[Skipper]

The frothed milk is my favorite part of an espresso; Unfortunately, mine shattered in the dishwasher yesterday. I haven't had to purchase one in years. Where do I go? Is there a store that has them priced reasonably or am I better off purchasing from an online source? Any help is appreciated!

[Austin]

For you I would look online, but what machine dies it work with? I know Saeco offers some after market products, and I've had some cheaper plastic models crack after significant use, but those were better just wholly replaced, as opposed to finding new components.

[RichHelms]

I own about 5 frothers. It really depends on what you are making the froth for. If it is an espresso, why are you not frothing on the espresso maker.

My fav basic unit it the glass with the plunger. Easy to use and nice results. Bodum makes one but it is not very durable and not cheap. For most of my froth I use a hand blender.

[Austin]

How small is your hand blender? Mine is huge and only worth the use if I'm serving a crowd.

[RichHelms]

I have an old Braun with a whipping end. It came with a tall cup. We tend to make mostly lattes so it works for us.

The little glass units will make smaller quantities

[Austin]

I have a Hamilton beach and the thing is huge. You have to use a pitcher to froth with it.

[RichHelms]

I made an discovery recently related to milk froth. The question was whether to work with hot or cold milk. When I was serving coffee at the art weekend event, I would keep the cold milk/cream in the whipping cup and whip/serve as needed. When I was done the cup went back in the fridge with the remaining milk/cream in it.

When I ran out I would do a quick wash and fill up again. The advantage was I could put in a lot of milk/cream, whip and pour off what was needed then back in the fridge.

Usually I heat the milk/cream with a microwave then whip. While the cold milk frothed better and was almost stiff it would dissolve into the coffee quickly. If I start with hot milk/cream it is harder to froth but the froth stays on the coffee much longer. The cold froth collapsed into the coffee much faster.

I found this very interesting.

[Austin]

That is interesting. I've thought about doing cold froths for some of the cold recipes, but didn't know how it would hold up.

Did you try cold froth cold coffee?

[RichHelms]

Originally Posted by Austin

Did you try cold froth cold coffee?

No I did not. Probably would hold up fine. I think what causes it to collapse is the heat.

Try it and tell us

I was also thinking about your hand mixer comment on a large unit. I have seen very low cost units that are small. A cheap hand mixer might do the job nicely. Just need a deep cup to mix in. My mixer came with a cup that is about 9 inches tall.

[Austin]

I'm looking for a Manuel one. I know they are out there.