Air Foam Cold Brew – A new kind of cold brew coffee

Some weeks ago, I experienced this. I tried a bunch of new recipe ideas, but the milk was just too overpowering for the cold brew, and I was not happy with the end result. 

My first idea was to just skip the foam and add all the ingredients directly to cold brew. This actually works pretty well, depending on the recipe. But, what’s really nice with foam is that it stays on top, not blending too much with cold brew. This creates a nice contrast between the smooth cold brew coffee and whatever foam you are making. Instead of having, for example, salt caramel cold brew, you get cold brew topped with salt caramel foam, and that difference is significant. Compare it with donuts. It is a massive difference between a chocolate donut (chocolate tasting doughnut dough) and a doughnut filled with chocolate cream, isn’t it?

So, I had to find a new solution. I wanted a foam, and I wanted to be able to make without having to use too much (or any) milk. I tried a couple of ideas, but it didn’t work, so I pretty much gave up.  

Then this happened

Besides cold brew, I love ice cream, and a couple of days after my failed cold foam experiments, I was watching a YouTube ice cream tutorial. The tutorial showed a fantastic recipe, it was raspberry ice cream topped with a saffron and white chocolate foam. The guy making this recipe was making the saffron and white chocolate foam using a whipping siphon, and it was at this moment I realized… I NEED A SIPHON TO MAKE THE FOAM.

I realized that I probably could make a tasty, fluffy foam for the cold brew using a whipping siphon. The only problem I had was the thickness. The white chocolate has a pretty high-fat percentage, you also blend it together with cream, and therefore you can make a delicious thick foam.

But using too much fat for the foam was exactly what I was trying to avoid, but I was still pretty confident that I could make a foam without too much fat or milk. I just had to get a whipping siphon.

Using a Whipping Siphon for The Cold Foam

I got a siphon, and I tried it out. Disaster. I filled the siphon with cold brew only, and I tried to top my regular cold brew with it. The result? Well, let’s just say that there was not much evidence of any foam.

The problem was that that the cold brew wasn’t thick enough. Instead of getting a foam, I pretty much got nitro cold brew. So, I tried to add different ingredients to the cold brew to achieve a foam, and after a lot of experimenting, I finally found a way of making it.

To achieve the wanted thickness, I added gelatin to the foam. You don’t need a lot, just enough for it to foam. You don’t want to end up with cold brew jelly (or maybe you do, I should probably try that!). You can use other thickeners as well, for example, xanthan gum, which is often used for frappuccinos. 

I just added a little bit of gelatin (about 1.5%) and a splash of milk (for the taste) to some cold brew, and this resulted in a fantastic, not overpowering, what I’ve decided to call, “Air Foam”. 

Why add milk to the air foam?

I wrote earlier that milk was too overpowering for the cold brew, so why did I add milk to the air foam then? 

The answer is pretty clear. For a regular cold foam, you need almost all of the foam to be milk or cream. You can, of course, add a sweetener, but not much more since the milk won’t foam otherwise. Therefore, 98-100% of the cold foam will be some sort of dairy. For the air foam, you can add as little or as much as you want to. I used somewhere between 10% and 15% for this recipe. 

Can you add any other ingredients? 

Yes, you can add pretty much whatever you want to. If you just make sure that the liquid you pour into the siphon is thick enough, it will foam. I will do a lot of experimenting and recipes with ai foam in the future, so make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for free updates and recipes. 

You can, for example, add a sweetener if you want a sweet foam. Maple syrup, sugar, stevia, coffee syrup, to name a few alternatives. 

How do you make air foam cold brew? 

Okay. So, I’ve pretty much already explained for you how to make the air foam, but here is a short step-by-step air foam cold brew guide, and there will probably be a video in the future as well.

Step 1 – Make the Bold Brew Coffee

If you want to make an air foam with cold brew coffee in it, you will first need to make cold brew coffee. I’m usually using one of the more regular cold brew methods, but for the first time ever on this blog, I actually made the cold brew using an AeroPress. The coffee I’m using is DripBeans Everyday Hero coffee.

The AeroPress was straightforward and fast to use, but the result is a bit different from the usual methods. I will post a guide and a review on AeroPress for Cold Brew later this week. Meanwhile, check out our video guide for 3 simple cold brew methods.  

Step 2 – Blend with Gelatin and Additional Ingredients 

When you have your cold brew ready, it is time to add the gelatin. I’m using gelatin leaves, but you could use gelatin powder as well. You’ll probably want to mix the gelatin with a heated liquid since the gelatin won’t dissolve otherwise. I’m heating up the milk, and then I add the gelatin leaves. However, if you want to make this foam without milk, you could heat up some cold brew instead.

How much gelatin? It depends on how thick foam you want. I’m aiming for somewhere around 1.5%. So for every 100g of liquid, add 1.5g gelatin. If you want to learn more about this subject, I can recommend this video about foaming with gelatin.

Let the gelatin dissolve in the heated milk and then add it to the cold brew (or any other liquid you want to use). Make sure it all blends and add any additional ingredient you wish to use. 

There you go, your liquid is ready for the whipping siphon.

Step 3 – Make the Air Foam

The liquid is ready, we just need to foam it now. Pour the liquid into the siphon. What siphon should you use? There are many different models and brands to choose from, I’m using one from iSi, and it works great! 

After pouring in the liquid, screw the lid on. Make sure it sits tight. Now, it is time to use the N2O cream charger. Load the whipping siphon with the charger. But, before you let the gas fill the siphon, turn it upside down. This will allow the gas and bubbles to go through the liquid and create the best possible foam.

So, turn the siphon upside down and tighten the gas container until you can hear the gas start filling the siphon. Let the gas foam the liquid until you hear that the gas has stopped pouring in. Then, remove the foam charger and put the whipping siphon in the fridge and let it cool down. 

Step 4 – Build the Air Foam Cold Brew

Okay, so the cold brew is ready, and the foam is sitting in the siphon, let’s put it together. Take a glass and fill it with ice. Pour in the cold brew but leave some space for the foam. Lastly, top with the cold fluffy air foam. There you go!

Delicious, well balanced, smooth air foam cold brew coffee. I hope you give this recipe a chance. It is a bit advanced in comparison with the regular cold foam, but it allows you to find a whole other balance between the foam and cold brew. 

Again, there will be a lot of new recipes coming, so make sure to register for our newsletter, so you don’t miss anything. 

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