What is cold foam made of?
Cold foam is milk or a plant-based drink frothed with air into a light, cold topping. Sweetened versions add sugar, flavored syrups, or extracts, such as vanilla.
What is it made of?
- Milk or a plant-based base: This supplies the liquid that is frothed. Starbucks' Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam home recipe uses 2% milk; its vanilla lavender version uses oatmilk.
- Sweeteners and flavorings: Powdered sugar sweetens the dairy recipe, while vanilla extract adds flavor. The oatmilk version uses vanilla and lavender syrups for both sweetness and flavor.
- Air: Frothing introduces bubbles, giving the liquid a lighter texture and greater volume.
How the parts work together
- Mixing the flavorings into the base before frothing flavors the foam itself. The finished topping sits above the iced coffee rather than being stirred into it.
- Coffee, ice, and garnishes are separate from the foam mixture. In the lavender recipe, for example, sugar on the glass rim accompanies the oatmilk-and-syrup topping.
- These Starbucks home recipes differ from a store ingredient declaration. The home recipe named "Sweet Cream" lists milk but no separate cream ingredient.
How it is made or formed
- Combine the milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a pourable container, or mix oatmilk with the vanilla and lavender syrups.
- Froth the mixture without heating it, then pour the foam over iced coffee.
Sources
- Starbucks at Home: Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Foam
Supports the dairy ingredients, separate mixing, cold frothing, and topping sequence.
- Starbucks at Home: Iced Vanilla Lavender Coffee With Oatmilk Cold Foam
Supports the oatmilk variation and the distinction between foam, coffee, ice, and rim garnish.