Top your iced coffee and tea with decadent, creamy cold foam instead of adding creamer or milk. Get step-by-step instructions and see how surprisingly easy it is to make it at home in 2 minutes!
CONTENTS
Recipe Highlights
- Cold foam is cold, frothed milk, made without heat or steam, for iced drinks. It’s creamy, velvety, and fluffy so it sits on top of the iced beverage before slowly making its way down the cup.
- It’s sweetened with sugar or simple syrup and can be made flavored by adding flavored simple syrups.
- At Starbucks, cold foam is made using a special blender to create perfectly smooth, textured foam that’s made up of tiny bubbles. To make it home, all you need a is French press or a handheld milk frother. It only takes a few seconds to get perfect cold foam!
Turn your cold brew instantly into an iced latte by adding cold foam. Try making my Irish Cream Cold Brew, Salted Caramel Cold Brew, and Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew which are all made with cold foam.
Ingredient Notes
- Half & Half
Half cream and half milk, the cream half is the key to getting perfect cold foam. Milk can be made into cold foam but it’ll be thin and not very fluffy or rich. - Sweetener
White, granulated sugar or simple syrup can be used. Starbucks makes theirs with vanilla syrup and you can use any flavored syrup you like.
Step-by-Step Instructions
For full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to the recipe.
Cold Foam Using a French Press
This method creates perfect cold foam with tiny, uniform bubbles.
- Put cold half & half and sweetener into a French press.
- Place lid and move the plunger up and down.
The half & half will more than double in volume. - Pour cold foam on top of an iced beverage.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Cold Foam Using a Handheld Milk Frother
This is the second best way to make cold foam since you do get bigger, uneven bubbles but a handheld milk frother is easier to clean than a French press.
- Whisk half & half and sweetener using a handheld milk frother.
It should take about 20 seconds to get fluffy cold foam. - Pour cold foam on top of an iced beverage.
Photo Credit: amazon.com
Expert Tips
- The goal is to get tiny, uniform bubbles that won’t even look like bubbles since that’s what creates the smooth texture. The French press does a better job of doing this than the handheld milk frother.
- The French press makes better cold foam but it’s a bit of a chore to clean. The handheld milk frother is much easier to clean than a French press but the cold foam isn’t as smooth since there are bigger bubbles. But they both taste great and adds velvety foam to your iced drink.
- Don’t overfill the French press. The cold foam will double or triple in volume as air is pumped in, so keep that in mind when you pour the half & half into the French press.
- Don’t underfill the French press. The strainer needs to be submerged in the half & half so that the air can be pumped into it.
Questions You May Have
Any iced drink where you would normally add milk or cream, you can add cold foam instead. Iced coffee, cold brew, or iced tea like chai.
You can, but It’s more work to clean than handheld milk frother and doesn’t create tiny, uniform bubbles the way that a French press can.
You can but it’ll take some work. Put half & half and sweetener into a large jar with a tight lid. Shake vigorously until it doubles in volume.
Add peppermint simple syrup to the half & half to sweeten and flavor your cold foam.
Related
- How to Froth Milk for Lattes
- 14 Refreshing Iced Coffee Recipes
- Iced Coffee with Cream Froth
- Simple Homemade Syrups for Coffee and Tea
- How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
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How to Make Cold Foam
INGREDIENTS
- ⅓ cup half & half
- 2 teaspoons sugar (or 1 tablespoon simple syrup)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put cold half & half and sweetener into a French press.
- Place lid and move the plunger up and down 30 times.The half & half will more than double in volume.
- Pour cold foam on top of an iced beverage.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
- Whisk half & half and sweetener using a handheld milk frother.
It should take about 20 seconds to get fluffy cold foam. - Pour cold foam on top of an iced beverage.
- Pour half & half and sweetener into a large jar with a tight lid.
- Shake vigorously until it doubles in volume.
- Starbucks makes theirs with vanilla syrup and you can use any flavored syrup you like.
- The goal is to get tiny, uniform bubbles that won’t even look like bubbles since that’s what creates the smooth texture. The French press does a better job of doing this than the handheld milk frother.
- The French press makes better cold foam but it’s a bit of a chore to clean. The handheld milk frother is much easier to clean than a French press but the cold foam isn’t as smooth since there are bigger bubbles. But they both taste great and adds velvety foam to your iced drink.
- Don’t overfill the French press. The cold foam will double or triple in volume as air is pumped in, so keep that in mind when you pour the half & half into the French press.
- Don’t underfill the French press. The strainer needs to be submerged in the half & half so that the air can be pumped into it.
NUTRITION
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Made it just now. Finally. A way to have my fav (expensive) SBX drink at home.