The Science of Frothing Milk

with Dr Helen Czerski

 
Which is the best milk, and at what temperature, for maximum froth in your hot chocolate?
 
During the encore of our 24 hour show, Nine Lessons and Carols for Socially Distanced People, Dr Helen Czerski mentioned something about milk froth. Unbeknownst to us this started a conversation in the live chat and one viewer sent in a question about it to our Sunday Science Shambles Q&A show.
 
They wrote, “At the Nine Lessons – The Encore show, you mentioned you did some milk frothing experiments. A few of us at the live chat got really excited. Would you be happy to share the details + findings with us? And maybe the science behind milk microfoam formation too?”
 
So instead of just answering the question during the show Helen decided the only way she could answer it properly would be to spend a month thinking about and then a weekend collecting data and doing a proper experiment. So here are the results and some of the science behind it.
 

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