A Simple Guide On How To Make Cold Foam At Home Easily

It all began with a hot-weather staple, the iced coffee. Then came along the cold brews. Now, the cold brews are being trampled over with the rise of cold foam. It works great with various cold brews and iced coffees alike! Cold foam works as an excellent topping choice for iced coffee because it’s light with an airy texture. It gives coffee a cool finish. The cold foam’s texture and consistency are similar to whipped cream.

The good news is, you can make it at home too! We’ll explain how to make cold foam at home with various home kitchen appliances, types of cold foams, and much more.


What Is A Cold Foam?

Regular foam that you see on coffee drinks is generally made by frothing milk. It involves hot steam to form the tiny microbubbles for the froth. Frothy foam is an ideal topping for hot beverages such as lattes and cappuccinos. But what about cold beverages? Hot foam won’t hold up as toppings in this case. Thus enter cold foam. Popularized by Starbucks, it’s a milk froth without heating or steaming. The outcome is a creamy thick meringue-like topping. It’s ideal for layering over the iced cold brew, iced latte, and nitro coffee.


How To Make Cold Foam At Home: Machine-Based Techniques


With A Blender

The fastest way to make cold foam at home. This super-fast machine will make your foam in no time. Also, an ideal method, if you have to make a big batch of cold foam.

But first, you’ll need a blender and 1 cup / 0.24 L of any low-fat milk.

Steps:

  1. Note first: You can always add more milk whenever necessary. So, start with 1 cup
  2. Pour the (cold) milk into a blender’s cup and place it in the blender
  3. Slowly increase the speed until it’s at full speed. The more volume you incorporate, the better
  4. Once fluffy and smooth, the foaming is done. Clean the blender


With A Hand Mixer

A handheld mixer works as an alternative to the blender. This technique is best for a smaller batch.

How To Make Cold Foam At Home Machine-Based Techniques

You’ll need a hand mixer, a small bowl or mixer, and half a cup / of 0.12 L of low-fat milk.

Steps:

  1. You can use any bowl. Sometimes, a bowl is included when you buy a hand mixer. If you have one like that, use it
  2. Pour the (cold) milk into the bowl
  3. Dip the hand mixer into the milk. Start with a low speed. Then slowly switch to a higher speed as the milk starts foaming up more
  4. Once fully foamed, stop and remove the mixer. Clean your mixer and the bowl


With A Milk Frother

Whether it’s an attachment with your espresso machine or independent frothing equipment like the Aerochinno 4, utilize it!

You’ll need a milk frother and half a cup / 0.12 L of low-fat milk.

Most milk frothers do have the cold foam option but check nonetheless. Otherwise, use other techniques we’ve mentioned here in this article.

Steps:

  1. Pour the cold milk into the milk frother
  2. A-line is marked on the milk frother. It shows you how you should pour. Don’t go over that mark. Otherwise, it may cause overflow, spillage, and bad foam quality
  3. If there are no such markings, then always fill only one-third of the compartment/ jug
  4. Start the frothing process. Let the machine do the work. Wait until the perfectly fluffy foaming is done
  5. Clean the milk frother and its parts

A lot of our readers may ponder as to whether these froths will be as good or somewhat near good as the Starbucks froth quality. Or simply, how to make Starbucks cold foam at home. Our answer is, if you follow these recipes you’ll have a near-good Starbucks quality foam for sure. You can’t fully replicate it because of some extra secret ingredients they use (milk combos and sugar variants) which are well, a secret. Also, they use industrial-grade frothers which are also made exclusively for them.


How To Make Homemade Cold Foam: Without Any Frother

Honestly, there are ways to do it without, but we’ll still recommend you to do it with frother for the best quality outcome. If this is not an option for you at home, then use these techniques.


With A French Press

It goes without saying that a French press is very versatile.

For this technique, you’ll need a French press and half a cup /0.12 L of low-fat milk.

Steps:

  1. The amount of milk will be enough for 2 cups of iced coffee
  2. Place the (cold) milk into your French press beaker
  3. Add the plunger on top. Start to press. The up and downward pressing will create tiny air bubbles
  4. Keep pressing until you see a thick frothy layer. It normally takes 30 – 45 seconds. But, time will vary depending on the amount of milk and your pressing momentum
  5. Once done, clean your French press thoroughly

Note: You can froth hot milk in this way too! Use that foam for your Café au Lait.

How To Make Homemade Cold Foam Without Any Frother


With A Re-Sealable Jar

If you can’t go for any of the aforementioned ways, use a re-sealable jar like a mason jar, a re-sealable storage jar, or an empty jam jar (thoroughly cleaned).

You’ll require the following equipment to get started: A Re-sealable jar and half cup / 0.12 L of low-fat milk.

Steps:

  1. Pour the cold milk into the jar and close the lid tightly
  2. Start shaking it vigorously
  3. Don’t stop until a lot of foam begins to form. It may happen around the minute mark
  4. Once completely fluffed, remove the lid and start using it!

One of the advantages of using a jar is that you can simply scoop the foam out of the jar to use it properly. It is the easiest way to make cold foam. With it, concludes our all possible answers on, how you make cold foam at home problem.


Types Of Cold Foam

  • Honey Foam: Simply add honey syrup on top of your cold foam
  • Peppermint Foam: Add mint syrup to your half-and-half cold foam
  • Brown Sugar Foam: Mix brown sugar syrup to make this deliciously sweet cold foam
  • Pumpkin Spice Foam: Use cold foam with pumpkin spice syrup to make this fall’s signature delicacy
  • Lavender Foam: A floral touch and aroma to your drink! Mix lavender syrup with half and half foam
  • Vanilla Foam: Mix vanilla syrup with half and half milk to make this cold foam, the Starbucks original
  • Charli Cold Foam: Internet sensation and celebrity Charlie D’Amelio on the 24th of February this year has broken the internet with this Dunkin Donuts collaboration. Sweet cold foam with 3 pumps of caramel and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top will get you this extravagant foamy deliciousness


Some Pro Tips On Making Cold Foam At Home

  • The goal is to generate tiny, uniform bubbles. It creates that smooth texture. A French press does a better job at this than a handheld frother. The French press is a chore to clean afterward though
  • Both the French press and hand mixer give a good taste and add a velvety texture
  • Don’t overfill the French press as the foam will double or triple in volume
  • And don’t underfill in the French press either. The strainer needs to be submerged in the milk to incorporate air into it


What’s The Taste Of Cold Foam?

Since it’s made with low-fat or nonfat milk, it might be less creamy or flavorful and watery. A flavored cold foam might be a better option. If you love extra creaminess then cold foam is not for you. The cold foam tends to sit at the top of its drink and doesn’t get mixed into it. It’s also not an option for soy milk users also.


Kinds Of Milk That Are Good For Cold Foam

Cold foams are made with nonfat or low-fat milk. Nonfat kinds of milk make stronger foam than 2% or whole milk. Because nonfat milk has a larger protein percentage.

Milk protein has hydrophilic ends. These ends can be both attracted and repelled by water. With the addition of heating or steaming, these proteins unfold to make bubbles. The water-repelling hydrophilic face towards the center of the bubble. And the water-attracted hydrophilic facing away from the center.

When you vigorously shake or blend the cold, nonfat milk, its high protein helps to make stronger foam.


How To Use Cold Foam

  • You can put cold foam on various cold brews as you wish. But you can also put it on top of any flavored iced coffee. The cold foam will work as a substitute for adding milk
  • The foam floats on top of the coffee rather than get poured in or mixed up. It gives a different mouthfeel and tastes amazing
  • A few cold coffees that will taste amazing with the addition of the cold foam: Iced coffees, cold brew concentrate, and brown sugar iced coffee
  • Only use the foam rather than adding milk to your coffee. As the cold foam is already a dairy addition, you do not need to double this amount with more milk because it will dilute the iced coffee drink


FAQs

Can You Use Creamer To Make Cold Foam?

Yes, it’s possible. Making cold foam with creamer is absolutely possible. The majority claim that they have also found out the best results and flavor by using heavy cream. Half and half and similar coffee creamers such as oat milk will also work. But the air bubbles are way larger and they will fall flat faster too.

Does Starbucks Have Almond Milk Cold Foam?

Starbucks uses almond milk for its cold brew toppings. Lightly sweet mocha sauce and cocoa powder are also used to flavor the foam. There’s also cinnamon-flavored almond milk cold foam with vanilla syrup for their signature cold brew. All of these are popular options recently.

Does Starbucks Cold Foam Have Sugar?

Their cold foam is made using a special blender. It whips non-fat milk very quickly and creates a texture that can only be related to melted ice cream. It’s both sweet and creamy. But they do not use a lot of sugar or cream. The sweetness also comes from flavored syrups they may use.

Does Starbucks Have Coconut Cold Foam?

No. Coconut milk is only used with their vanilla-flavored Lattes, which is a hot foam drink.

How Much Calories In The Sweet Cream Cold Foam?

Depends on your drinks’ size. A standard iced venti (24 oz.) contains 40 kcal and a standard iced Trenta (30 oz.) contains 50 kcal.

Does Cold Foam Have Egg?

Yes, it does, well specifically it’s the egg white that is being used. But this is not a mandatory ingredient. Just low/non-fat milk and any flavored syrup are good enough.

Is Cold Foam Healthy?

Unlike whipped cream, cold foam is based on nonfat or low-fat milk. The result is a rich, decadent textured cream that’s akin to a soft meringue. Since it uses low/non-fat milk, it negates the added sugar and calories that a traditional whipped cream offers. So, yes, it’s a healthier option to go for as your cold brew topping.


Conclusion

It’s amazing how you can make this delicious concoction with an ingredient as simple as milk. Milk already elevated any iced coffee with its presence but this foamy goodness brings a new dimension. We went over 5 techniques on how to make cold foam at home. So we hope that any of them will work great for you. Let us know by leaving a comment below if you’ve already tried any of the methods and how they turned out.

Enjoy Your Coffee!

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