Dualit Milk Frother | Hot milk, hot & cold frothed milk | Ideal for lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites, hot chocolate & milkshakes | 84135

Product Information

Barista appears to build on the form and style of the Aeroccino (which has such a delicate coating it can't be used with chocolate), and adds in the ability to load recipes in from the app. You can still use the sleek on-device touchscreen to select from a bank of 20 recipes if you don't want to (or can't) pair the device to your phone. Gourmet Gadgetry Retro Diner Milk Frother and Hot Chocolate Maker Gourmet Gadgetry Retro Diner Milk Frother and Hot Chocolate Maker (Photo credit to IWOOT)

Versatility: ★★★★★. The hob, saucepan, and whisk can all be used to produce other wonderful things, like sauces and gravies, hot milk, custard, and oodles of other tasty treats. It is also slightly more complex to use. Instead of a paddle or whisk, the MilkUp comes with two 'crowns' and you'll need to use one or the other - or both - depending on what drink you want to make. It took me a few reads of the manual to work out that both are required to make hot chocolate, with the notched crown sitting inside the the smooth one. For hot chocolate, the machine can accept up to 180ml of milk, which is quite low given the machine's footprint. Needless to say it's one cup a time here.Pros: Less washing up as you make it in the cup you drink from; Less labour-intensive than a saucepan as you don't need to constantly stir as the milk heats up. Chocolate versatility is another key aspect. If I am investing money in a gadget to make hot chocolate, I want it to cope with more than cocoa powder or drinking chocolate powder. The Nespresso, and KRUPS machines score highly here, as they are all able to handle most chocolate forms thrown at them. The Hotel Chocolat, Dualit, Gourmet Gadgetry and Homgeek machines all deserve to be commended for at least supporting flaked chocolate and powders. Pros: Effortless; it can be used as a milk frother or as a hot chocolate maker; it can make hot or cold drinks; it can handle cubes of chocolate; and it has Bluetooth connectivity.

This piece of kitchen equipment usually sits in a corner, looking a bit forlorn. It's a clever bit of kit but is often seldom used by many households. Gadget: The Nespresso Barista. Optionally pair with a Nespresso coffee pod machine to get the most out of it.Versatility: ★★☆☆☆. This is a milk frother and hot chocolate maker all-in-one, but it has a very small capacity and it can't handle chocolate in any larger form than powder. Scoring a best-in-class 92/100 overall, here’s how the Velvetiser performed during testing. The pros

To replicate that same froth for oat milk, and all other plant-based milks, you have to buy the 'barista' version which has added stabilisers to mimic the fats found in cow's milk. I bought myself one of these after seeing a demonstration and think it's a fantastically easy-to-use kitchen gadget that will get a lot of use in my house. It's as easy to make a hot chocolate as it is to make a cup of tea. We decided to put it to the test to see if it meets our Good Housekeeping Institute standards. Let’s take a closer look at the milky drink maker of the moment to find out if it’s really a kitchen must-have. What’s so special about the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser?All you need in addition to the liquid (water or any type of milk) chocolate of your choice is a means to heat the liquid up (a kettle for water or a saucepan/microwave for the milk). Overall: ★★★★☆. Every tech addict will want one of these devices in their kitchen. The Bluetooth-enabled hot chocolate machine is on the pricey side, but it has a bank of delicious-looking hot and cold coffee and chocolate recipes to work through. Glamour: ☆☆☆☆☆. None. It's a hunk of plastic and metal that chomps up valuable worktop real estate. Having never used a home-brew machine of this kind, I opened it to find it came with no ingredients. After buying some Tassimo pods, I stared at the manual. It may be because Bosch’s target audience is multinational, but the instructions were all symbols – no text – and, damn, I could have done with some written instruction. Pros: You can control the heat; you can make several cups in one go; it is easy enough to wash up afterwards, although burnt-on milk isn't fun to scrub off.