Milk alternative

Question

Hi,
I’ve been veggie for 34 years and am wanting to cut down on dairy after the recent Guardian article about veal calves. Yogurt and cheese alternatives I can manage but milk I am finding more tricky. I only use milk on tea and only like skimmed. In looking up taste tests higher ratings are give for creamier tastes, which obviously won’t suit me. I’m looking for advice on a dairy free that is palatable in tea, if anyone could help please.

Crito · Answer

Oat milk tends to have a creamier taste in my opinion (though my wife disagrees) so it may be worth a shot. Otherwise I'd suggest Califia Farms creamers: https://www.califiafarms.com/collections/creamers Not sure where you are based, but they're in every Whole Foods Market. They're very good. I've used them in recipes for cream substitutes but haven't tried them in coffee/tea as I drink mine as is. Side note: There are a few studies (reviewed by Dr. Greger on nutritionfacts.org) that show dairy in tea interferes with the beneficial compounds in tea (antioxidants, cancer fighting properties, etc.) I don't recall the technical terms, but essentially it began with a question of why so many people in Asia seem to benefit from all these great properties in tea, while people in the UK see much less effects. There's a great breakdown of the studies and population comparisons, but it came down to people who use milk/cream in their tea losing out on the benefits. Incidentally, dairy is even more immoral and unethical than the meat industry (though both are hand in hand and disgusting) and dairy is even more unhealthy than meat by leaps and bounds, whether you look at fat/cholesterol, salt or calorie density, so congrats on your move to cut it out of your diet!

Mountainmystic · Answer

Lozzab-I make chai tea with almond milk or cashew milk. I drink my coffee black and regular herbal teas and add no almond, soy, nor cashew milk, and no sweeteners. That works for me. Real men drink their coffee black. I follow Edgar Cayce readings on drinking coffee and tea black. If you want to thicken soy, almond, or cashew milk or various watery sauces, heat it up and add a little arrowroot powder till you get consistency you want. 

Crito--thanks for the great summary and info. Disagree with you on shopping at Whole Foods-- means you can easily spend your whole paycheck on groceries. No joke. I also won't support mega Amazon who owns Whole Foods either.  Buy local and support local businesses when you can. Better prices than Whole Foods, plus you are helping small business. Monopolies were broken up years ago for right reasons, but have sadly come back. 

Look on Happy Cow for local health food grocery listings or search internet for ones in your locale. You will be happier and feel better about your choices as an independent shopper.

Lozzab · Answer

Hi 
Thank you both for your responses. I think I maybe didn’t explain properly though.  I live in the UK. The skimmed milk I am used to isn’t creamy at all. In fact it’s very watery so I’m looking for a dairy free substitute that isn’t  creamy and is not strong in flavour. I like almond milk as a drink but in tea it tasted horrible. I drink a lot of tea and just the odd coffee, which I am fine with black. 
Thanks again.

Crito · Answer

Mystic - Completely agree on the point about big business. I went with a universal option for the sake of resolving the issue. I mostly shop independent retailers backed by causes (Erewhon is as big as I’ll go on that front), mostly farmers markets for produce since they occur daily in SoCal. That said, I do buy some things at WF when I can’t find them elsewhere and I can at least support a quality food producer, even if it’s via WF. 

Lozzab - If you prefer a thinner consistency, I’d recommend rice milk. That’s about as thin as it gets and it doesn’t have a nutty or grain taste like other plant milks. It does usually come with a slight sweetness though. I’ve used that stuff for years. Not as nutritionally beneficial as others, but it has some good uses.

BreakfastKlutz · Answer

Thin = rice milk, no idea how it goes in tea, or why anyone would want to drink tea though ;)

Lozzab · Answer

Thank you. I’ll give rice milk a try. 
As regards drinking tea. I have the same feelings towards tofu. Tried it many ways and can’t stomach the stuff. Each to their own. Lol. 
Thanks again.

herwin · Answer

with regards to tofu, the tofu available in supermarkets can be rather rubbery and are not so delicious. if bought in a supermarket, try various types and brands.

my favorite tofu recipe. slices of tofu, coat them with a thin batter, coat with bread crumbs, and pan fry them until golden brown. crunchy from the outside, and soft on the inside. :-)

emsley · Answer

Hi lozzab. My name is emo. I use coffee creamer. What you can buy from Jack futons. Its in powder form and it's only a pound. You can use it with tea aswell. If I was you. I would give this a try. I love it.. Good luck

VeganCommunity · Answer

Hello, when I was living in the UK I always used to have tescos own brand unsweetened soya milk in my cuppa, its very neutral and non-creamy in taste, probably similar to skimmed cows milk. I gave it to many a tradesman in their tea and they always drank it down without comment :). If that doesn't suit you don't give up on trying others, all of the supermarket  unsweetened own brands of soya milk tend to taste very neutral and similar. The only one I wouldn't recommend is alpro which tastes weirdly of vanilla.A big thumbs up for giving up cows milk!

Lozzab · Answer

Hi 
Thank you both. I’m not sure about the creamer as I don’t like a creamy taste. I’ve had the light soy milk this week and found it is ok as long as you get the tea strength just right and drink it very hot. If it cools slightly strange taste but not bad. I have rice milk to try this week. I’m just hoping it doesn’t taste too sweet as someone mentioned because I hate sugar in hot drinks. If it is I will probably stick to the soya. I’ll just have to re- train the family or I’ll be making all my own cuppas.

Pupnik · Answer

My favourite is oat milk, although I used to drink semi skimmed milk in tea. I don't really find it creamy but I find it has a very bland taste - milks like almond, hazelnut and most soya has too strong a taste for tea, in my opinion. I really like hemp milk in tea too, it's thinner than oat milk but it does have more of a taste, however I found it worked really well with tea.

I haven't found them to try myself yet but Oatly have released a range of chilled milks labelled whole, semi skimmed and skimmed so I assume the skimmed one is more watery than their normal long-life oat milk, perhaps worth a try if you can find it?

When I gave up cow milk I switched to herbal teas for a little while so that when I went back to milky tea it wasn't so fresh in my mind.

BreakfastKlutz · Answer

You will also find that different brands are different. There are versions of most plant milks that are specifically designed for baristas/cafes, as well as other variations between brands. If you do not like one  brand of Almond, Rice, Oat, Soy etc, it may still be worth your while to try another brand.

SomasreeKarmakar · Answer

Try out soy milk. It has multiple benefits.
1. It's very very cheaper.
2. It's easy to make at home. I prepare soy milk at my home and use it for almost a week.
3. It's easily blendable in tea. I drink tea a lot and I can say this that tea with soy milk is just superb.

Flattlander · Answer

I am partial to coconut milk, I use it in my coffee. I used to use whole milk in my coffee because I thought the creamer was too creamy, so maybe the coconut milk will work for you. It’s the plant milk version, not the kind that comes in a can. It’s harder to find unsweetened, because I think it’s not as popular as all the other milks but I think it has the most neutral taste. Hope that it works for you.

Crito · Answer

Coconut milk has some good uses but I try to avoid it. It’s one of the few plant sources of saturated fat and it has a lot of it.

herwin · Answer

i usually make soymilk coffee. i first tried to use soymilk in coffee made with hot water but the soymilk kinda shifted, it didnt blend it nicely. Than i tried to use hot soymilk instead of hot water altogether and that works fine. n0w i just boil soymilk and mix it with instant coffee powder and sugar and it tastegreat.

Flattlander · Answer

Well, like I said, I use the coconut milk that is made to be like milk, not the canned coconut milk which is much more concentrated. The coconut milk I use has only 45 calories in one cup, (227g). In one cup (227g) there is 4 grams of fat of which 3.5g are saturated. But if you are only using a couple of tablespoons (28g) in the coffee or tea, that would be .44 grams of saturated fat. That's why I don't worry so much about using it for coffee. I find it has the best taste in the coffee for me. But it's just a preference. My partner for example really dislikes the coconut milk. I usually use almond milk in any recipes that calls for plant milk.

ChesterHerbivore · Answer

Oatly is my favourite for tea, and it’s readily available in most supermarkets. Plus it comes in skimmed/semi skimmed versions too!

dimamuzhetsky · Answer

Soymilk!It has a remotely reminding milk itself taste and is completely vegan!I used traditional milk only untill i started using soymilk-so much better is it!

DamianArgent · Answer

I'm in australia tea,  or coffee tastes better without milk in my opinion, my wife and a lacto allergic friend enjoy vitasoy in coffee. We tried cheap watery brands and they split or curdle like in the heat. Vitasoy tastes creamy and a little sweet and heats well. We did try coffee mate but that stuff is a heart attack in a jar!

Vuv-the-vegan · Answer

Hi there, I have been making my own nut (almond, brazil, cashew) and seed (hemp, pumpkin, sesame) milks lately and I have just fallen in love. They taste so good and you can feel the difference immediately. They are easy to make too. Here's a video link to the recipes of some awesome milk-alternatives that I really think you will enjoy: https://dausel.co/vZqtBA

Search HappyCow

Vegan / Vegetarian Discussion - All Things Veg*n Forum