With the new year I decided to eat and drink much less animal-based food. One big change I have made and stick pretty well to is non-dairy milk in my coffee. I hardly ever drink pure milk, but I need it in my coffee. As I didn’t have a favorite cow’s milk alternative, I decided to try different ones and see how much I’d like them. Well, with the acception of almond milk. First of all, I tried it a few times, but never liked it. And second, there has recently been more news about almond milk having a highly negative impact on the environment (see this The Guardian article for example).
To me it was not only the taste that was important, but also how well these milks froth. I got a milk frother for Christmas and it is such a wonderful little thing that does wonders to improve my coffee experience every day.
The contenders
As we buy most of our groceries at Trader Joe’s, I also tried their non-dairy beverages. Over the last few weeks I tested their coconut beverage, their organic soy beverage and their oat beverage. All three of them are unsweetened. I am aware that Trader Joe’s has other varieties of these products, but I am not interested in any with added sugar – and I realized that very often you have to read the list of ingredients very carefully to figure out if a product contains extra sugar or sweeteners.
How well did the non-dairy beverages do?
1. Coconut Beverage
Taste: The coconut milk looks a lot like regular milk. It adds a distinct coconut flavor to my coffee though. And I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of this. Saying this, I have got used to the taste after several days of having the coconut beverage in my coffee.
Frothing: The upper half of the coconut milk frothes nicely. Unfortunately, the bottom half remains liquid.
Score: 3/5
2. Organic Soy Beverage
Taste: This soy milk is creamy. I find the flavor pretty neutral. There isn’t any aftertaste.
Frothing: This soy milk frothes just as well as cow’s milk. The foam is thick and sturdy. Exactly as it should be.
Score: 5/5
3. Oat Beverage
Taste: This oat milk tastes a little watery in my opinion. I also need much more product to have my coffee the way I like it.
Frothing: Friends and the internet tell me that oat milk frothes really well. I was disappointed to not confirm this. Instead this oat beverage didn’t froth at all, but it rather disintegrated into some thicker substance on the top and water on the bottom.
Score: 1/5
Conclusion
Trader Joe’s organic soy beverage has convinced me in all aspects. It tastes well and it frothes perfectly. Thus it is the ideal non-dairy alternative in my coffee. I won’t buy the other milks anymore because I have found my favorite. But I might try different soy milks every now and then. I also like that this particular non-dairy milk is organic – and, unlike believed for several years, soy is not a danger to our health. Besides, the impact on the environment is rather small (%90 of the world’s soy bean crop is actually grown as animal food).
Do you drink non-dairy milk? Which is your favorite and why?
© janavar