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Starbucks et al use counter-mounted hoses fed from giant tanks and I highly doubt it's remotely real cream.

Whipped cream is easy to make with a machine like that. You fill it with cream, and nitrogen dioxide bubbles through. Done.

They describe it as "whipped cream" in Europe, and there's no way they could do that if it wasn't. The alternative is "vegan whipped topping".

It's nitrous oxide (N2O), not nitrogen dioxide (NO2). NO2 is poisonous and corrosive, don't try to whip cream with nitrogen dioxide!

They may have changed it / it varies by location, but when I worked there it was just heavy cream and a canister of compressed air.

Typically nitrous oxide gas is used to whip cream, not compressed air. Compressed does work, apparantely, but produces an inferior whip with a less stable texture.

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