Our demo of the Breville Milk Café milk frother.

Why would you want a stand-alone milk frother?

If you have an espresso machine with a milk frothing wand, you probably don’t. At least, you don’t if you use frothed milk only for making espresso-based drinks like latte and cappuccino.

But a separate milk frother can still be used in a lot of other ways, like for making hot chocolate, iced coffee drinks, alcoholic coffee drinks like Irish Coffee, Chai Latte, and even for making mulled wine.

But I think the Milk Café will appeal most to people who make espresso, or espresso style coffee, but don’t have a way to make frothed milk.

For example, if you own a Nespresso machine like the Inissia, which doesn’t come with a milk frother of its own, you can make espresso shots, Lungo shots and even an Americano. But without some way to froth milk, it won’t help you make a latte or cappuccino.

Or maybe you have a brewing system like a Moka pot or the Aeropress, both of which make an espresso style coffee. Again, having a stand-alone milk frother gives you a lot of new options.

In addition, the Breville Milk Café not only enables you to make hot frothed milk, but you can froth cold milk too. This opens the way to making a wonderful range of cold coffee drinks in the summer.

And as I said, you can also use the Milk Café to make hot chocolate and mulled wine.

There are a few things I really like about the machine.

First, it offers a full range of temperatures, from cold all the way through to almost boiling. And as you turn the temperature knob you see Breville has highlighted the range of temperatures that are optimum for latte and cappuccino.

Next, the milk is heated through induction. I can’t say I totally understand what this means. However, one thing it does mean is that the milk jug doesn’t get very hot. The milk does, but not the jug. That’s a nice safety feature.

The Milk Café comes with two frothing discs, one of which you place inside the jug – depending on what you want to achieve. One disc is designed to froth milk for making latte. The other one draws in more air and makes a much frothier milk for making a cappuccino.

The jug itself is pretty large, with a maximum fill mark of 16 fluid ounces. This means you can froth milk for several drinks at one time.

And in the lid you’ll find a small, removable measuring cup, which you can use when adding cocoa, shaved chocolate or other ingredients to the frothed milk.

I love this milk frother. There are plenty of new drinks I’m going to try with it. But probably the biggest benefit for me is the temperature control when I’m frothing milk for a latte or cappuccino.

I have a good espresso machine, but with the milk frothing wand I’m always messing up with the temperature of the milk. Most of the time, while I get the froth I want, the milk isn’t hot enough. And that really ticks me off when I take the first sip of my latte.

If you can’t find one locally, you can buy the Breville Milk Café at Amazon.

For a lower-price alternative, check out our review of the Maestri House milk frother.

NOTE: This product was sent to us free in return for a review. (That said, we always reserve the right NOT to review a free product if we don't like it, or feel you wouldn't like it.)