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When steaming milk with a steam wand, many sources I've found say that the texturing stage of milk frothing can only be done before the milk reaches body temperature, hence why cooling milk and milk jugs is important, as it allows more time for this process.

As an handheld milk frother (such as Aerolatte) needs milk to be heated before it froths, is it possible to produce a good quality micro-foam?

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    Never heard of an aerolatte, can you expand on what drink exactly you are trying to make?
    – Steven Vaccaro
    Commented Jan 26, 2016 at 18:23
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    Aerolatte is just a brand of milk frothers, essemtially a whisk, I'm sure you will have seen them before. Im just talking about making any milk based coffee that requires good quality microfoam, Such as a flat white, latte or cappucino.
    – Robin
    Commented Jan 26, 2016 at 18:28
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    Hint: After producing the foam, if you hit the pitcher to a massive wooden surface, bigger droplets of foam gather at the bottom and tinier ones at the top. So, a more consistent foam could be acquired at the top.
    – MTSan
    Commented Mar 27, 2016 at 14:42

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It certainly won't compare to a steam wand, but yes you can totally get okay milk texture using one. In all honesty though, I've had better success using a french press. Heat milk via stove stop, put your milk into a clean french press, and push and pull the plunge repeatedly until your milk froths. It's not perfect - but good enough to pour some latte art.

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    Ah ok, I'd seen a few videos of that method but wasnt sure about how you'd control large bubbles. Cheers for the reply. I seem to get a good textured foam from an aerolatte, but it stiffens easily, think this is due to the temperature when foaming begins, so I suppose it's unavoidable for either method
    – Robin
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 19:03
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    One tip is to keep the plunger inside of the french press when you pour the milk out. You could always try and use your aerolattee while the milk is heating up? I'm not sure if that would really matter or not. If you look at the end of this video - they use a french press and it seems to work fairly well. youtube.com/watch?v=rpyBYuu-wJI
    – Induction
    Commented Jan 28, 2016 at 4:36

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