(updated October 13th, 2026)
Yes, and oat is the best plant milk for it. In a 2024 study that frothed eight milks, oat made the longest-lasting foam of all of them, cow’s milk included, and it was one of the three best plant milks for making foam in the first place. Use a barista oat milk if you can: it’s formulated to foam well and not to split in hot coffee.
Can you froth oat milk?
Yes, hot or cold. That study, published in Soft Matter by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, frothed two animal milks and six plant milks with an electric frother on hot (65°C) and cold (10°C) settings. Oat came out with the longest-lasting foam of all eight, and with pea and soy it was one of the three plant milks that foamed best. Hot, cow’s and goat’s milk still made more foam than oat; cold, oat beat cow’s milk on both foam volume and how long it lasted.
That’s a little surprising given how little protein oat milk has. A Swiss study of 27 plant drinks found that apart from soy, most contained 1% protein or less. But protein shape matters as well as amount: as two University of Queensland researchers explain in The Conversation, the proteins in oat and soy milk are ball-like, much like those in cow’s milk, “making them good for foaming”. The best milk for a cappuccino compares all eight milks.
What’s in barista oat milk?
Less than you might expect, and much less than in barista almond milk. Here’s what two of the best-known barista oat milks list on their own product pages:
| Barista oat milk | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Oatly Barista Edition (US) | Oat base, rapeseed (canola) oil, then 2% or less of dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, dicalcium phosphate and vitamins |
| Califia Farms Oat Barista Blend | Oatmilk, sunflower oil, minerals (dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate), sea salt |
Two additions do most of the work. The oil makes it creamier, and Oatly says its Barista Edition has 3% fat. The dipotassium phosphate is an acidity regulator: Oatly says it “keeps our Barista Edition Oatmilk from separating when it hits your favorite hot drinks”. Neither lists a gum or thickener, which barista almond milks usually need to make up for their lack of protein.
How do you make an oat milk cappuccino?
- Pull a shot of espresso into a small cup, or make a strong coffee without a machine.
- Start with cold barista oat milk, about 100 ml for a classic-sized cappuccino.
- Froth it with a steam wand, a handheld frother or a French press until it’s glossy and roughly doubled.
- Keep it warm, not hot. Aim for the 55 to 65°C (139 to 149°F) range baristas use for dairy, as Perfect Daily Grind reports from the Specialty Coffee Association. Overheated plant milk is more likely to split.
- Pour it over the coffee and spoon the foam on top.
Does it need to be hot to froth? No. Oat milk foams well cold, which makes it one of the best choices for the cold foam on an iced cappuccino.
Why does oat milk split in coffee?
Usually because the coffee is very hot and the oat milk isn’t a barista version. Heat drives the separation, and barista versions add an acidity regulator specifically to stop it; check the label if you’re using a regular carton. Let the coffee cool for a minute, don’t overheat the milk, and use a barista carton. Why plant milk splits in coffee covers the research behind it.
Is it lower in calories than dairy?
Only a little. Oat milk lands close to 2% dairy milk, well above skim and almond, as the table of calories by milk type shows.
Should you use it for a cappuccino?
It’s the plant milk I’d reach for first. It makes the longest-lasting foam of any milk tested, it works hot and cold, and barista versions are designed not to split. If you drink dairy, cow’s milk still makes more foam when hot. If you don’t, barista oat is the closest thing to it.
