How to Make Cheese Foam for Milk Tea
Have you heard of whipped cheese foam? As strange as the combination might seem, adding a little bit of cheese foam is a great way to add some extra flavor and creaminess to your tea (or other beverages).
So in this blog post, we’ll see how to make cheese foam for milk tea. It’s incredibly easy!
What is cheese foam?
Cheese foam is a beverage topping made of cream cheese, whipping cream, milk and sugar.
It’s often used as a topping for tea, coffee and boba tea.
Most of the times cheese foam tops cold drinks, but you can also cream cheese foam with hot drinks.
This trend of making a whipped cream with cheese began in Taiwanese bubble tea shops. But since then it has been slowly making its way to other asian countries and the United States.
Now cheese tea is a quite popular drink in the whole world!
Other common names for cheese foam
You might find cheese foam under many different names: whipped cheese, cheese tea, salty mousse, cheese mousse, cheese cap tea, creamy cheese foam or cheese foam tea among others.
How does cheese tea taste?
The idea of combining some cheese with tea might sound a bit odd at first, but it’s actually quite delicious!
The cheese cream foam adds a lovely richness to the tea, taking it to the next level.
Cheese foam gives a delicious flavor to tea: the tangy combination of cream cheese and the other ingredients brings out the sweetness of the cream and the tea.
And the slightly savory flavor of the cheese is in no way too overpowering; it just adds a depth of flavor to the drink, with some zing and richness.
Summarized in a sentence: cheese foam makes any beverage taste like a creamy cheese cake.
So if you’re looking for something a little different, then cheese tea is definitely worth trying!
Ingredients to make cheese foam
Many boba stores just use cream cheese powder for their cheese tea, but you can make yours at home with very common ingredients.
All you’ll need is:
Ingredient swaps
For sugar-free cheese cream
If you don’t want so much sugar in your drink, you may substitute the sugar for xylitol or erythritol.
I love these alternatives because they make a lower calorie, sugar-free cheese foam that taste as good as the original one.
For vegan cheese tea
I haven’t tried it yet, but it seems like for a vegan version of cheese tea, can make a vegan version like you may substitute the dairy ingredients for coconut milk.
Keto cheese tea
You may switch the whole milk for a keto-friendlier milk of your choice (like for example almond milk, cashew milk or soy milk).
And then use a keto friend sweetener.
Cream cheese substitutes
You may use sour cream or ricotta as substitutes, but the taste will be slightly different.
Low-fat
I love using full-fat dairy for this recipe, but feel free to use low-fat milk and cream cheese if you want to reduce the fat content.
How to make cheese foam for milk tea
Making the foam is actually really simple: just combine everything together and whip until it gets a slightly foamy texture.
You may beat the mixture either with a stand mixer or a hand-held milk frother.
Tricks to make this recipe
Cheese foam always tastes amazing.
And if it doesn’t get your seal of approval at the first try, you can very easily adjust the taste by adding a little amount of sugar or sweetener, cheese cream or whatever you think is missing in the cheese mixture.
The only tricky part may be to get the consistency right.
The ideal cheese foam should have a medium peak, but still light and airy: if it’s too runny, the cream may dissolve in the drink (specially if it’s served warm), but if it’s too firm, it may be difficult to pour it.
However, you don’t have to be too afraid: overwhipping a little is not the end of the world, you will just get a slightly firmer texture but the taste and consistency will still be great.
If you think the cream it’s too stiff for your taste, adding a spoon of milk helps.
And that’s it, your cheese foam is ready to be enjoyed!
Common questions about cheese foam
Cheese foam can last 1-2 days refrigerated. However, keep in mind that it contains fresh milk and other dairy products that can spoil quickly, so use always your common sense.
Just place it in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use it.
Yes, you can freeze it in an airtight container for up to two months. When ready to serve, thaw in the fridge overnight.
At first it might look like the texture has change (separated), but it will be ready to use again after shortly stirring with a spoon. 
In my experience it gets a little too thick without milk, but you may still give it a try. It sounds like it would taste also great with just cream and sugar.
Yes, you can! While cheese foam is often served over cold tea, it works great for both hot and cold drinks. If you want to use it for hot beverages, make sure to whip the cream cheese well so doesn’t melt altogether when you pour it into the hot drink.
It´s much easier to whip when using some kind of electric (or battery driven) appliance: I experimented beating the cream cheese by hand and I didn’t have the patience to wait that it became fluffy.
Traditional cheese tea is made with black tea or green tea, but you can get creative and try it with any variations of milk tea kind of tea or boba drink you want.
Tea is considered healthy and cheese foam may also have some health benefits on its own, but it´s also high in calories and fat (and very often, it’s prepared with lots of sugar), so you should enjoy it in moderation.
Cheese foam recipe
Equipment
- Hand blender or hand-held foamer
Ingredients
- 7 Tablespoon cream cheese 100 gr. (3,5 oz.)
- 4 Tablespoon heavy cream 60 ml. (2 oz.)
- 2 Tablespoon milk 30 ml. (1 oz.)
- 4 teaspoon erythritol, sugar or maple syrup (you may add more to taste)
- vanilla (optional)
Instructions
- Combine everything together.
- Whip until the texture is that of a light-beaten whipped cream.
Nutrition
How to make cheese tea
Once you know how to make whipped cheese, making cheese tea is easy-peasy:
- Prepare your tea of choice on the stronger side (as the cheese cream will make it milder).
I usually cold brew 2 teabags of black tea for this recipe, but you may use different flavors: any type of milk tea, iced tea latte and bubble tea drinks work great with cheese cream. - Pour the tea in a glass, optionally add some boba pearls (tapioca balls) if you like.
- Top with a thick layer of creamy foam
Other ideas to use cheese foam
Strawberry cheesecake milk “tea“
- Add on the top of strawberry milk.
- Decorate with cookies crumbles
Strawberry cheesecake matcha latte
- Add a couple of strawberries to it (around 50 gr. for the measures in the recipe card).
- Blend
- Add 1-2 Tbsp. milk if the cream gets too thick
And that’s it! You now know how to make cheese foam for milk tea at home in just a few minutes. Will you give this delicious topping a try? I like to pour it on top of my milk tea, but you can also enjoy it with coffee or hot chocolate. You may want to try this slightly salty cheese foam with all your favorite beverages!
This idea is really awesome.
I love rare cheese cake and I often made it with cream cheese, whipped cream and gelatins.
But I have never imagined this as topping on tea.
You opened my eyes for other dimensions to enjoy tea
Thank you very much.
I am happy to hear it! I’m quite sure you’ll love cheese foam.