My coffee machine suddenly stopped frothing milk – here’s the quick fix that worked

Owning one of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines is all fun and games...until it suddenly stops working right when you need a caffeine hit the most. If I sound a bit bitter, it's because that's exactly what happened to me the other morning, and if I'm being honest, it very nearly ruined my day.

I use the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch, which has been one of my favourite review units this year. However, after going through the usual motions, I got to the milk-steaming stage and...nothing. I gave the steam pipe a proper wipe down, tried again...still nothing.

Now, if you're a black coffee drinker, this might not seem like a big deal. However, for someone who needs a flat white to function in the morning, this was borderline traumatic.

After a frantic Googling session, I quickly discovered that this is actually a common issue. The fix was also a lot easier than I expected, so I figured I'd share what I learned in case your machine ever decides to betray you like mine did.

Step one: check your milk

First of all, you need to make sure you're using the right kind of milk. The La Specialista Touch, like many machines, is a bit picky. It recommends semi-skimmed dairy milk or plant-based alternatives like soy, oat or almond – and crucially, they should be cold and straight from the fridge (around 4-6°C). Anything warmer or too thick might mess with the frothing process.

In my case, I was using cold semi-skimmed milk, so that wasn’t the issue. That left me with the next likely culprit – a blocked steam wand.

Step two: clean the steam wand – properly

I didn't realise that the steam wand on the La Specialista has tiny ducts at the tip where the steam actually comes out. Whilst I thought I was doing a decent job wiping it down after each use, I clearly hadn’t been paying much attention to the actual nozzle holes – and yep, they’d become clogged.

According to the manual, I should have used the cleaning needle that comes with the machine to poke through the holes. However, that needle had long since vanished into the abyss of my kitchen drawers. That meant I had to improvise and use a sewing needle instead, and carefully poked into each of the three tiny holes at the wand’s tip. A little bit of old milk came out (yuck), which confirmed I’d hit the blockage.

It just goes to show, if part of your favourite appliance stops working, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s broken beyond repair. A quick clean (in the right spot) might be all it needs, and if you're dealing with other issues, make sure to check out our guide on how to properly clean a bean-to-cup machine before you go.