Summary List Placement
- You can skip the high coffee shop markups and easily make lattes and cappuccinos at home with a quality milk frother.
- After much research and testing, we found that the HIC Milk Creamer Frother is the best you can buy.
It’s never been easier to make a perfect cup of coffee at home, but you need the right equipment to do it. If you’re a big fan of cappuccinos and lattes with splendid milk foam, you’re going to want a great milk frother in your collection of coffee-making tools.
We researched dozens of milk frothers and tested a few of them ourselves to find the best milk frothers you can buy.
We’ve included two great manual milk frothers as our top picks for most people, but if you’re dead set on having an electric milk frother, we’ve included two recommended options.
Here are the best milk frothers:
- Best overall: HIC Milk Creamer Frother
- Second-best manual: Bodum Latteo Milk Frother
- Best handheld: Zulay MilkBoss Milk Frother
- Best premium electric: Breville Milk Cafe Milk Frother
- Best versatile electric: Nespresso Aeroccino 4 Electric Milk Frother
Updated 9/3/2020. We updated prices, links, and formatting.
The best overall
The stainless-steel HIC Milk Creamer Frother whips up your milk for a beautiful foamy cappuccino or iced drink.
You don't have to pay a fortune to enjoy a frothy, foamy cappuccino at home. The stainless-steel HIC Milk Creamer Frother is very affordable, but it produces the best milk foam of any milk frother we've tested.
The most well-loved feature of this simple manual milk frother is just how easy it is to clean. Many expensive electric milk frothers involve multiple parts that you have to wash and clean regularly. With the HIC frother, you just scrub out the stainless-steel jug with soap and water after every use and then wash the lid and mesh pump part.
Its stainless-steel design is also durable, so you don't have to worry about it breaking like you would with a glass manual milk frother.
I've made cappuccinos at home every day for the past six years with a Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker and the HIC Milk Creamer Frother, and this milk frother has never failed me.
It's all about the technique: I typically pour cold milk into the frother, froth it for 1-2 minutes, let it sit for a minute to thicken up, pour it into my ceramic milk pitcher, and heat it in the microwave for 45 seconds. The milk froth grows creamier and frothier as it heats until it's perfect for pouring over the espresso I have in my coffee mug. I've also used it to make frothy milk for iced drinks.
After much use (six years, to be exact), I revisited the product for another review. After all that time and trying other products, the HIC Milk Creamer Frother remains my favorite. It's affordable and, based on its longevity, quality is good.
Pros: Inexpensive, easy to use, simple to clean, consistently makes great foamy milk, works with any kind of milk, froths cold milk for iced drinks
Cons: You have to heat the milk after you froth it
Check out our review of the HIC Milk Creamer Frother
The second-best manual
The Bodum Latteo Milk Frother looks good on your kitchen counter and it makes excellent frothy milk.
If you want stylish manual milk frother, the Bodum Latteo is the one for you. It's made of borosilicate glass instead of stainless steel, so you can even pop the glass carafe into the microwave when you're done frothing the cold milk.
Bodum is a well-known brand that also makes French press coffee makers, so you know its products are trustworthy.
Just like the HIC Milk Frother, the Bodum model is very easy to clean. You simply wash the glass carafe like you would any other glass and scrub the lid and mesh pump clean. In comparison, many expensive electric milk frothers involve multiple parts that you have to wash and clean, which is a real hassle.
The only downside with Bodum's glass design is that you have to be more careful with it. The HIC milk frother is made of stainless steel so it won't break under most conditions, but this glass one could shatter.
To use Bodum's manual milk frother, you just have to follow the same technique we described for the HIC milk frother. Pour cold milk into the frother, froth it for 1-2 minutes, let it sit for a minute to thicken up, and heat it in the microwave for 45 seconds using the glass carafe the milk is in.
The milk froth grows creamier and frothier as it heats until it's perfect for pouring over the espresso in your coffee mug. You can also use it to make frothy milk for iced drinks.
Bodum's Latteo milk frother is a steal, especially when you compare it to the stationary electric milk frothers in this guide.
Pros: Glass design helps you see frothing progress, easy to clean, simple to use, consistently makes great foamy milk, works with any kind of milk, froths cold milk for iced drinks
Cons: You have to heat the milk after you froth it, glass is breakable
The best handheld
The Zulay MilkBoss Milk Frother is an affordable handheld model that froths milk quickly and easily with its stainless-steel motorized whisk.
Handheld milk frothers often get a bad rap for being less effective than manual models or their higher-end electric cousins. But the Zulay MilkBoss has been a reliable little appliance for me ever since I got it four months ago. It's essentially no more than a battery-powered whisk that agitates milk to get it to froth and foam - and for a very budget-friendly price, it does exactly what is asked of it.
The simple stick model is powered by two AA batteries that insert into the handle. A push-button on top powers the whisk when it's depressed, so you'll have to keep the button pressed with your thumb while you're working. Because you constantly have to press the button for power, it'll automatically shut off if you drop it or lose your grip, preventing you from flinging milk everywhere.
The milk does have a tendency to spit up out of the cup you're frothing in if you're not careful, so be sure to use a mug or glass with high sides. I use the Zulay frother mostly on non-dairy milk, and I've found that milks with higher fat content froth up much more effectively. Soy creamer works the best, in my experience, and froths up in just about 30 seconds. Because there's no heating element in the frother, you'll want to pop your frothed milk in the microwave before adding it to your coffee.
The Zulay MilkBoss couldn't be easier to clean. Simply fill a cup with soapy water, submerge the whisk of the frother, and turn it on for a few seconds. The handle itself shouldn't be submerged in water, so avoid washing the whole unit.
The frother comes with a stainless-steel stand, so you can keep it right next to your coffee maker. - Jen Gushue
Pros: Affordable, easy to use, easy to clean
Cons: Not as effective as other styles of frother, spits milk out of the cup if you're not careful
The best premium electric
The Breville Milk Cafe is the cream of the crop with its easy-to-clean design and thick milk foam production.
If you're dead serious about the milk foam on your morning latte and you're not afraid of dropping serious cash on a fancy milk frother, the Breville Milk Cafe is the best one you can buy.
The most popular feature of the Breville Milk Cafe is that you can customize the exact temperature, type of foam, and amount of foam you want to create. Its circular dial lets you easily set the milk temperature from cold to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. A spinning magnetized disk creates the foam and induction heating warms the milk.
The stainless-steel jug is easy to clean because it separates from the heating base; you can even pop it in the dishwasher. Breville's Milk Cafe produces enough milk foam for three big cups of coffee, too, which is excellent if you have a family (or just like lots of foam).
You can also hack the milk frother to make hot chocolate. All you have to do is toss some chocolate into the milk as it heats and froths to make decadent hot chocolate.
Unlike manual frothers, the Breville heats the milk as it froths it up into foam, so there's no extra step.
Pros: Easy to use, great milk foam production, heats the milk for you, simple to clean, make hot chocolate
Cons: Very expensive
The best versatile electric
The Nespresso Aeroccino 4 Milk Frother has many different settings so you can get your milk foam exactly the way you like it.
Nespresso is famous for its fancy coffee and easy-to-use espresso machines that use special pods to make the ultimate latte, but the company also makes a number of other coffee products for those who don't want to buy the whole machine. The Nespresso Aeroccino 4 Electric Milk Frother is a great option for milk foam lovers.
It produces lovely thick, creamy foam for your latte. Nespresso improved the design on this new milk frother to include a handle for easy pouring, and now, the entire body is made of stainless steel.
The design is slightly less easy to clean than Breville's nice jug style, but you just have to wash it by hand and gently scrub off any milk residue. Make sure to clean the Aeroccino4 every time you use it to keep the milk frother sanitary and in good working order.
The frother can make hot or cold milk foam and heat milk for lattes. The Aeroccino 4 uses induction heating to warm the milk and the magnetized spinning disk makes the foam. You can choose between two levels of foam density to make cappuccinos or lattes. Each setting has its own button, so it's easy to operate. On the downside, there's no temperature control like the Breville.
It's very easy to use, too. You simply pour the milk, press the button, and wait a few minutes for your foam. It automatically shuts off when you are done. I've tried a few lattes made with this milk frother at high-end kitchen stores, and I was impressed.
Pros: Multiple settings for different types of froth, hot or cold milk froth, nice design, stainless steel
Cons: A bit expensive, no adjustable temperature
Choosing the right type of milk frother
There are many different kinds of milk frothers: manual, stationary electric, and handheld.
We first tried battery-powered handheld electric frothers because they were relatively cheap. Though they don't perform as well as manual frothers or electric ones, they're a great introduction to frothing milk. It won't cost you much to try one out to see if it's worth the effort. If you find yourself falling in love with your homemade lattes, you may want to upgrade later.
There are plenty of stationary, plug-in electric milk frothers that will produce excellent foamy milk, and we've put the best ones in this guide. However, the best electric milk frothers are significantly more expensive than handheld electronic ones and manual ones.
After much testing, our best experience has been with manual milk frothers that don't cost a lot. Since there's no electricity involved, you do have to froth the milk yourself by pumping the milk full of air inside the jug. You also have to heat the milk after you've frothed it, but you'll have more control over how hot it gets. Even though there is more work involved with manual milk frothers, you'll get the best results for the least amount of money.
Check out our other great coffee maker buying guides
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