Topic: D.I.Y. Non-Dairy Creamers
Guest: Chris O’Brien
Title: Founder & Head Roaster at Coffee Cycle Roasting
Connect: www.coffeecycleroasting.com • @coffeecycleroasting
I grew up drinking milk—lots of milk. Wisconsin is the Dairy State for a reason. I didn’t grow up on a farm, but both my parents did and I would visit the family farm every summer. Beyond the early mornings and a few chores, I was mostly pretending to be a farmer until my cousins were set free and we could play baseball in the yard.
Perhaps because of my proximity to the country's milk production capital,* it took me longer than it should have to learn that milk wasn’t really agreeing with my stomach. Thankfully, my timeline overlaps with the rise of alternative milk or mylks or non-dairy beverages.
California is the current leader in milk production but considering the disproportionate size of the two states, I still recognize Wisconsin as America’s Dairyland. Per Statista CA and WI are the top two milk-producing states and it isn’t close. California’s cows produced 41.8 billion gallons of milk in 2022 to Wisconsin’s 31.8 billion gallons. Idaho is a distant third with production topping out under 17 billion gallons.
The dairy industry has long railed against the term milk being applied to non-dairy products. They’ve lobbied politicians for legislation, filed lawsuits, and claimed consumers were being confused by the distinction. Their efforts appear to be diminishing.
In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its own report showing that consumers were unlikely to be confused between alternative milk and dairy-based milk with the caveat that alternative beverages are labeled with a disclaimer that their nutritional facts are not the same as dairy milk. This has inspired plant-based food lobbyists to threaten lawsuits over the required disclaimer. Litigation is the American way.
In reality, alternatives to dairy milk—regardless of your preferred vocabulary—are here to stay. You might choose them for a variety of nutritional, environmental, or medical/health reasons. If you decide to veer from the dairy lane, you’ll have lots of options, including soy, oat, coconut, mushroom, and nut creamers. There are so many nut creamers. Almond, pistachio, and macadamia seem to be the most popular for coffee.
For the at-home coffee drinker, you can use the base style off the shelf or seek out barista-style alt-milks that add fat or binding agents to better mimic the texture of milk and allow for your milk steaming skills to transfer easily to alternative milks.
One of the main advantages to making your own alternative milk to use in your coffee is the ability to tweak the flavor. If you prefer a sweeter drink you an add a bit more sugar or sweetener (like a date) to the recipe. You can add various spices or adjust the ratios in the recipe. You’ll make a mistake here or there, but that is part of the fun in experimenting.
*At the time.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE POD
Chris was not raised on a dairy farm. Neither was Ryan.
Making alternative milks yourself allow for more control over what you’re ingesting, and enable you to customize the flavor to your preference.
Don’t be afraid of Lecithin. It is a binding agent or emulsifyer that brings the fats and oils together with the water. Lecethin is a common food additive that is extracted from seed oils. Soybean and sunflower seeds are common sources of lecithin. Details from Wikipedia:
The nontoxicity of lecithin leads to its use with food, as a food additive or in food preparation. It is used commercially in foods requiring a natural emulsifier or lubricant.
In confectionery, it reduces viscosity, replaces more expensive ingredients, controls sugar crystallization and the flow properties of chocolate, helps in the homogeneous mixing of ingredients, improves shelf life for some products, and can be used as a coating. In emulsions and fat spreads, such as margarines with a high fat content of more than 75%, it stabilizes emulsions, reduces spattering (splashing and scattering of oil droplets) during frying, improves texture of spreads and flavor release.[14] In doughs and baking, it reduces fat and egg requirements, helps even out distribution of ingredients in dough, stabilizes fermentation, increases volume, protects yeast cells in dough when frozen, and acts as a releasing agent to prevent sticking and simplify cleaning. It improves wetting properties of hydrophilic powders (such as low-fat proteins) and lipophilic powders (such as cocoa powder), controls dust, and helps complete dispersion in water.[15] Lecithin keeps cocoa and cocoa butter in a candy bar from separating. It can be used as a component of cooking sprays to prevent sticking and as a releasing agent.
Lecithin is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for human consumption with the status "generally recognized as safe". In the EU Lecithin is designated at food additive E322.[16]
Straining out the nut or oat byproduct is the messiest part of the process. Using a cheesecloth or nut milk specific bag can help with the process. You’ll be left with some ground byproduct that can be used for other things, including baking or breakfast. I used the ground oats from my oat milk to make overnight oats. You could also dry and grind it to be used as a baking flour.
I don’t have a recommended brand of cheesecloth or nut bag for straining your milk, but there are a lot of affordable options available online. If you find one you like, please let us know.
OAT MILK RECIPE
This is how I make oat milk at home. I don’t use lecithin, but only because I mix it up in really small batches. My oat milk will separate when it is left in the fridge to settle, but I don’t mind giving it a healthy shake before using. Lecithin also offers some preservative capabilities, so I make sure to use my oat milk fairly quickly (2-3 days). I’ve seen recipes that say up to 5 days, but my refrigerator isn’t great. I err on the side of caution. If your alternative milk spoil it will take on a very notable sour scent.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup organic rolled oats
1 cup filtered water
pinch salt—a small pinch, more like a dash.
pinch sugar—per your sweetness preference
half a pitted date (option for sweetness)
Process:
Toss all the ingredients in a blender or food processor.
Blend for 30-45 seconds.
Strain into a sealable jar.
The liquid will be an off-white color and slightly creamy (creamier if you add lecithin). A low, chopping blade works best. You know those blade grinders we always tell you not to buy for your coffee beans? You’re looking for something like that. I use a Magic Bullet, but any basic brand will do.
R!WC SONG OF THE WEEK
I almost always have headphones on while I’m drinking my morning coffee. My song of the week is: “Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors” by a new-to-me band called Editors.
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Make Alternative Creamers At Home