The best gadget I bought this year is a milk frother

Back in February, I went to Los Angeles to take in some art and stayed in Koreatown. Down the street from my hotel, there was this little coffee shop - Stagger - that is, I think, best known for its matcha, which is good. But the drink I unexpectedly found myself obsessed with was their cream top, an iced Americano with, yep, vanilla cream on top. When I got back to Oakland, I kept thinking about how badly I wanted one.

For more than 20 years, I've been drinking my coffee - iced or otherwise - black. Originally this was because I knew I could put black coffee that had cooled off in the microwave to reheat it without worrying that the milk i …