I’ve always wondered how to properly store a steam wand towel. I’ve even googled it, but have found nothing. What better place to ask than in a barista blog!
Now, I have worked at 3 coffee shops and they’ve all done the same thing. You steam the milk, wipe the wand off with a damp sanitized towel, and then put the towel on a plate on top of the espresso machine or under it. And then it just sits there until the next time it gets used.
You can’t really trust employees to continuously swap out rags. But I can imagine how much bacteria is festering on these milky soggy towels.
Is anyone using a more sanitary method? I’d love to share new ideas with my team.
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Hmm, suggestions anyone?
We keep our towels in shallow tupperware containers, so we leave a bit of bleach water in them (we do 50 ppm for everything) and so they aren’t just sitting there and drying out.
But we religiously switch them out - which I honestly think is the best way. We have a check list - tasks for every hour, and every three hours. Every hour we switch out rags, and sanitize our milk pitchers. Every three hours we dump and rebrew coffee and take temperatures in all our fridges - you have to initial when you do it, and it keeps people fairly accountable.
Thanks http://misslouiseanna.tumblr.com/ !
