Cut. Latte Coffee. Caccionis. Affogato. Hot and humid. Flat white.
Two of those six drinks are fake, but that shouldn’t stop you from ordering one and hoping the barista nods politely and makes something on the fly to avoid looking behind. Cafes in Italy’s tourist regions began adding milk to coffee to make it tastier for regular people more than three centuries ago, and simple lattes and cappuccinos have been staples in American coffee shops since the late 1980s. However, the obsession with modifying and renaming subtle variations of this winning formula seems like a very third wave a development that feels less like innovation and more like beleaguered riffing for the sake of riffing.
The market for electric milk frothers is booming. A mechanized pitcher that automatically heats and froths milk isn’t a new concept, but a recent spate of boutique options claiming they can create the kind of microfoam needed to serve lattes with little effort is an exciting development. To borrow an aphorism, my local barista recites daily while serving impeccable rosettes without batting an eyelid: “Great if true!”
Over the course of a month, I tested eight milk frothers to see if any of them could turn a cup of whole milk into that silky-smooth microfoam that shimmers under the overhead lights before I slap it on the counter, shake it, and pour it over a shot of espresso. This turned out to be a near-impossible task, but some pleasant surprises gave me hope that one day a milk frother might be an indispensable part of my home coffee kit. Addicts of the nouveau riche Cortado won’t find much to love on this list, but members of Generation DiFranco sings poetry on the corner, yes they will. You will be absolutely thrilled with almost every item here. Busy moms with a brood of chocolate-slurping kids will also find a worthy addition to their Christmas list, which is nothing!
To further perfect the art of espresso at home, check out our guides to the best espresso machines, the best latte and cappuccino machines, the best coffee grinders, and the best nut milk machines.
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With each unit I used 8 ounces of organic whole milk that I took out of the refrigerator at 45 degrees Fahrenheit. I haven’t tried any non-dairy milks due to the huge variation in fat and sugar content, viscosity, and availability of each. Plus, we’ll probably be done with the trendy alternative milk of the moment by the time this is published, making my extensive testing of fair-trade, bird-safe macadamia milk useless.
I followed the instructions or quick-start guides that materialized after shaking the box and aimed for “wet foam” or “matte white” if the instructions explicitly offered a process geared toward that outcome. I moved the milk around in the frothing pitcher to get a better idea of the texture of the foam, decanted it into a Brewista Precision Frothing Pitcherand attempted to serve an 8-ounce cappuccino with latte art. I did this three times with each frother and took note of the average time of its frothing cycle, the final temperature of the milk, and the consistency and texture of the frothed milk.