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Here’s how to make cold foam at home with just a few ingredients! This Starbucks recipe makes a frothy topping perfect for elevating your favorite iced coffees and cold beverages.
What’s the deal with cold foam? Cold foam is the Starbucks answer to a whipped topping for iced coffee drinks. While we’re generally wary of food trends, we can confirm: this one is delicious. The creamy topping adds just the right frothy charm, without loads of extra calories.
Even better: you can make it at home! Here’s how to make cold foam: a DIY Starbucks recipe so you can enjoy this treat at home.
What is cold foam?
Cold foam is frothed nonfat milk used for topping for cold coffee drinks like iced coffee, cold brew, iced cappuccinos, and nitro coffee. It simulates the frothy topping of the steamed milk in a latte or cappuccino, but at a cold temperature so it doesn’t melt when hitting an iced drink.
The foam has a thick, frothy texture, and gradually settles in as you sip it. Because it’s made with nonfat milk, it adds only a handful of calories to the drink. But the lightly sweet crema topping has a major pay-off in texture! If you’ve had this one at Starbucks, you know: cold foam makes any iced coffee that much better!
The best milk for cold foam
You might think that a full fat milk would make the creamiest, richest cold foam. Some homemade recipes even call for whole milk or heavy cream. But guess what? Skim milk makes the thickest, sturdiest cold foam. That’s because it has a larger percentage of protein when compared to whole milk or 2%.
On the flip side, whole milk makes the best steamed milk for a latte. The lipids in the milk keep the bubbles small, making the best microfoam texture for latte art.
All about Starbucks cold foam
Starbucks launched cold foam in 2014 with the opening of its Reserve Roastery in Seattle. It was first served atop the Americano Con Crema drink, which had a thick dollop of coffee-spiced foam. Today, Starbucks offers cold foam as a topping that you can add to many drinks for an extra 50 cents. Starbucks cold foam drinks include the following:
- Cold brews
- Nitro cold brews
- Iced lattes
- Iced mochas
- Iced cappuccinos
- Iced espresso
- Iced London Fog tea latte, Iced matcha tea latte, or Iced chai tea latte
- Violet drink, pink drink, or dragon drink
How to make cold foam: DIY Starbucks recipe
How to make cold foam at home? It’s very simple to make this treat to top all your homemade iced coffees and cold brews: and an incredibly impressive! Here’s what you’ll need to do (or jump to the recipe below):
- Step 1: Grab a milk frother (or French press). The best way to make Starbucks cold foam at home is using a handheld milk frother. At only $8.00, it’s the best tool for making thick, fluffy foam and is worth the purchase. (Hey, that’s just 16 Starbucks orders of the stuff!). A French press is your next best bet, if you have one. We don’t recommend a whisk for cold foam: it makes foam with large bubbles and a loose texture.
- Step 2: Froth for 15 to 20 seconds. Add skim milk and simple syrup to a tall cup and froth until very fluffy. It takes only about 15 seconds to whip up into a thick foam. (For the French press instructions, how to How to Froth Milk.)
Variation: add vanilla
Want to step up your cold foam? You can add a hint of vanilla extract to add a delicious nuance to the flavor. At first we wondered whether this would turn the topping a light brown color. But after testing it, it doesn’t make a perceptible difference in whiteness versus the original. Add a very small dash and you’re in business!
Drinks that use cold foam
You can use cold foam on any type of chilled tea or coffee drink! Try a dollop of thick, lightly sweet foam on a glass of:
- Iced coffee
- Cold brew coffee
- Iced cappuccino
- Coffee soda (tastes like nitro coffee)
- Iced latte or Iced vanilla latte
- Iced white chocolate mocha or iced mocha
- Iced chai latte
- Iced espresso
- Iced matcha latte
Dietary notes
This cold foam recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.
Frequently asked questions
Skim or low-fat milk (1% or 2%) froths best due to the higher milk protein content. Non-dairy milks like oat milk can also be used, but experiment to find a brand that froths well.
The milk might be too warm. Use cold milk straight from the fridge for optimal frothing. Or, you might not be using enough milk protein: opt for skim or low-fat milk.
Absolutely! Add a dash of vanilla, vanilla syrup, or a pinch of cinnamon before frothing.
Cold foam is best enjoyed fresh. It will start to lose its texture after about 30 minutes.
How to Make Cold Foam (DIY Starbucks Recipe)
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 2 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Description
Here’s how to make cold foam: the Starbucks recipe for a frothy topping fit for iced coffee and cold brew!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup nonfat (skim) milk
- 1 teaspoon simple syrup
- 1 dash vanilla extract (optional)
- Equipment: Milk frother or French press
Instructions
- Add milk and simple syrup (and vanilla extract, if using) to a pitcher or narrow jar. Fully submerge the milk frother.
- Turn on the frother and froth until the milk starts to thicken, slowly pulling the wand towards the top of the milk. Froth about 15 to 20 seconds total, until the foam is thick and stabilized. Add to the top of cold brew, iced coffee, or an iced latte.
- Category: Drink
- Method: Frothed
- Cuisine: Coffee
- Diet: Vegetarian
Hot drinks that use frothed milk
There are so many coffee and tea drinks that use frothed milk! Once you’ve mastered this method, you can play barista with these drinks:
- Latte The classic espresso drink! Try this perfect cafe latte.
- Cappuccino Creamy with just the right touch of foamed milk and bitter espresso.
- Mocha or Mocha Cappuccino Rich and chocolaty, with a topping of fluffy milk foam.
- Macchiato A shot of espresso topped with a layer of frothy foam: the perfect drink!
- Perfect Tea Latte A tea latte just like your favorite coffee shop…in 5 minutes.
- Chai Latte or Vegan Chai Latte Everyone’s favorite, using masala chai spices.
- Vanilla Chai Latte A cozy drink flavored with vanilla and perfectly frothy.
- Dirty Chai Latte A tea latte spiked with a shot of espresso.
I tried this and it wont work
maybe a problem with my frother?
Could be the brand of skim milk too, some froth better than others!
I’ve tried this a few times now, when i froth my almond milk it just turns into bubbles not a foam. Any tips?
We haven’t had any luck with almond milk. Skim dairy milk is best, and oat milk works OK.
The cost of adding cold foam is no longer $0.50. The cost is $1.00 to $1.25 depending on location. The cold foam eventually mixes into iced drinks as one sips. Although if someone were to request cream, there’s no charge. Another clever way to add up charges to drinks. Hopefully my iced coffee stays under $7. I do enjoy the treat once in awhile. It’s becoming too expensive to go everyday. Thank you for adding the instructions for making cold foam at home.
thank you, yes am used to ordering cold foam from Starbucks, guess I never realized that there is such a thing as a milk frother! Good to know and the vanilla variation
Hi! We’re over here trying to figure out why this is tagged as vegan when you give no non-dairy milk options. We tried this with oat milk and it didn’t work. Could you clarify or give some suggestions? Thanks!
Tagging as vegan was an error: we’re so sorry! You can get a nice froth on oat milk, but you’ll need a handheld milk frother: did you happen to use one of those? Then we’d spoon it out onto the coffee. It won’t have the same texture and body as skim milk (due to the protein makeup), but it could work in a pinch as the best non-dairy option. Our apologies for the tagging error!
Regarding oat milk – I have had success with Oatly Full Fat (or better the Barista edition) and a french press. The french press I use has a very tight mesh. I give it between 20-30 small “pumps” and pour slowly over cold brew.
Planet Oat and some others do not using thickening agents so they are not as easy to foam.
I would also note that SB also uses heavy cream in their cold foam as well.
Chobani works well too! It’s not as thick and creamy as the coffee shop, but it works