How Long Does Latte Foam Last? How to Slow Down the Dissolution of Latte Foam

A freshly made latte has an incredibly delicate surface, but if left untouched, the fine milk foam will decompose, becoming collapsed, rough, and uneven.

This process is called "foam dissipation." In fact, the foam begins to slowly dissipate right after being frothed. When made into a latte, the fusion of milk foam and crema forms a relatively stable structure, but overall, all foam will eventually dissipate and decompose.

Although the foam layer on a latte's surface will eventually decompose, the speed of this decomposition varies. Some lattes start showing obvious large bubbles after 2 minutes, while others may not show significant foam dissipation until after 15 minutes. One measure of a latte's quality is the stability of its milk foam.

Three Key Factors Affecting Latte Foam Stability

The stability of latte foam primarily depends on three factors—milk foam quality, espresso crema quality, and integration quality.

Milk Foam Quality

For a latte's foam to be very stable with minimal dissipation, fine and well-flowing milk foam is essential. Note that the thicker the frothed foam, the faster it will dissipate. If you order a latte and a cappuccino at the same time, you'll always notice the cappuccino develops rough bubbles first. This is because thicker foam is more difficult to integrate evenly with the crema.

Of course, some unintentional habits can also accelerate foam dissipation. For example, subconsciously tapping the pitcher on the counter after frothing—this practice is meant to eliminate large bubbles in the foam, but it also accelerates the separation and decomposition of foam from milk.

Espresso Crema Quality

The crema from espresso also affects the foam dissipation speed in a latte. Signs of stable crema include fine texture, good fluidity, no clumping, and a thickness that accounts for about 1/3 of the espresso.

FrontStreet Coffee's store typically ages their espresso beans for about 10-14 days, allowing the coffee beans to release significant amounts of carbon dioxide. This results in extracted espresso crema that is fine, fluid, and stable.

If espresso is extracted using beans that are too fresh, it will initially produce abundant crema, but this crema tends to be rough, porous, thick, and even clumpy. After about 20 seconds, large-scale decomposition occurs. This is because too much carbon dioxide is compressed into the crema, and these active gases quickly break through the coffee crema and dissipate. This explains why freshly extracted coffee crema might appear very rich but disappears after a short while.

Integration Quality

Even with high-quality milk foam and coffee crema, they must be thoroughly and evenly integrated to achieve stability. To determine if the integration is good, simply check if the "golden circle" has uniform color and whether the latte art pattern has clear, defined outlines. Typically, the first areas to show foam dissipation are those with uneven integration—places where the color alternates between dark and light. Therefore, the neatness of the "golden circle" is also one measure of a latte's quality.

Additional Factors

Besides these three main factors, there are some subtle details that are difficult to observe from the latte itself. For example, using a pre-warmed cup for the latte will slow down the surface foam dissipation compared to using a cold cup. Residual water moisture inside the cup can also cause the foam near the cup's edge to dissipate more quickly.

Important Notice :

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