The best gadget I bought this year is a milk frother

GadgetsThe best gadget I bought this year is a milk frotherLet me convince you to change up your coffee game.Let me convince you to change up your coffee game.by Elizabeth LopattoOct 18, 2026, 1:00 PM UTCIf you buy something from a link, The Verge may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.Photo: Elizabeth Lopatto / The VergeElizabeth Lopatto is a reporter who writes about tech, money, and human behavior. She joined The Verge in 2014 as science editor. Previously, she was a reporter at Bloomberg.

今年我买过最好的小家电是奶泡机。让我说服你改变一下你的咖啡习惯吧。作者：Elizabeth Lopatto，2026年10月18日，世界标准时间下午1:00。如果你通过链接购买商品，The Verge可能会获得佣金。请参阅我们的道德声明。照片：Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge。Elizabeth Lopatto是一位报道科技、金钱和人类行为的记者。她于2014年加入The Verge担任科学编辑。此前，她曾是彭博社的记者。

Back in February, I went to Los Angeles to take in some art and stayed in Koreatown. Down the street from my hotel, there was this little coffee shop — Stagger — that is, I think, best known for its matcha, which is good. But the drink I unexpectedly found myself obsessed with was their cream top, an iced Americano with, yep, vanilla cream on top. When I got back to Oakland, I kept thinking about how badly I wanted one.

今年二月，我去洛杉矶看艺术展，住在韩国城。在我酒店那条街上，有一家叫Stagger的小咖啡馆，我想它最出名的是抹茶，味道确实不错。但我意外迷上的是他们的“奶油顶”咖啡——一种加了香草奶油的冰美式。回到奥克兰后，我一直念念不忘，特别想再喝一杯。

For more than 20 years, I’ve been drinking my coffee — iced or otherwise — black. Originally this was because I knew I could put black coffee that had cooled off in the microwave to reheat it without worrying that the milk in it would curdle. (Gross, I know.) Then, as I started drinking better coffee, it felt like the best way to appreciate the expensive beans I was buying.

二十多年来，我一直喝黑咖啡，无论是冰的还是热的。最初是因为我知道黑咖啡凉了之后可以用微波炉加热，不用担心里面的牛奶变质。（我知道，这听起来很恶心。）后来，当我开始喝品质更好的咖啡时，我觉得黑咖啡是品鉴我所购买的昂贵咖啡豆的最佳方式。

So my attachment to the cream top surprised me. And then, when Oakland had a gnarly heat wave in March, I decided there was one way I’d tolerate it: fancy coffee drinks. I splashed out $14 for the Zulay Kitchen frother and I was off.

因此，我对“奶油顶”咖啡的迷恋让我自己都很惊讶。后来，三月份奥克兰遭遇了一场严重的极端热浪，我决定用一种方式来忍受高温：喝花式咖啡。我花了14美元买了一个Zulay Kitchen奶泡机，然后就开始了我的尝试。

A handheld foamer looks and works kinda like an immersion blender. I pour milk into a glass, stick the frother in there, and then hold the power button until it reaches my preferred consistency. When the disposable batteries it uses are fresh, this takes about 30 seconds to a minute. As the batteries degrade, it takes longer; if I’m getting impatient about how long it’s taking me to make my frothy treats, it’s time to change the batteries. The frother also works to beat eggs, mix protein powder or creatine into a drink, and make hot chocolate. But by far it’s gotten the most use making my coffee drinks as I set out to make a cream top of my own.

手持式奶泡机的外观和工作原理有点像手持搅拌棒。我把牛奶倒进杯子里，把奶泡机放进去，按住电源键，直到达到我想要的浓稠度。当使用新电池时，这大约需要30秒到1分钟。随着电池电量下降，所需时间会变长；如果我因为制作奶泡的时间太长而感到不耐烦，那就是该换电池的时候了。这个奶泡机还可以用来打鸡蛋、混合蛋白粉或肌酸，以及制作热巧克力。但到目前为止，它最大的用途还是在我尝试自制“奶油顶”咖啡时制作奶泡。

Also I think it’s neat to watch the foam descend into the coffee. Photo: Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge

另外，我觉得看着奶泡缓缓沉入咖啡的过程很有趣。照片：Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge

The cream top descended from the Einspänner, an espresso drink that’s named for a one-horse carriage. The original Viennese version used hot espresso, and the whipped cream on top served as a kind of insulation, which kept the drivers’ drinks hot for them when they were out in the cold. (Obviously, its popularity expanded beyond carriage drivers.) It isn’t clear to me how the Einspänner made it to South Korea, but it exploded in popularity there, with all kinds of variations, mostly iced. And then from South Korea, it made its way to the US, where the ground had already been cleared by Starbucks’ “cold foam” drinks.

“奶油顶”咖啡源自Einspänner，这是一种以单马马车命名的浓缩咖啡饮品。最初的维也纳版本使用热浓缩咖啡，顶部的鲜奶油起到了一种隔热作用，让车夫在寒冷的天气里也能喝到热饮。（显然，它的受欢迎程度早已超出了车夫的范围。）我不清楚Einspänner是如何传到韩国的，但它在那里迅速走红，并衍生出各种变体，大多是冰饮。随后，它从韩国传到了美国，而星巴克的“冷奶泡”饮品已经为它铺平了道路。

The notable thing about the cream top, besides the addition of delicious fat and sugar to coffee, was that the cream wasn’t as light as latte foam, but wasn’t as heavy as ordinary whipped cream. It was melty and dripped slowly into the coffee.

“奶油顶”咖啡的独特之处在于，除了给咖啡增加了美味的脂肪和糖分外，它的奶油既不像拿铁奶泡那样轻盈，也不像普通鲜奶油那样厚重。它有一种融化感，会缓慢地滴入咖啡中。

My first experiments with my at-home cream top were pretty simple. I don’t have an espresso machine, but I do make concentrated cold brew in hot weather, which has a strong enough flavor to stand up against the foam. (Some recipes suggest powdered espresso if you don’t want to use concentrated cold brew.)

我最初在家尝试制作“奶油顶”咖啡时非常简单。我没有浓缩咖啡机，但在炎热的天气里，我会制作浓缩冷萃咖啡，它的味道足够浓郁，可以与奶泡相得益彰。（如果不想用浓缩冷萃咖啡，有些食谱建议使用速溶浓缩咖啡粉。）

After I mastered the simple cream top, I began making forays into weirder breakfast treats, my favorite of which I… recreated from a Starbucks ad. It’s a cold brew with coconut ube cold foam, the top of which I dust with toasted coconut flakes. It is dank. (This is a recipe for a more sophisticated version than I make.) So when it was 90 degrees in Oakland for about two weeks running recently, this drink was how I consoled myself.

在掌握了简单的“奶油顶”制作方法后，我开始尝试制作更奇特的早餐饮品，我最喜欢的一款是我从星巴克广告中复刻出来的。那是加了椰子香芋冷奶泡的冷萃咖啡，顶部撒上烤椰子片。味道棒极了。（这是一个比我做的版本更精致的食谱。）所以，最近奥克兰连续两周气温高达90华氏度（约32摄氏度）时，这款饮品成了我慰藉自己的方式。

To be honest, I’m just recommending getting a frother. You can spend a lot on a milk frother and some people do. I relied on America’s Test Kitchen to steer me in the right direction — but outlets like Wirecutter and Bon Appétit have their own preferred options. This one is cheap and simple, and it’s been treating me right. I’m sure the Apple HomeView is nice, too, but in pleasure per dollar can it match a $14 cold foamer that takes AA batteries? I have my doubts.

老实说，我只是建议大家买个奶泡机。你可以在奶泡机上花很多钱，有些人确实这么做了。我参考了《美国测试厨房》（America’s Test Kitchen）的建议来做出选择，但像Wirecutter和Bon Appétit这样的媒体也有他们各自推荐的产品。我买的这款便宜又简单，而且非常好用。我相信Apple HomeView也很不错，但在性价比方面，它能比得上一个只需14美元、用AA电池供电的冷奶泡机吗？我对此表示怀疑。