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What is Steamed Milk and Microfoam in Espresso Coffee How is Microfoam Created in Milk

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Adding milk to coffee is as old as coffee itself. However, it wasn't until about the last century that we truly became interested in how to add milk to coffee. In the past few decades, we've also started to care about whether the milk mentioned is dairy or plant-based. FrontStreet Coffee aims to help understand the role of milk in coffee and discuss its various forms in this article

Adding milk to coffee is as old as coffee itself. However, it wasn't until about the last century that we really became interested in how to add milk to coffee. In the past few decades, we've also started to care about whether the milk we're talking about is dairy or plant-based.

FrontStreet Coffee aims to help you understand what milk does to coffee and discuss its various forms in this article. Today, adding milk to coffee has become an art. Making patterns with steamed milk in cappuccinos is one thing, and the variety of milks we can use is numerous. The purpose of milk is for both aesthetics and flavor.

Why Do We Add Milk to Coffee?

The original intention of adding milk to coffee was actually to help eliminate all the intensity and bitterness of coffee. This is mainly due to the combination of proteins, salts, and fats naturally present in milk. They interact with the caffeine and coffee solids in brewed coffee, rounding the edges.

When we first discovered coffee, whether the coffee was poorly made, or whether people always preferred slightly milder coffee, no one knows. But this is the final result, and I think many people are happy about it.

What Is Steamed Milk?

Steamed milk is most commonly seen in the ingredient list of most espresso drinks. For example, lattes, flat whites. It's almost non-existent in pour-over coffee in the specialty coffee world.

Steamed milk might sound unremarkable, but it's actually milk that has been steamed. This means the milk has been passed through very hot steam, thus being heated.

The hot milk will mix with the liquid espresso in the drink. The foam will sit on top and mix with the crema. Actually, if we want to be very clear about what happens to the milk, the story is a bit different.

When you insert the steam wand into the milk pitcher, you get two different proportions of milk.

One is foam, which is the result of adding hot air into the milk with the wand. Most commonly found at the top of the milk. The denser the foam, the lower its position in the pitcher.

The foam formed at the very top is dry foam, usually placed on top of the drink (which will be more after a minute).

At the very bottom, you get hot milk, which hasn't been foamed, and there's no need to try to foam it further. If you work it too much, you risk scalding the milk.

What Is Microfoam?

Microfoam is somewhere in between - it's not foam, nor is it liquid milk. It's a very, very fine foam, more like a thick milk filled with the smallest possible bubbles.

This process happens naturally when steaming milk, but the amount you get depends on your skill as a barista and the amount of fat in the milk you're using.

So, in some drinks - like flat whites - you need microfoam, and that's it. No steamed milk, and no foam. Just straight creamy milk, which isn't easy to achieve.

It's never possible to turn all the milk in the pitcher into microfoam, but you can get a lot of milk to become foamy.

Most of the time, microfoam is created when the steam wand's nozzle goes deeper into the milk. Not at the bottom of the milk, but not at the top either. The closer to the top of the milk, the more regular form/milk you'll get. And it's not as creamy as microfoam.