I didn’t think this $159 electric milk foamer could make barista-quality microfoam — I was so very wrong

The Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 is one of the most unique milk frothers out there. Technically, it’s not even a milk frother. It’s a milk foamer instead. Rather than heating up and aerating milk with big, ungraceful bubbles, the Nanofoamer Pro makes actual, barista-quality microfoam.

I know — I didn’t believe it either. This is the second generation of the Nanofoamer Pro. Way back in 2023, after funding on Kickstarter, Subminimal released the Nanofoamer Pro. While the original didn’t please everyone, I firmly believe that the Gen 2 has fixed all the issues and more.

Not only is the impeller whisk completely adjustable, it comes with 3 magnetic flow controllers to get the optimal result, regardless of milk type and personal preference. Could this be one of the best milk frothers out there? Find out the full story in this Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 review.

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 review: Cheat sheet

• Who is it for? Home cafe experimenters and coffee nerds alike
• What does it do well? Well, it foams a mean milk
• What does it cost? $159 / £148
• What are its weaknesses? The touchscreen is a little annoying, and you have to buy a second jug for latte art

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2: Specs

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 review: Price & availability

The Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 is $159 on Subminimal U.S. and £148 on Subminimal U.K.. This is pretty expensive for a milk frother — sorry, foamer — but others can’t really do what the Nanofoamer can.

At time of writing, the Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 is out of stock on Amazon U.S., where it is normally $159. However, this is a fairly new release, so it likely will come back soon.

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2: $159 at subminimal.com

The Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 is the most versatile and impressive milk foamer I’ve ever used. It has a huge range of adjustable settings and premium usability. There’s 6 foam settings (including cold foam!) and you can adjust both the impeller and control the vortex to precisely manage foam levels.

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In comparison, Instant’s Milk Frother is just $59, but again, it can’t really do what the Nanofoamer Pro can do. The Instant offering can froth milk, but it can’t make the velvety microfoam you’d expect from the best cafes. Similarly, Nespresso’s Aeroccino is $99, but it doesn’t make microfoam. The closest comparison I’ve seen is the $69 Maestri House Milk Frother, which has customizable foam levels.

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 review: Design

This is the second Subminimal product I’ve reviewed (after the Subscale coffee doser), and boy oh boy does this brand know what it’s doing, looks-wise.

The Nanofoamer Pro has a matte black exterior and a matching black square heating element, not dissimilar to that of an electric kettle. In terms of design, the Nanofoamer Pro looks like it could be a Fellow product — and that’s a major compliment.

The mechanics of the milk foamer are pretty unique, and possibly a big reason why the Nanofoamer Pro is so pricey. The impeller doesn’t look like a mini-whisk, as you’d see in other milk frothers, but instead is made of plastic and a very delicate sieve-like material.

The impeller’s height is adjustable with the black cog on the top of the transparent plastic lid. This means I was able to control the aeration of my milk even further; lowering the impeller made a more gentle foam, and raising it proved helpful when aerating stubborn non-dairy milks.

Speaking of stubborn non-dairy milks, Subminimal hasn’t forgotten about them (although it would’ve been much easier for the brand to do so!). The Nanofoamer Pro comes with three magnetic flow adjusters; black, blue, and green. Black calms the aeration speed, which means it’s perfect for dairy milk.

Blue and green rile up the aeration force, so these are ideal for non-dairy milks. I found the green one ideal for non-barista almond milk, and the blue best for barista milks like Oatly Barista.

Although I like it in theory, the touchscreen on the front of the jug is a little finicky. I would rather buttons on the heating element, as the touchscreen is both a little delayed and a bit frustrating to use.

As cold foam is the last setting, I had to tap the screen five times to get to it. And then, if I wasn’t fast enough skipping past a setting (or if the screen was lagging, which wasn’t unusual), the milk started frothing on the wrong setting.

Another mild frustration is the lack of pouring spout. While Subminimal has latte art masterclasses on its YouTube, it’s almost impossible to actually get latte art with the Nanofoamer Pro.

This isn’t because of the aeration, but because of the actual spout on the jug. It’s not pointed enough to pour effective latte art. Subminimal expects you to purchase its FlowTip jug for an extra $39 to achieve the perfect pour.

If Subminimal makes a Gen 3, I’d like to see the milk texture settings adjustable via a dial on the heating element, à la Fellow’s Stagg EKG kettle. The touchscreen irritated me a little in testing.

However, in the grand scheme of things, the Nanofoamer Pro looks beautiful, and I can see it fitting in with any high-end coffee setup — especially if you have similarly good-looking equipment from Subminimal or Fellow, for example.

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 review: Performance

To give the Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 a thorough test, I used dairy milk, oat milk, almond milk, and coconut milk with both hot and cold tests. Here are the results of my testing.

Hot dairy milk

My first test was with the bog-standard hot dairy milk. I lowered the impeller to its lowest setting and attached the black magnetic flow controller. I used setting 5 to aerate the full 220ml capacity, which took about 2 minutes.

Forgive my nonexistent latte art — as I touched on earlier, the stubby pouring tip means it’s almost impossible to do. However, look at the milk! If I were still a barista, I’d fear the Nanofoamer Pro was coming for my job. I gave this drink to my boyfriend as I don’t like dairy milk and he said it was so smooth and velvety. This is a big 10/10 result.

Hot oat milk

I used Oatly Barista for the hot and cold testing. I poured the minimum amount of oat milk into the jug with the blue flow controller.

As you can see, the milk isn’t as smooth as the dairy milk, but that’s a given with plant-based milks. However, the aeration is still very controlled, with no anomalous bubbles. This took about a minute and a half on setting 3.

Hot almond milk

As I was a bit coffee’d out at this point, I made a hot chai latte with almond milk. I also wanted to see if I could put drink powder directly into the jug. For those with hot chocolate fanatics in their life, this would be a major plus. I used 220ml of Califia Farms almond milk, four teaspoons of chai powder, the green flow controller, and put the Nanofomer on setting 4. I did not stir the powder.

The picture above shows where the green magnet flow controller sits in the jug. This was absolutely amazing. I literally chugged it. The milk was creamy and smooth throughout, and not just on the top foamy layer. The powder was evenly distributed, with no lumps whatsoever. It was pretty tepid, at just 125°F, but you could make it hotter by using setting 5 instead. This was fantastic, and I’m already thirsty for the next one.

Hot coconut milk

When I worked at Starbucks, one of my go-to drinks was a matcha latte with coconut milk (I’ll let you come to your own conclusion about my opinion of Starbucks’ coffee from that). So I added ½ teaspoon of matcha powder to the coconut milk and used the green flow controller on setting 5. The Nanofoamer started making strange noises halfway through, so I took it off the heating element and restarted on setting 5.

As you can see, the drink was exactly half foam, half milk. This was utterly delicious, and the foam lasted over 15 minutes before dissipating. It was also the hottest out of all the drinks I made, at 150°F — likely because I aerated it 1½ times.

Cold dairy milk

I made an iced flat white with dairy milk. I pulled a ristretto shot on my De’Longhi La Specialista Opera and added it to a glass with a little ice, then added 100ml of dairy milk into the Nanofoamer Pro with the impeller blade as high as it would go with the black flow controller.

I think the milk was a little too frothy, and the bubbles started dissipating as soon as I poured the drink. As a result, I’d recommend putting the impeller blade lower. But all in all, my boyfriend reported that it was a delicious drink, despite the coffee flavor being a little too strong.

Cold oat milk

I wanted to repeat my matcha success, so I made an iced matcha latte with oat milk. I used Oatly Barista and filled the jug to the 100ml marker on the blue flow controller magnet. I added matcha and set the Nanofoamer to the cold foam setting, ‘o’.

Unfortunately, there was a huge clump of dried matcha powder on the side of the Nanofoamer Pro after it finished aerating. I would run it through two rounds of cold foam when making matcha to prevent this. However, the drink was still delicious — just weaker than I had planned.

Cold almond milk

To test cold almond milk, I used 100ml of Califia Farms almond milk. I added sea salt and vanilla extract as I wanted to make one of my favorite drinks, a Vietnamese-style salt coffee. I used the green flow controller and set the Nanofoamer Pro to cold foam.

After about two minutes, I had a lovely cold foam. To the cold foam, I added a double shot of coffee and ice. The drink was utterly delicious, although the foam did dissipate within about ten minutes.

Cold coconut milk

As coconut and chai go together deliciously, I wanted to make an iced chai latte. I definitely put the Nanofoamer Pro to work here. Tasking it to dissolve powder in cold non-dairy milk is a challenge in and of itself.

It was quite powdery once I got to the bottom of the drink, but the first 75% of the beverage was delicious, so I didn’t mind. All things considered, every single one of my tests was a major success.

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 review: Storage & maintenance

I would recommend washing the Nanofoamer Pro immediately after use, as it’s quite prone to developing scum or gross-looking milk residue if you leave it. The jug interior seems to be made of a slightly non-stick material — ILAFLON Resist SP-500 PFAS-free, to be specific.

You can purchase extra sieve impeller attachments (NanoScreen, as Subminimal calls them) for $12 a pop. Other users have recommended being very careful when deep cleaning the magnetic screen, as it can be prone to coming loose.

Thankfully, Subminimal offers a 1 year warranty in both the U.S. and the U.K..

Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 review: Verdict

There are only two faults with the Nanofoamer Pro, albeit both very minimal. One being the slightly finicky touchscreen, and the second being the too-wide-for-latte-art jug spout. These minuscule faults did not impede my everyday usage, and I don’t think they are worth skipping this incredible milk frother.

I was able to craft a huge variety of drinks, most of them with perfect textures and temperatures. I loved everything from the iced chai lattes to the hot coffee, and I can’t wait to use this milk foamer every day going forward.

While it takes some experimentation — as does almost everything worth using — it’s incredibly fun to drink your experiments while mastering recipes. The range of texture customization options, such as the magnetic flow controller attachments and the adjustable impeller whisk, mean the Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro can suit every palate. This is now a staple in my home cafe, and I can’t wait to show it off.