Honorable Mentions
Melitta Montalatte Milk Frother for $100: We’ll forgive you when you’ve got no concept Melitta made any notable contributions to the espresso area apart from the filters each espresso drinker buys as soon as they’ve graduated from a “no matter’s within the pot” man to a “my coffee-making expertise is a ritual” man. Melitta has quietly been plugging away within the espresso gear area for a while now, and its new Montalatte Milk Frother lands in the identical tier as a lot of its different devices. It’s straightforward to make use of, it will get the job achieved with out knocking your socks off, and it will not break the financial institution. One notable design flaw is the weak spot of the magnet that retains the agitator hooked up to the bottom of the pitcher. You’ll must take away it totally earlier than making an attempt to pour, which may mess with the froth you’ve been constructing as soon as the frothing course of is completed. It’s straightforward to right in case you choose to decant the liquid into a correct frothing pitcher and smack it round a number of occasions there for good measure, but it surely took me abruptly the primary time and nearly made fairly a large number.
{Photograph}: Pete Cottell
Maestri Home Electrical Milk Frother for $70: The advertising and marketing copy on the Maestri Home web site related to its electrical milk frother reads “Barista Finesse of Temperature and Thickness,” so it’s protected to imagine that is one more bizarre Amazon model that at all times exhibits up alongside manufacturers you’ve truly heard of while you seek for devices. The guide advised me to pick out medium foam, 150 levels Fahrenheit, and 30 p.c thickness for a cappuccino, so I fired it up and hoped for the very best. There was fairly a little bit of separation between the liquid on the backside and the dry froth on the prime, which was finest fitted to a extra basic type of cappuccino that’s equal elements espresso, moist milk, and dry froth on the prime. No quantity of banging the steaming pitcher on the counter or sloshing across the liquid would merge the dry froth with the liquid, so latte artwork was out of the query. The clump of dry foam on the highest of my drink was nice for a number of sips, and it jogged my memory of an easier time when lattes and cappuccinos had been the one drinks out there that melded espresso with frothed milk. At any fee, this can be a dependable frother with a easy interface and predictable outcomes at an honest worth.
Not Advisable
Bodum Barista Electrical Milk Frother for $60: Bodum makes a lot of gear in any respect kinds of worth factors, and the same-y design of a lot of its gadgets makes it troublesome to determine which is which and why it’s best to spend the additional money for a unit that appears nearly equivalent to a less expensive choice with an analogous identify. On the primary and third checks with the utmost 8-ounce dose of entire milk, it sputtered uncontrolled and overflowed about three minutes into its excessively lengthy five-minute cycle. I checked the directions to verify I wasn’t doing something unsuitable, which revealed this unit needs to be primarily idiot-proof in its choices. There’s a single button you press as soon as for decent froth, twice for decent chocolate (no frothing motion), and 3 times for chilly froth. This needs to be unattainable to screw up, but there I used to be with a sizzling, white liquid oozing out of the lid and working down the edges of the machine and onto the counter. Once I lastly bought a very good run out of the machine, it yielded layer upon layer of gooey 160-degree Fahrenheit foam that might nearly be folded over like a French omelet. It was almost burnt and smelled like bread pudding. This isn’t a frother I might advocate to anybody beneath any circumstance.
