It's more than an average cup of "Joe." Coffee has gotten complicated and it even has its own language: Latte, cappuccino, macchiato. At a coffee house, a cup will set you back $3 to $4.

What sets the fancy drinks apart from a plain cup of coffee is the smooth creamy froth.

"Froth is on the top. So when you drink it, it's kind of like you're drinking it through the froth. That's what makes a real cappuccino," said Rebecca Thomas, a coffee connoisseur.

However, a latte a day can get expensive. So, can you make these specialty coffee drinks at home?

Enter the Aero-latte steam free milk frothier. The manufacturer said it's the simple way to make frothed milk at home.

But can coffee connoisseurs tell the difference between the work of $20 Aero-latte and a real cappuccino machine?

Ruth to the Rescue took the Aero-latte to The Blend, a downtown Detroit coffee shop, to see how it performed up against a professional frothier.

We started with cold milk and followed the directions on the box.

Place the frothier in the milk close to the mug's base. Switch it on and rotate in a circular motion for 20 seconds, but not much happened, so we continued another 40 seconds.

The milk did rise, but not like the photos on the back of the box.

Meanwhile, The Blend's barista Nick Adamszak frothed a cup of milk the traditional way. Ruth to the Rescue had two cups of coffee for his regular customers to compare: One from the frothier and the other from the home latte machine.

Jim Hirshfeld took the taste test and said he preferred the professional foam.

The Aero-latte failed the Ruth to the Rescue product test. It took much longer than promised to whip the milk, and in the end, the foam fell flat.

www.aerolatte.com.