🔄 Frothing
Also known as: steaming, foaming
With steam or a frother: foam for coffee.
Frothing means turning hot milk into foam for coffee. Tiny air bubbles are worked into the milk. Milk proteins, above all casein, gather around the bubbles and keep them from bursting. This makes a stable foam.
In a coffee shop, the barista froths milk with the steam wand of the coffee machine. The steam heats the milk and draws air into it at the same time. Frothing milk for coffee began with the steam wands of espresso machines. At home, people use hand, electric and automatic frothers. Milk is usually heated to 55–65 °C. At this temperature it tastes sweeter and does not burn yet.
Different drinks need different foam. A classic cappuccino has roughly equal parts espresso, hot milk and foam, and the foam is thick and tall. A latte has more milk, and the foam is thin and velvety — it is called microfoam. The foam also depends on the milk: whole milk gives a thick, dense foam, and skimmed milk a lighter, runnier one.
How it connects to milk
🔄 Frothing → used in → ☕ Latte ← used in ← 🥛 Milk
Links
- Made with
- ⚙️ Milk frother
- Used in
- ☕ Cappuccino, ☕ Latte
- Who works with it
- ☕ Barista
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cappuccino foam and latte foam?
A cappuccino has a lot of dense foam — about a third of the drink. A latte has more hot milk and a thin layer of fine, velvety foam.
What temperature should milk be for a cappuccino?
Usually 55–65 °C. This way the milk tastes sweeter, the foam is stable, and the milk does not burn.