CREAM OF THE CROP
Coffee shops across the city are ditching almond and soy for milk made with oats
MOVE aside, almond milk: There’s a new dairy-free darling in town. Swedish brand Oatly’s oat milk is popping up in coffee shops across the city, quickly becoming the alterna-milk of the moment. The grain-rich drink isn’t entirely new — Whole Foods sells various brands of oat milk — but baristas say Oatly is the first of its kind to foam well, stand up to bold coffee and actually taste good.
The vegan blend entered the American market at the High Line location of Intelligentsia in January; it’s now in roughly 350 coffee shops in the New York metro area, according to Mike Messersmith, the US general manager for Oatly.
La Colombe, which has eight cafes in New York City, swapped almond milk for oat milk in October, citing Oatly’s environmental superiority. (Almonds suck up much of California’s water supply, while cows emit greenhouse gases.) Boba Guys’ three NYC locations nixed soy milk for Oatly this spring, telling customers that soy milk waters down its bubble-tea drinks, while Oatly doesn’t. Birch Coffee jumped on the oat at its nine locations roughly six months ago, and both customers and baristas love it, according to Birch retail operations director Lindsey Carlston.
“It’s really easy to work with,” says Carlston. “It’s steaming really similarly to dairy milk.” And oat milk’s hearty foam lends itself well to latte art. Most importantly, “it’s one of those rare alternative milks that tastes really good,” says Boba Guys co-founder Bin Chen. “We use really strong tea, and oat is one of the few milk options that holds itself against the tea.” Oatly is made by liquifying oats in a mix of water and enzymes, which breaks down the gluten-free grains without compromising the nutritional value. “That means that we don’t have to add in sugars, flavors or thickeners,” says Messersmith — a big sell for clean-drinking coffee addicts. Nutrition experts are also enthusiastic. “I really can’t find anything negative about it,” says registered dietitian Maya Feller. She likes that Oatly has no added sugar, no cholesterol and relatively low sodium — and that it’s not hyperprocessed, like many dairy alternatives. “It’s a very innocent milk,” she says. “If you’re looking for something that doesn’t have a lot of additives and fillers, that won’t affect your [gastrointestinal tract], it’s a great choice — I would totally recommend it to a patient.” But, there is one hitch: Oatly is currently only served in coffee shops or available for order online with costly shipping from the UK. It will eventually be available in Fairway Markets, but, until then, those looking to keep a carton in the fridge are having to take desperate measures. “People have been trying to buy it off us,” says Chen. “They’ll come in and say, ‘Can I just buy a couple of cartons for my kids?’ ” The answer, Chen says, is no. Birch, however, does occasionally sell it to customers for $4 a carton — a real bargain, considering. “Some people,” she says, “will come in and pay whatever you charge.”