You can save money and calories by making your own mochas, lattes and other coffee drinks at home. There is a less expensive alternative to espresso or cappuccino makers for whipping up coffee drink recipes: a hand-held milk frother.

Aerolatte Milk Frother

What is a Milk Frother?
A hand-held milk frother is a small, circular whip on the end of an extension arm that fits into a cup to whip warm milk without using steam. Use a milk frother to add body to milk used for coffee drinks, even to skim milk. Some milk frothers claim to be able to whip up milkshakes, but battery-operated models usually do not have enough power to blend anything more substantial than hot cocoa, or powdered drinks with water.

How to Use a Milk Frother
I have been using an Aerolatte Stainless-Steel Deluxe Edition Frother with Stand for two years now. Along with being compact and easy to store, the Aerolatte does a great job at foaming warm milk while mixing in sweeteners and any spices you like, such as cinnamon. I warm up skim milk and place the frother whip at the bottom of the cup, then turn the frother on to add body to the milk. Then I slowly move the whip closer to the top of the milk to produce a nice foam. From there, I just add coffee from my Cuisinart DCC-2000 Coffee-on-Demand 12-cup Programmable Coffeemaker, and my latte is ready.

Cleaning the Aerolatte Frother
Another advantage to the Aerolatte frother is how easy it is to keep clean. After I whip up some frothed milk, I just run the whip under hot tap water then turn it on to allow the metal whip to dry. Then I just pop the frother back into its stand.

Aerolatte hand-held Milk Frother Details
The Aerolatte milk frother measures 8-3/4 inches long, is made of stainless steel and runs on two AA alkaline batteries. I’ve found that rechargeable NiMH AA Batteriesonly last a week with regular use. The Aerolatte comes with batteries installed, but they are not high quality and run down much quicker than Duracell batteriesor a comparable brand.

You get instructions, coffee recipes and a five-year guarantee with this frother, and you can buy an Aerolatte without a stand but using the Aerolatte Deluxe Edition Frother with a Stand keeps it from getting banged around in a kitchen drawer. The Aerolatte To Go Milk Frothercomes with a case, but this frother is plastic, not stainless steel.