really happy with my supply, I talk to the farmer about twice a week and he's interested in how it's working when anything changes with his 'girls'.


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## James Hoffmann

I think the big thing to distinguish is age and 'freshness'. I have a very interesting thesis on my desk written in 2003 by Michael Levy that shows no relation between age of milk and its ability to form stable milk foam (using an espresso machine).

However there is also plenty of literature showing that the breakdown in fats reduces the quality and stability of milk foam.

An individual cow's milk will vary quite dramatically throughout the year, and as a result so will that from the herd. The largest influences on it are feed and calving. Most serious dairies will be looking at levels of protein, fat and lactose upon receiving the milk as part of their quality control.

Larger dairies have the advantage of being able to buy from a rich mixture of herds, and will be encouraging their suppliers to try and vary the timings of calving and feed change and therefore can produce a more consistent product. It is also worth remembering that milk is quite heavily processed - all milk is skimmed before the fat is added back to the required percentage and homogenised.

If you are looking for absolute consistency then of course a milk like Cravendale appeals. They are a massive milk producer/buyer, and have a lot of technology in place. The biggest appeal of their bottles to me is that lack of light they get it. Light is particularly good at breaking down the fat causing problems.

As for the filtration process they use - I don't know too much. I do not that there isn't much bacterial life in any milk these days. To prove this let your milk go off. It will go rancid and bad, whereas before it would sour - thus producing useful products like sour cream.

Many of the problems with milk that I have encountered have mostly been to do with freshness and not age. Milk being left outside for too long on delivery, milk being stored badly in the business or in somecases being stored lazily at the dairy/dispatch point.

One final thing on my big milk ramble: There is a huge range of tastes, textures and levels of sweetness in milk. It makes up over 80% of what is served in the average cafe, and yet is way down on the list of priorities. It can taste better than the stuff you get cheap from 3663, it is worth investigating and experimenting with!


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## LeeWardle

Loads of interestiong points here. Sames as James I tour about the place training so get to work with a lot of milks. They do really vary wildly. I agree that freshness has a massive bearing - Try it yourself, leave a bottle of milk out for an hour or two when it's delivered and then compare it to a fresh one from the fridge, you'll find you have to work much harder with it.

As a trainer, the most irritation thing I find is when a customer has a Pergol.(al?) Usually semi-or skinny and it's just aweful to work with. I did one notable session at a well known Plymouth restaurant with one. I would steam for a cappuccino and it would texure amazingly - It looked beautiful in while steaming, whiping away nicely, really silky. The second I took it off the steam it just dissapeared like a migic trick! It took about 3 seconds and just went! It left me with a belly jug half full with hot thin milk! Bugger! Then you have to try and explain to the group that your training that it's the milk thats crap not me!

I have found that apart from Cravendale, Iceland milk always textures well.

Lee


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## chrisweaver_barista

I've also heard that through out the year, the protein levels within the cows feed can differ, thus changing the milk.

Just a brief thought


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## LeeWardle

Thats right, usually due to changing to dry feed inside, and then changing to natural feed outside. Sends thier bodies to cock I suppose!

Lee


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## matisse

Speaking to Paul MJ on this issue, he maintains that the feed is no longer an issue as most herds are fed on dry feed all year round with the grass as supplemental to their diet.

as its protein is it not more likely that any issues with non-foaming are due to breakdowns in temp control in the distribution chain? I know that during the freeze last winter lots of shops in bristol were suffering as the milk had frozen in the vans over night before delivery the next morning.


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## Krissycoco

Can you get non-homogenised milk in the UK? Or cream line? They are excellent for specialty coffee and interesting to do taste and steaming tests between the two.


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## garydyke1

Krissycoco said:


> Can you get non-homogenised milk in the UK? Or cream line? They are excellent for specialty coffee and interesting to do taste and steaming tests between the two.


Waitrose organic I believe


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## SlowRoast

Today at work the microfoam was excellent I found, no horrible bubbles, and I had shiny cappuccino's and flat white's all day!


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## Barry Cook

This has been one of our pet hates.

We've gone through numerous suppliers, trying to get them to understand why our milk need to be kept at fridge temperature from dairy to cafe. This includes Dairy Crest, who really should know better but like the rest they failed to understand the logic behind it or just don't care. We've even got an organic dairy a couple of miles away who supply Harrods, but they can't be bothered to respond to our requests for pricing.

We've apparently had Bovine TB issues in Wiltshire cows, so most farms can only sell to the dairies who then have to process it before selling on, so have struggled like hell to get locally produced milk. At present using Cotteswold Dairy from Tewkesbury as it goes via a local fruit & veg supplier, keeping food mileage down, but more importantly good quality milk consistently - so far!


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## lookseehear

Tell me more best_sellercvv. I'm intrigued.

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