Professional application guide
Aquafaba in cocktails: liquid or powder for your bar?
Aquafaba gives your sours a stable, silky foam head, with no raw egg white behind the bar. All it takes is 20 ml per drink and two shakes. Below you'll find the method, what to do when the foam falls flat, and how to choose between liquid and powder for the way your bar works. Updated: .
Liquid
- 20 mlper cocktail
- 50 cocktailsfrom a 1L Tetrapak
Powder
- 1.3gper cocktail, mixed with water
- 150 cocktailsfrom a 200g pouch
How to shake an aquafaba sour
Nothing changes in your recipe except one ingredient: aquafaba replaces the egg white.
- Build without ice: 50 ml whiskey, 25 ml fresh lemon juice, 20 ml simple syrup and 20 ml chilled aquafaba.
- Dry shake hard for 10 to 15 seconds. This is where the foam is made.
- Add ice and shake another 10 to 15 seconds to chill and dilute.
- Fine strain into a chilled coupe. The head is firm enough to carry a few drops of bitters.
Busy service? Pre-batch the whiskey, lemon and syrup. Add the aquafaba at the shake, never in the batch.
Liquid or powder? Start with how many sours you pour
Sealed, both formats sit on a shelf at room temperature for at least 12 months. The choice starts the day you open the pack. Opened liquid lives in the fridge and is used within 3 to 4 days. Opened powder only needs to stay dry and closed, and it keeps until the best-before date on the pouch.
A 1L Tetrapak equals 33 egg whites, but at 20 ml per drink you use two-thirds of an egg white's worth, so 1L makes 50 sours.
| Your bar | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sours on the menu, ordered every service | Liquid, 1L Tetrapak | 50 drinks per pack, finished well inside 3 to 4 days |
| A few sours a week | Powder, 200g pouch | Mix what tonight needs; the rest keeps dry and closed until the best-before date on the pouch |
| No fridge space to spare | Powder | Lives on a dry shelf |
| Events and outside catering | Powder | Travels dry, no cold chain |
| Busy weekends, quiet weekdays | Both | Liquid for the rush, powder for the rest |
| Hotel group, bottled sour bases, beverage line | Liquid, 10L bag-in-box or 1T IBC | Continuous use, so the opened-pack clock never matters |
Prefer liquid but can't finish a pack in time? Freeze it in small portions, thaw in the fridge and stir before use.
Working with each format
Liquid
- Ready to pour, straight from the fridge into the tin.
- Close it and put it back in the fridge between services.
- Discard it if it smells off, shows bubbles or has separated.
Powder
- 2g powder + 30 ml water = 32g of aquafaba, equivalent to the same mass of liquid aquafaba. 2g of powder replaces 1 egg white.
- For one drink: 1.3g powder + 20 ml water.
- Make it up before service and chill it. Cold aquafaba foams faster and holds longer.
When the foam falls flat
| What you see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Thin head | Ice went in from the start | Dry shake first, ice second |
| Slow, slack foam | Aquafaba at room temperature | Keep it chilled until the shake |
| No height by mid-service | Aquafaba was added to the pre-batch | Batch the base only, add aquafaba per drink |
| Foam drops before it reaches the guest | The drink waited on the pass | Shake to order and serve at once |
| Uneven from drink to drink | Free pouring | Measure 20 ml with a jigger every time |
Pisco Sour
Amaretto Sour
Gin Fizz
White Lady
La Rosée
The Sunset
