James Hoffmann's Milk-Frother Test: £50 Hand Whisks Beat a £156 Sage
7 sources researched
Steam wands are no longer the only route to cafe-grade microfoam. James Hoffmann tested 11 milk frothers across three approaches — handheld whisks from £28, heated hands-free jugs from £85, and stovetop or electric steamers — and the cheapest group held its own on texture. Prices are October 2026: his UK figures, except the Morning Dream, which he never prices in the video and which is listed at its US price — converted at £1 = US$1.33 = €1.20.
Quotes
Quotes“Texture's excellent. Milk foam's holding up well.”
“You can make as nice a milk as is possible.”
“at the price, suddenly 100 pounds looks very reasonable”
“That's like steaming with a proper steam wand.”
“It is unfortunately outclassed here.”
11 milk frothers, cheapest first
Grouped the way Hoffmann splits them; £ prices with US$ and € conversions at 30 Oct 2026 (Morning Dream is priced in US$).
| Frother | Approach | Price | Hoffmann's verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handheld whisk | • £28 (US$37 / €34) | Decent, not spectacular; foam a little dry. | |
| Handheld whisk | • £50 (US$67 / €60) | Very good texture; the height guide helps. | |
| Handheld whisk | • £50 (US$67 / €60) | Interchangeable with the OutIn; theirs was the first. | |
 AUNMAS |
Stovetop steam | • £56 (US$74 / €67) | Gauge leaked on first use; do not buy. |
| Heats and foams | • £85 (US$113 / €102) | Big bubbles, too much foam; a letdown. | |
| Heats and foams | • £100 (US$133 / €120) | Very capable for the money; looks chunky. | |
| Heats and foams | • £146 (US$194 / €175) | Excellent texture; pours straight from the jug. | |
| Heats and foams | • £140-156 (US$186-207 / €168-187) | Too much foam, noisy fan; outclassed. | |
| Stovetop steam | • £172 (US$229 / €206) | Cafe-grade steam; far too expensive. | |
| Electric steam | US$495 (£372 / €446) | Top quality and control; very expensive. | |
| WPM MS-130T |
Electric steam | • £460 (US$612 / €552) | Excellent milk, loud, stiff arm. |
The pattern is that texture stops tracking price somewhere around £50. Above that you are buying the milk being heated, or steam on demand, or both — not better foam. Hoffmann's own wish was a bare boiler, a pressurestat and a steam valve with no electronics; nobody sells one.
Facts
FactsThree approaches, one job — Hoffmann sorts the field into handheld whisks that only foam (£28-50), heated jugs that do both hands-free (£85-156), and machines that make real steam (£56-495), and price does not track texture inside those groups.
Handhelds leave heating to you — The whisk group needs milk heated to about 55 °C first, which in his test meant a microwave; the aerolatte runs on AA batteries while the OutIn LattoGo and NanoFoamer are USB-C rechargeable, and a milk pitcher adds £7-15.
Group two heats and foams — A magnet spins a whisk inside a heated chamber: the Dreo jug has no electrics in it and can be fully immersed, the NanoFoamer PRO offers six foam levels with a 55 °C stop or 65 °C finish, and the Sage needs a 200 ml minimum fill.
Steam costs the most — The AUNMAS is a moka-pot base with a 0-100 psi gauge, the Flair Wizard a stovetop boiler whose gauge marks 2.5 bar as its red line, and the Morning Dream and WPM MS-130T plug-in units with target-temperature control; the WPM landed at £460 delivered in the UK.
Voices
VoicesHandhelds make excellent milk — Hoffmann's summary is that the £50 pair produce genuinely excellent milk and only ask you to heat it yourself, calling the microwave route no big deal, while the £28 aerolatte is decent but not spectacular.
NanoFoamer PRO wins texture — He could pour latte art directly from its jug and rated the result as good as any cafe, with the only complaints being the loose silicone inserts and washing an electrical jug.
Dreo is the value pick — At £100 he called it very capable for the money and a compelling option if you care about the cup rather than the looks, though its flat-white preset came out too flat and the box is big.
Sage and AUNMAS miss — The £150 Sage dumped a glob of foam and was outclassed by cheaper machines, while the AUNMAS leaked at its pressure gauge before producing any steam.
AI-written from public sources and may contain errors. Check the sources yourself.
