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The Dry Pour July 1, 2026

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Aquafaba

The water from a tin of chickpeas — free, vegan, and it foams exactly like egg white.

beClink Editorial · July 1, 2026

Chickpeas draining through a fine sieve into a glass, with the pale gold aquafaba collected below and the drained chickpeas beside it.

Time

5 min

Serves

1

Glass

Coupe or rocks glass

Garnish

Bitters, dropped on the foam

A sour without foam is a sour with something missing. That silky head is texture, and texture is the pillar most home drinks skip — it is why a drink can taste right and still feel thin. Egg white does it traditionally. So does the liquid you pour down the sink when you open a tin of chickpeas, and it does it just as well, keeps in the fridge, and costs nothing.

Ingredients

  • 20 ml (0.75 oz)Aquafaba

Method

  1. Drain a tin of chickpeas and keep the liquid. That is aquafaba — no preparation, nothing added. It keeps three or four days in a covered jar in the fridge, and it freezes well in an ice cube tray.
  2. To use it: put 20ml into a shaker with everything else in the drink, but no ice. Shake hard for fifteen seconds. This is the dry shake, and it is where the foam is made.
  3. Add ice and shake again, this time to chill and dilute. Ten seconds is plenty.
  4. Strain into the glass. The foam separates and settles on top over about twenty seconds — do not rush it into the glass or you will break it.
  5. Garnish on the foam rather than in the drink. Bitters dropped on the surface will sit there and can be dragged into a pattern.

Make it yours

Any sour

Whiskey sour, gin sour, amaretto sour. The rule is that the drink already contains citrus — foam needs acid to hold.

A fizz

Same build, then topped with soda. The foam rises up the glass and sits proud of the rim if you pour carefully.

Anything with simple syrup and citrus

Which is most short drinks. Two-thirds of the site would take it. Get the simple syrup recipe.

Shake longer, not harder

Fifteen seconds dry is the floor. Twenty is better and your arm will know about it.

Chill the glass, not the shaker

A cold glass keeps the foam stable; a cold dry shake makes less of it in the first place.

A pinch of salt

It helps the proteins set, in the same way it does for meringue.

Egg white

The original. One small white per drink, same method. Worth knowing it is raw, which aquafaba is not.

Foaming bitters

A few brands sell a vegan foamer in dropper form. Convenient, and considerably more expensive than a tin of chickpeas.

How to serve & pair

Not a drink — a technique, and the one that most changes how a homemade sour feels in the mouth. Two dashes of bitters dropped onto the finished foam and dragged with a cocktail stick is the whole reason people photograph these.

Common questions

What is aquafaba?

The liquid from a tin of chickpeas. The starches and proteins that leach out during cooking behave much like egg white, so it whips into a stable foam. Use it unsalted if you can find it, though salted works and the quantity involved is too small to taste.

Does it taste of chickpeas?

Not at 20ml in a drink with citrus and sugar in it. On its own it smells faintly of the tin; in a finished sour it contributes texture and nothing else. If you can taste it you have used considerably too much.

Why does my foam collapse?

Usually too short a dry shake, or no acid in the drink. Fifteen seconds without ice is the minimum, and the foam needs citrus to hold — a drink with no lemon or lime in it will not keep a head however hard you shake.

Is it better than egg white?

It is different rather than better. Egg white gives a slightly denser foam; aquafaba gives a lighter one that holds a little longer. Aquafaba is vegan, involves no raw egg, keeps for days and comes free with a tin you were going to open anyway — which for most people settles it.

BeaThinking of making a Aquafaba and not sure where to start? Ask us.Ask us →

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