I Tested 20 Store-Bought Cold Foams to Discover the Best (and Most Budget-Friendly) Alternative to Starbucks

When discussing contemporary topics coffee Innovations aside, nothing has garnered a cult following similar to Cold Foam. This phenomenon can be attributed to worldwide technological advances and the widespread appeal of beverages such as Taiwanese. cheese tea and Korean dalgona coffee , you can now add a thick layer of foam to virtually any cold drink.

You can't really credit Starbucks By inventing it, you may not be able to credit them, but you can acknowledge their role in bringing it mainstream across the U.S. when they introduced it nationally in 2018. Fast forward to now, and cold foam is offered almost everywhere throughout the nation—with many options for different flavors too. Furthermore, companies are launching their very own cold foam items as well. grocery stores .

What Does Store-Bought Cold Foam Entail?

You can locate cold foams alongside the whipped cream in the dairy section, housed in identical packaging to the whipped cream and sharing a very comparable taste profile with it. While they appear quite alike, they aren’t exactly the same thing.

Commercially produced whipped cream primarily consists of cream with an additional lesser quantity of milk. In contrast, cold foam has a reversed ratio—it contains more skim or nonfat milk compared to cream. Certain brands opt out entirely from using milk, instead relying on the same plant-based oils found in typical coffee creamers.

A smaller quantity of milk fat makes the aeration of cold foam less stable compared to whipped cream. However, this works well because it remains frothy atop your coffee yet retains a light texture when sipped. Additionally, cold foam offers an excellent method to enjoy a luxurious, indulgent drink without needing a high-fat creamer.

What Method Did We Use to Evaluate Pre-made Cold Foams?

If your aim is to cut costs by brewing coffee at home but still desire the cafe-style experience, opting for store-bought cold foam could be an excellent solution. However, all products aren’t made alike. To pinpoint our top picks, we evaluated twenty distinct types of cold foam from eight various brands. The objective was to discover those which most closely mimic what you’d get at a coffeehouse. It didn't take long before we understood that the key determinant lies in utilizing genuine dairy.

Brands like Coffee mate and International Delight Don’t deviate much from their traditional formulas; hence, their cold foams primarily consist of palm or coconut oil. This option works well if you enjoy their creamers and desire more flavor choices, yet it won’t provide the same professional café-quality outcome.

This applies to vegan cold foams as well, such as those made from oats by Silk They serve as an adequate choice for those avoiding dairy, yet there remains significant ground to cover before they can rival the cream-based competitors.

Following an extensive search through all available cold foams, we pinpointed five top contenders. These selections encompass various brands and taste profiles. Therefore, regardless of your preferred type of cold foam, our list has got you covered.

Best Sweet Cream

Vanilla cream represents the simplest form of cold foam available, yet there remains considerable diversity within this flavor range. Since we found it difficult to choose only one, we have settled on two favorites from distinct brands: Reddi-wip and Dunkin'.

The Reddi-Wip’s cold foam boasts a minimal ingredient list, which we appreciate. The flavoring is natural too. As expected, it delivers a creamy sweetness with an unusual twist. This product evokes nostalgia, reminiscent of either Cool Whip or those little marshmallow packets from instant hot cocoa. Our panel found this option widely appealing.

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Our second choice in the sweet cream category is Dunkin's Extra Extra, which stands out as being both extra creamy and extra sweet. This item truly delivers on its promise. Compared to Reddi-wip’s offering, Dunkin's cold foam contains marginally higher levels of sugar and fat per serving; however, its sweetness comes across much subtler in taste. Additionally, it boasts a denser, silkier consistency. We believe this enhanced richness might be attributed to carrageenan, an ingredient commonly employed to elevate ordinary whipped cream into something more luxurious.

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The choice between these two cold foams comes down to availability and personal preference, but we're confident that you'd be happy with either option.

Best Vanilla

When compared to sweet cream, opting for our preferred vanilla-flavored cold foam proved to be a straightforward choice. Among the various options available under the Favorite Day label at Target, which includes three distinct types of cold foams, the vanilla variant stands out as superior. This particular option comes closer to replicating the taste of standard whipped cream more so than any other cold foam we tested.

Most notably, Favorite Day's cold foam relies solely on natural flavors—indicating that genuine vanilla is probably included. In contrast, competing brands often choose artificial options or mix them in, but this did not appeal to our taste testers. Favorite Day seems to have taken notice of this preference. Ina Garten And utilized the "premium vanilla," which significantly improves the outcome.

$5.69

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Best Chocolate

Apart from the traditional sweet cream and vanilla options, store-bought cold foams generally stick to mild flavors rather than venturing into more unusual ones. We will continue to eagerly await new innovations. pumpkin and cherry Cold foam products will soon be available at supermarkets, but for now, you can easily get your hands on a chocolate variant. Among these options, the standout choice we discovered comes from the East Coast grocer The Fresh Market.

The taste of chocolate in this cold foam reminds us of the hot cocoa from our childhood. It boasts an appropriate level of richness and complexity without being overly sugary, complementing iced coffee particularly nicely.

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Best Caramel

What do you know: The Fresh Market excelled once more, this time thanks to their Salted Caramel Cold Foam offering. Typically, items infused with caramel can end up being overwhelmingly sweet. However, this particular cold foam strikes an excellent balance as it incorporates ample amounts of salt which counteract the sweetness of the caramel just enough so that it doesn’t become overly saccharine.

An additional major advantage: this cold foam exclusively uses natural flavors. In my opinion, nothing tastes as bad as artificial caramel, hence The Fresh Market’s offering is like a refreshing breeze.

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