Foam at home

A couple of months ago, I had a disagreement about cappuccino foam levels (I know; how bourgeois can you be?) with a barista. Since then, and since I realized I was actually dropping too much cash on cappuccinos, I’ve been looking for a way to get my frothy, milky espresso fix at home. A gorgeous La Pavoni, despite its beauty, would only exacerbate the cash-flow problem, but I also wasn’t prepared to deal with a cheap plug-in model that seemed like it might blow up before breakfast. I figured that when it came to cappuccino, millions of Italians could hardly be wrong. Enter the Bialetti Mukka Express, a nifty little number that magically huffs, puffs and makes a foamy cap right on top of my stove. The foam is coffee-infused, unlike at the coffeehouse, but it costs only pennies and comes sans attitude—also unlike the coffeehouse—and it certainly makes the mornings a little brighter.