So what is the best dairy-free milk?
So many dairy-free milk alternatives are out there now; Pea, Oat, Soya, Cashew, and so on! When picking plant-based milk, you need to decide on the type of milk. Then also consider variables such as fresh vs ambient and sweetened vs unsweetened! If you’re new to using milk alternatives, knowing which to go for can be difficult. So we took it upon ourselves to put ten dairy-free milks to the test!
As a nation of tea lovers, we figured we would see which dairy-free milks work best in a good old English brew! So we rounded up our office tea drinkers (ensuring we had a good mix of cow’s milk drinkers and dairy-free ones, including Kirsty).
The taste testers weren’t told which milks they were testing in their cups of tea; each milk was scored out of 5. Based on the appearance, smell, taste, texture and aftertaste. We had several criteria we looked for in a milk alternative; Was it creamy enough? Did it have a good level of sweetness? Did it overpower the tea flavour? And lastly, did it leave a bad aftertaste?… Not too much to ask is it?!
So… the results are in, and below are the top 3 dairy-free kinds of milk to enjoy in a cup of tea:
3rd Place: Alpro My Cuppa 4/5 – Soya Dairy Free Milk, Chilled
This is Alpro’s first plant-based drink made specifically for cups of tea, so we were expecting great things and weren’t disappointed!
We found that the colour of the tea looked very similar to one made with cow’s milk, it didn’t split, and it didn’t have a bad smell. When it came to tasting, the Alpro My Cuppa had a good level of creaminess, and it didn’t leave an unpleasant aftertaste. A couple of testers marked it down for not being sweet enough. However, the majority agreed, they could quite easily finish their cup of tea and enjoy the flavour!
2nd Place: Plenish Cashew – 4.5/5 – Cashew Dairy Free Milk, Unsweetened, Ambient
This is Alpro’s first plant-based drink made specifically for cups of tea, so we were expecting great things and weren’t disappointed!
We found that the colour of the tea looked very similar to one made with cow’s milk. It didn’t split, and it also didn’t have a bad smell. When it came to tasting, the Alpro My Cuppa had a good level of creaminess, and it didn’t leave an unpleasant aftertaste. A couple of testers marked it down for not being sweet enough. However, the majority agreed, they could quite easily finish their cup of tea and enjoy the flavour!
THE WINNER: Alpro Shh This Is Not M*lk Whole – 5/5 – Oat Dairy Free Milk, Chilled
There was a lot of noise around the recently launched This Is Not M*lk, it was billed as the closest match to dairy milk yet, and it’s fair to say it is!
Our tasters loved this one; we were amazed by how close to dairy milk it was! There was a lovely creamy and smooth texture, a subtle sweetness (like dairy milk), and no lingering oat flavour or aftertaste. It is a total game-changer! We also reckon it would be perfect to make a latte or hot chocolate with!
Milk Alternatives that didn’t score highly for us:
Hemp Seed Milk:
This type of milk was very watery with an earthy flavour, which was quite unpleasant!
Coconut Milk:
This one overpowered the taste of our tea with coconut, which we all agreed doesn’t belong in a cup of tea!
Pea Milk:
This one had a powdery texture that was drying after a couple of sips which isn’t ideal!