How to froth milk for a latte using a French press or sealed bottle

Iced lattes turn thin once the ice melts, so shaking or pumping the milk and coffee into a fine foam keeps the drink creamy. Two home methods work. With a French press, add 180ml fresh milk, a trace of fine salt, and 40g of espresso pulled from 20g of grounds in about 28 seconds. Press the plunger down five times to introduce air, then pump six to ten times with the filter below the foam until the texture thickens.

A sealed bottle offers the second route: combine the milk and espresso, close the lid and shake hard until foam forms, then pour over ice in a chilled cup. The salt is not for seasoning but to make the palate more sensitive to sweetness. How long to froth milk for latte depends on the tool, but the French press method typically takes under a minute of pumping before the foam turns dense and creamy.

In summer, the biggest fear when drinking iced lattes is that once the ice melts, the flavor becomes diluted and the texture turns thin. How can you keep an iced latte rich and creamy? Front Street Coffee shares a simple yet crucial trick—shake it! Using external force to whip the milk and coffee liquid into a fine foam not only locks in the coffee's original rich aroma but also brings a creamy texture just like a hot latte. This article breaks down in detail two methods you can do at home: the French press pumping method and the sealed bottle hand-shaking method, plus adding a tiny pinch of fine salt to enhance the sweetness and elevate the flavor layers. Whether you're a complete beginner or a seasoned coffee enthusiast, you'll grasp it at a glance and easily make a cup of shaken iced latte with outstanding texture.

As mentioned in the previous article, once the ice melts, the flavor of an iced latte becomes noticeably diluted, and the overall richness seems inferior to a hot latte. To solve this problem, Front Street Coffee adds an extra step when making iced lattes: shake!

Using external force to whip the coffee liquid with milk added into foam preserves the coffee's own intense aroma while bringing the rich layering of creamy foam. To make the taste buds more sensitive to other flavors and highlight a pleasant sweetness, Front Street Coffee also sprinkles a little salt into the iced latte.

Method One: Whip Up a Foam

First, prepare a tool for frothing milk—a handheld electric milk frother works, or you can use a French press directly like Front Street Coffee does. Materials needed: milk frother, espresso, fresh milk, fine salt, iced cup.

First, pour 180ml of fresh milk into the French press

Then sprinkle in a tiny pinch of fine salt (just a trace is enough)

Use 20g of coffee grounds to extract 40g of espresso, with an extraction time of 28 seconds, and pour it into the French press as well

Put the lid on and press it down firmly by hand. Pull the plunger rapidly from top to bottom 5 times to introduce air, then keep the metal filter below the foam layer and pump continuously 6–10 times until the milk foam becomes thick and creamy.

Take out a cup, place two ice cubes at the bottom (or just use a chilled cup), and pour the freshly frothed milk coffee into the cup.

Method Two: Shake Out a Foam

First, find a sealed container that lets you shake vigorously to create foam. A dedicated shaker works, and common bottles and jars at home are fine too. The material doesn't matter—as long as you can fit ice cubes in and it won't leak after sealing. Front Street Coffee isn't picky; here we use a cleaned-out glass bottle that previously held honeysuckle beverage—save where you can.

Materials needed: wide-mouth sealed bottle/shaker, espresso, fresh milk, fine salt, ice cubes, cup.

First, add 50g of ice cubes to the glass bottle and pour in 180ml of fresh milk

Sprinkle in a tiny pinch of fine salt (just a trace is enough)

Use 20g of coffee grounds to extract 40g of espresso, with a time of 28 seconds, and pour it into the glass bottle as well

Seal the lid tightly and shake vigorously up and down about 20–30 times, until the milk foam becomes thick and creamy

Finally, pour the milk coffee directly into the pre-prepared iced cup, and it's ready to enjoy～

- END - Front Street Coffee

No. 10, Bao'an Qian Street, Yandong Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.