The Perfect Matcha Cold Foam

This easy, homemade matcha cold foam is the perfect addition to top your coffee or tea drinks. Your Asian home cafe or home bubble tea shop won’t be complete without it! Read below for tips on selecting matcha powder and what equipment you’ll need. Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.

Welcome back to the Mochi Mommy Home Cafe. You guys know by now that I am a daily matcha drinker. Typically, I’m an unsweetened matcha latte type person. Occasionally, I go hardcore Asian grandma and drink my matcha straight – no milks or sweeteners, like a matcha americano. So it took me a while to get on board with this whole “cold foam” business. I saw it as a gimmick invented by Starbucks (? maybe? I don’t even know), an Americanized rip off the Asian cheese foams that top boba drinks. Recently, though, I enjoyed a very delicious berry matcha drink at a Vietnamese cafe that convinced me that there is a place for a cold foam recipe in the Mochi Mommy repertoire. I’m converted. Sorry for my cold foam snobbiness.

So anyway, here’s my recipe! I’ve used it several times already and I am a big fan. Look out for my flavor variations on cold foam to come!

What IS Cold Foam?

From the drinks that I have consumed (and I have consumed many), cold foam is a sweet cream topping with a texture that’s somewhere in between a stabilized, stiff whipped cream and frothy milk foam. It really just tastes like whipped cream with whatever flavor you add in. I assume that the purpose of the foam is 1) for aesthetic reasons and 2) to add some milkiness and creaminess to drinks.

Because the foam floats on top of the liquid, you can sort of enjoy your beverage in layers or you can stir everything together for a creamier drink. Because it’s thicker and heavier than frothy milk foam, it’ll hold its shape and not disintegrate right away. But it’s thinner than straight up whipped cream, so it’s not overly fatty and rich.

Basically it’s the state in between whipped cream and milk.

Cold Foam Ingredients

Now since I essentially view cold foam as in between whipped cream and milk, I started off experimenting with this recipe by using 50% heavy whipping cream and 50% whole milk. Et voila, that seems to be the trick! I added a little bit of powdered sugar for sweetness and some minimal stabilizing properties.

If you’d like to substitute another sweetener, such as honey or maple syrup, you can, but just know that the more thin liquid you add, the less thick and foamy texture you’ll be able to attain.

And then obviously, since this is a matcha foam recipe, I added matcha powder as well. That’s it! 

For substitutions – unfortunately I don’t know of a nondairy alternative to the heavy cream that whips up as well. I have often used soy milk instead of whole milk for frothing, but it doesn’t hold its airiness for long.

I also don’t recommend adding any vanilla extract or other flavored extracts to this foam as it takes away from the matcha flavor. But if you are making a plain cold foam (no matcha), that could be a great addition.

What Matcha Should I Use?

I say this on all my matcha recipe posts, but you don’t need to bother with labels like culinary or ceremonial grade. Matcha is similar to coffee in that you can have different blends with different flavors depending on where the matcha was grown. For baking recipes, I use a very strong, bitter matcha so that it can compete with all the sugar and other ingredients in the recipe. I use Maeda-en Universal Quality matcha myself, but you can use your favorite.

For more information on matcha, check out my Ultimate Guide to Matcha post.

Equipment Needed

While I try to keep my recipes simple, using common kitchenware and less electronic gadgets when I can, cold foam is one of those things where you will definitely need some sort of appliance.

My favorite way to make cold foam is using a milk frother cup. I just dump the ingredients in the cup and press a button. So easy. It’s also a very fast and convenient way to make a matcha latte, just saying.

If you don’t have a milk frother cup, you can use a handheld milk frother. They’re super inexpensive (I’ve seen some even sold at Daiso) and don’t take up much space in the kitchen.

If you don’t have either of those things, I recommend using a handheld electric beater or electric whisk or a stand mixer. That way you can watch the mixture become thicker and foamier and stop it when it reaches the right texture.

You could use a blender too, but I find that it’s harder to see when the mixture has reached peak foaminess. It’s fairly easy to overwhip whipping cream in a blender and accidentally make butter.

Can I Make Cold Foam Ahead of Time?

Yes! Mostly. You can make this ahead of time and save it in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. Over time, the foam will deflate somewhat, so it IS best fresh. But the taste and creaminess will still be fine.

What Drinks Should I Use it With?

Because the foam adds both milkiness and matcha flavor, I don’t actually recommend using it for iced matcha lattes or other matcha flavored drinks. Instead, try pouring it on top of an ube latte or black sesame latte. OR make a strawberry matcha latte, but substitute this matcha cold foam for the shot of matcha that you typically would use.

If you have more questions, let me know in the comments below. Enjoy!