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Looking to curb your cafe spending? Consider investing in the right equipment! If you love iced lattes or cloud macchiatos and want to recreate the fluffy cold top foam at home, you just need the right stuff in your pantry!
Cold foam is essentially frothed milk, often flavoured with a sweetener. Unlike the hot steamed foam you see on a hot cappuccino, cold foam is not always blended into the coffee. It is created separately to add the illusion of a foamy coffee. It is usually made by vigorously aerating milk using a blender, or a special frothing device. Cold foams are usually always pourable and need to be the right consistency; they add a creamy texture to a cold beverage and are very easy to flavour.
However, it's important to note that a cold foam is different from whipped cream. Cold foam forms when cold milk is agitated and it's much lighter than a dollop of whipped cream. Steamed milk is typically simultaneously aerated and heated using a steamer, while the cold foam is made by vigorously scrambling cold milk and sweet syrup in an electric blender.
Cold foam is often preferred more than whipped cream because the latter disintegrates within minutes on top of a hot drink as the fats within it warm up, but the cold foam is more stable and can remain consistent for several minutes. Although how long a cold foam holds its shape really depends on the temperature of the coffee; cold foam tends to stay longer on cold teas or coffees.
Know Your Milk
Experts have shared that cold foam made with skim milk is usually the best. Skim milk makes the thickest, most consistent cold foam because it has a larger percentage of protein as compared to whole milk. Because the fat molecules in full-fat milk can weigh down frothed milk foam and cause the foam to collapse faster.
Non-fat milk foam can hold on to its fluffy cap over an iced drink for roughly 30 minutes. Non-dairy milks usually contain stabilisers which may or may not affect the cold foam. It's safer to go for 'barista blends' which are steam-friendly and designed to create cafe-like drinks at home.
Milk Frother or French Press?
Go for an electric frother over a manual one since it is specially designed to create foams. If you're using a manual frother make sure you foam the milk for at least two minutes. A French press coffee maker can also be used to produce a greater volume of milk froth. A French press can offer a rich texture and also more stability.
