What kind of pitcher should you use to steam milk and pour latte art?

What kind of pitcher should you use to steam milk and pour latte art?   The answer is fairly easy – almost any pitcher that is a good size will work well for steaming and for pouring art you want a pitcher with a pointy spout – sometimes referred to as a pointy beak.  It is absolutely true that you can pour latte art from even a disposable cup, but a pointy spout helps tremendously.  Here is a video of someone pouring latte art from a disposable cup, and admittedly it is not great art, but then again it is being done from a throw away cup so it is pretty impressive to me.  (Hopefully who ever poured it is not offended by that).  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9XYbHgkbTs



Here I have linked a photo of a pitcher that would be ideal.  This particular pitcher is a bit too big to work for most home uses, but I am sure that they must have smaller sizes that you could order.  It could not hurt to ask.

http://www.roaste.com/product/european-gift/Stainless-Steel-Pitcher-30-oz.


If you can not find the pitcher you are looking for this way, there are lots of good pitchers out there in the world.


Rattleware makes one of my favorite pitchers.  It is only about ten dollars and works as well as the super expensive pitchers I have tried.


Here are also a bunch of pitchers from Roaste sponsor Chris Coffee, and I always like to support those who support the companies I like.  One is insulated, which is nice if you want to depend on a thermometer for your temperature cut off, or if you have sensitive hands that cannot take the heat necessary to steam milk, but on the other hand if you want to use your hands as a thermometer as method of checking temperatures, it might make it a little harder.

http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/home/steamingpitchersandknockboxes/h...

http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/home/steamingpitchersandknockboxes/m...

http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/home/steamingpitchersandknockboxes/c...


In any event I think pitchers basically fall into two categories – those that are good for latte art because of the ability to pour a concentrated stream and those that are not good because they spread the milk out too much.  The really expensive pitchers add very little value in my book.