A steam wand hands you every decision about the milk. A standalone frother takes most of those decisions away. This guide covers who each one suits at home and, for readers who want a frother, how two of them differ.

Start with the machine you already own

Most people asking this question own one of three setups, and the answer changes with each.

If you have an espresso machine with a steam wand you haven't mastered, the wand is learnable, and learning it costs you milk rather than money. Steaming milk: the jug, the wand and the sound covers the two stages, stretching and then spinning, and steamed milk faults, one at a time names the fault behind each bad jug. Before you buy a second appliance, read the Milk Cafe and a steam wand. It shows which problems a frother fixes and which it only moves.

If you have a capsule machine, there is no wand to learn. The capsule has already settled the coffee (the guide to a pod machine and a pump machine explains what it settles), and a frother is how you settle the milk.

If you brew with a moka pot, a press or a pour-over cone, you are in the same place as the capsule owner: a frother is the only one of the two you can add without buying a machine.

What a wand gives you that a frother can't

The wand's main advantage is range. One jug and one wand can make anything from the thin, glossy milk a flat white wants to the stiffer foam of a cappuccino, because your hand decides where to stop. Milk drinks by the ratio shows how far apart those drinks sit.

A wand also heats things that aren't plain milk. Hot cocoa on the steam wand is the example: the wand heats and moves the cocoa at the same time, which a pan does badly.

It takes no extra counter space or socket, because it is already part of the machine. What it asks for is practice, and a jug sized for the drinks you make. Milk jugs: the spout and the size covers the jug.

What a frother gives you that a wand can't

A frother runs on its own, so it can finish the milk while the shot pulls. A wand has to wait for the shot. On a busy morning that is a real gain.

Both frothers here also make cold foam, which a wand can't do, because a wand works by putting steam, and so heat, into the milk. If your summer drink is iced, see iced coffee, four ways.

What a frother costs you is range, a second spot on the counter and a second draw on the socket. The socket guide shows how quickly a kitchen circuit fills up.

What decides between the two frothers

The two make the same amount per run: up to 120 ml of milk for froth and 240 ml for warm milk, which is one milk drink at a time. So two things decide it.

The first is the milk you drink. Only De'Longhi puts plant-based milk in its product's name.

The second is the machine on your counter. The Aeroccino4 is Nespresso's own frother, so a Nespresso owner gets the milk step from the same maker as the coffee.

The two frothers

De'Longhi LatteMix (EMF3M): for plant milk and cold foam

De'Longhi's own name for the LatteMix is "LatteMix Cold and Hot Frother for Dairy and Plant-based Milk". It has a brushed stainless steel finish, a non-stick inner jug and a whisk that drops in and lifts out for cleaning.

De'Longhi's US store sells it, and its checked price, the seller and the day it was read are on its card.

It suits someone who drinks oat or another plant milk, or who wants cold foam for iced drinks.

It gives up the paperwork. De'Longhi's US page for it links no manual to read before you buy.

Nespresso Aeroccino4: for the capsule-machine counter

The Aeroccino4 has one button per drink: hot milk, an airy hot foam for a cappuccino, a denser hot foam for a latte macchiato, and a cold foam. Its jug has two marked levels, "Max foam" at 120 ml and "Max milk" at 240 ml. Nespresso's manual gives it a one-year warranty.

Its checked price, the seller and the day it was read are on its card.

It suits someone with a Nespresso capsule machine who wants one button for each milk drink.

It gives up an answer on plant milk. We found no Nespresso statement on plant milk either way, so an oat-milk drinker gets a firmer answer from De'Longhi.

The trade-off

A frother buys consistency by giving up range. It makes the textures it was built to make every time, and nothing in between. If you already own a wand, a frother is a second appliance bought to avoid a skill that costs only milk to learn, and it takes up counter space and a socket for that. If you have no wand, the trade runs the other way, and one of the two frothers above is the practical route to milk drinks.

Before you buy

  • Check that the listing is the Aeroccino4 and not the older Aeroccino 3 or a renewed unit, and check the model code EMF3M for the LatteMix.
  • If a frother will replace your wand, you no longer need the steaming jug. A frother is its own jug.