The best barista oat milk - the big comparison

Good barista oat milk makes a cappuccino better! The most important criteria for a good combination of oat milk and coffee are foaming performance and creaminess, as well as balance in taste with the espresso. Which oat milk or oat drink meets these criteria best? And which manufacturer is also transparent in its production, its CO2 footprint and the information on the ingredients used?

We wanted to know exactly. To do this, we tested 20 oat drinks and had them tasted in a blind tasting by six baristas, roasters, tasters and food technologists. The current Swiss Latte Art Champion then subjected the oat drinks to a foaming and latte art test.

In this article we use “oat milk” and “oat drink” synonymously. Oat drink is the formally correct term for oat milk. According to the EU, this is not milk, but a milk substitute. In this article we use both oat milk and oat drink, as is common usage.

The results of the test series reveal some surprising findings. To the chapters of the test series.

• Results at a glance
• Taste winner
• Foaming performance and latte art
• Sustainability and transparency
• Price-performance
• Conclusion
• How was it evaluated?
• Sources and further links

Results at a glance

The best oat milk on the market is the one that suits your interests and criteria.

Across all the categories we set up, the Oat Barista Milk from dm performed best in our test.

But the absolute taste winner in a cappuccino is the barista oat drink from Mølk .

Minor Figures Organic took first place in the sustainability and transparency category.

The foaming ability of many oat drinks proved to be very good . Only a few fell short. The foaming behavior of the very good drinks was too similar to one another to choose a single milk as the "best".

How did the different oat milks perform in the different categories? This is shown in the summary.

The best oat milk is the one that suits you best. With this in mind, we invite you to browse through our results. We explain how we rated what in the individual chapters.

Taste winner

And the winner is... Mølk! The German startup's milk tastes particularly good when combined with foamed milk. The oat drink took first place with both a strong, chocolatey espresso and a fruity espresso.

In the chocolatey espresso, the cappuccino prepared with Mølk was balanced. The foamed oat drink complemented the coffee well without overpowering it. The cappuccino was described as caramelly, chocolatey and nutty, especially reminiscent of walnuts. Despite a slightly dry aftertaste, the overall balance was good.

In combination with the fruity coffee, the oat milk showed similar characteristics. The cappuccino was creamy, nutty and caramel-like, which suggests that the oat drink's own flavor also contributed to this. The espresso itself does not have any pronounced nutty or caramel notes. The fruity aromas of the coffee did not have the same presence as the notes of the darker espresso roast.

The texture of the oat milk was described as buttery, oily and sticky, which went very well with espresso when foamed and warm. As a cold oat drink, Mølk also came in fourth, with some tasters describing the oily note as too intense and slightly artificial.

The Barista oat milk from dm also performed well, with Aldi Suisse and Lidl Barista oat drink following suit in terms of taste with their oat drinks. dm oat drink barista and Lidl Barista oat drink took the top two places in the blind tasting of the pure and cold oat drink. How was it rated?

Foaming performance and latte art

Delicious milk is not automatically equally foamable. Only milk that foams well can be used as creamy foam for latte art. The Swiss latte art master Dario Pieber therefore foamed each oat milk twice for us and poured it into a cappuccino with a heart. All oat drinks were used anonymously.

In conclusion, it can be said that almost all alternative milks used had a good to very good foaming performance . Six oat drinks received full marks. They were easy to enrich with air in the drawing phase and very well homogenized in the rolling phase. Even when pouring, the surface remained smear-free, the contrast was good and the surface was stable and free of bubbles.

The differences in the majority of oat drinks were so small that we can unreservedly recommend all barista oat drinks for frothing.

Very good milk frothing performance

With 10 out of 10 points:

• REWE organic + vegan barista oats
• Aldi Switzerland
• BioBio Oat Barista Netto
• Alnatura Oats
• Provamel oat drink Barista organic
• Coop Karma Organic Oat Drink

9.25 out of 10 points:

• Mirgos V-Love Organic · Oat Drink
• Lidl CH/DE - Barista oat drink
• Beleaf Oat Drink Barista
• Natumi Organic Barista Oat Drink

Good milk foaming behavior

8.5 out of 10 points:

• dm Oat Drink Barista with Soya
• Minor Figures Organic Oat
• Gutsch
• Milk
• Berief Organic Oat-Soya Drink 1l
• Rebel Kitchen ORGANIC MYLK Barista

7 out of 10 points:

• Oatly Germany Oat Drink Barista Edition
• Alpro Barista Oat Milk
• Voelkel Oat Drink Barista

Medium foaming behaviour

5.5 out of 10 points:

• Allos Oat Barista

Sustainability and transparency

When assessing the sustainability and transparency of oat drinks, a comparison with cow's milk was not made, but instead a direct comparison was made between them. In a direct comparison between oat drinks and milk, oat drinks generally perform better (see WWF study as PDF).

(We also have two articles [1] [2] and a documentary about cow's milk. If you want to learn more about milk.)

As part of transparency, we assessed whether a life cycle analysis was available, whether the origin of the ingredients and nutritional information were available. In the area of ​​sustainability, we took into account the origin, production, carbon footprint, sustainability reports or goals, and waste management. To do this, we not only researched online, but also asked manufacturers and took their answers into account.

Result of sustainability and transparency

Minor Figures scored the most points. As a B-Corp company, you can score points above all with extensive information about your products and your sustainability goals and requirements. The same applies to Rewe and Berief, who share third place. In second place is Gutsch, who work very locally and maintain close relationships with their producers.

Place	name	sustainability
1.	MINOR FIGURES ORGANIC OAT	10
2.	Gutsch	9.5
3.	REWE organic + vegan barista oats	8
4.	Berief Organic Oat-Soya Drink 1l	8
5.	dm Oat Drink Barista with Soya	7
6.	Oatly Germany Oat Drink Barista Edition	7
7.	Coop Karma Organic Oat Drink	7
8.	Voelkel Oat Drink Barista	7
9.	BioBio Organic Oats Barista Netto	6
10.	Migros V-Love Organic oat drink	6
11.	Allos Oat Barista	6
12.	Provamel oat drink Barista organic	6
13.	Aldi CH - Organic Natura	5
14.	Alnatura Oats	5
15.	Natumi Organic Barista Oat Drink	4.5
16.	Rebel Kitchen ORGANIC MYLK Barista	4
17.	Beleaf Oat Drink Barista	4
18.	Moelk	3
19.	Alpro Barista Oat Milk	3
20.	Lidl CH/DE - Barista oat drink	0

What statements can we make?

Basically all oat drinks are grown and produced in Europe. Only Mylk from Rebel Kitchen contains "coconut cream", which probably does not come from Europe.

The manufacturers say they try to work as locally as possible, but often have to rely on products from other European countries.

The CO₂ footprint is far lower than that of conventional milk, namely about half. The comparison data does not come from an organically produced oat drink, but from Oatly . The transport data from Scandinavia to the supermarket in Germany is also taken into account. This suggests that the emissions from organically produced oat drinks that are grown and processed in "Central Europe" should have an even lower footprint.

Some of the products are labelled as climate neutral, which means that the emissions are recorded and offset. However, since it is not known which emissions are generated during the production of the drink, we have not taken these into account.

The ecological scarcity method , which takes into account not only the "Global Warming Potential" but also land use changes, acidification and heavy metal pollution and thus allows a more comprehensive view, can also confirm this. The difference is not as clear as with CO2e, but oats still have a clear advantage .

Price-performance

Classifying the price-performance ratio of the various oat milks presents the difficulty of having to weight the parameters evaluated. However, this is difficult to do across the board, as different purposes need to be evaluated depending on use and interest.

Those who like to drink fruity espressos will place less value on the taste of oat milk in combination with dark espressos. Those who also like to use oat milk for muesli will place more value on the performance when cold. We have decided to view all evaluated criteria equally and used the average of the parameters.

The results of this comparison are as follows:

• With a price-performance score of 5.68, "dm Hafer Drink Barista mit Soja" leads the list, closely followed by "REWE Bio + vegan Barista Hafer" with a score of 5.60 and "BioBio-Hafer Barista Netto" with 5.33
• "Alnatura Oats" also perform well with price-performance scores of 4.42.
• At the bottom of the list we find "Coop Karma Bio" and "Beleaf Haferdrink Barista" with price-performance scores of 1.61 and 1.49 respectively.

Conclusion

Oat drinks and alternative milks are becoming increasingly important alongside the home espresso machine. Cappuccinos with oat milk have become an indispensable part of many cafés. In our own cafés, 25% of all cappuccinos ordered are now made with oat drinks.

Our test shows that numerous oat drinks now work very well in combination with espresso.

Manufacturers have worked hard in recent years, especially in terms of foaming ability, and the Barista editions we tested live up to their name.

The foaming ability of almost all milks tested is good to very good.

When it comes to sustainability and transparency, the gap between exemplary and inadequate is wide. There is still room for improvement for all manufacturers.

How was it evaluated?

Sustainability and transparency

Rating Transparency

We looked online for information about the drinks. We didn't just want to find out the ingredients and nutritional values, but also more about the sustainability and origin of the drinks and their components. It is clear that ingredients and components must be listed on the packaging. But if you want to find out more online in advance, you should also be able to find these values ​​on the providers' websites and in their shops.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find any information about the drinks in Lidl's online shop, for example. Gutsch lacks a nutritional table and Natumi lacks an ingredients list. Otherwise, all information was available.

However, the information on origin, production and LCA (life cycle analysis) is less easy to find. Only Oatly has published an LCA here. Minor Figures has shown a footprint for their drink, but less detailed than Oatly, which shows different footprints for different markets. Migros gives a comparative value for its oat drink: the CO₂ footprint corresponds to that of driving 4 km by car. This puts the footprint into context well. However, it is not possible to make a comparison with other manufacturers and so Migros does not receive a point in this area.

Additional points in this area could be gained by providing information about the origin or location of the production facility. For about half of the drinks tested, we were able to find at least some information about the country of production on the website.

Sustainability Assessment

While transparency assessed the availability of data, the focus of sustainability assessment is on the quality of the information provided.

We spent a long time thinking about how we wanted to deal with missing data and vague data. The result was that we did not give any information a 0-point rating and, in the case of unclear or imprecise statements, we assumed the worse option.

For example: Statements such as “We source our ingredients from local farmers. However, if demand increases, we have to resort to oats from the EU, for example.” In one such case, “Europe” was used as the origin.

For the published footprints, we considered them to be present if they were smaller than the footprint of milk* (1.36 kg CO2e /L).

We took various certifications into account when producing the drinks, including Bioland, Naturland, Bio-Knospe and Demeter. Each of these certifications has additional restrictions regarding the use of additives and cultivation methods. However, we did not highlight any particular method, as examining this would go beyond the scope of the work. A separate study would be necessary for this. However, we rated all certifications that have additional restrictions to EU organic higher.

We also did not study the sustainability reports and goals of the individual providers in detail, but used them to get an idea of ​​the status of the respective company.

We asked manufacturers how they deal with waste in their companies. There were many interesting answers about what is done with the different waste products. From reusable shipping packaging to feeding the oat residue to pigs, there were different approaches and solutions.

Origin

• 0 points, non-EU countries
• 1 point for origin in Europe
• 2 points Country of origin = country of distribution

Manufacturing

• 0 points conventional
• 1 point EU organic
• 2 points Bioland | Naturland | Bio-KnospeCH | Demeter

CO2 footprint VÖ = 1 point

Sustainability report/goals = 1 point

Waste management available = 1 point

Oat drinks from Beckum

During the research, it became apparent that many manufacturers produce their drinks in Germany/NRW or specifically in Beckum. Berief is based there and two minutes' walk away is Soja GmbH, which shares a managing director with Berief. (As of summer 2023)

It is not surprising that both the ingredients and the nutritional table are the same for Rewe, Alnatura and Netto. Rewe and Aldi Süd name Soja GmbH as their bottler, while Netto names Berief as the producer. Berief's oat milk itself is also part of the test.

The taste

Rating Warm: Cappuccino

Six test subjects evaluated four different aspects of each oat milk. The evaluation included the harmony of espresso and oat drink, mouthfeel (texture, heaviness), aftertaste and visual appearance.

The maximum number of points that could be awarded per aspect was 6 points. This resulted in a maximum total score of 144 points per oat milk (6 points per aspect multiplied by 4 aspects multiplied by 6 test subjects). However, since the entire range of points is rarely used in practice, the maximum number of points was reduced by 10% for the presentation. An adjusted maximum number of points of 129.6 points was set. This number of points corresponds to 100% of the realistically achievable points. A score of 88% therefore corresponds to 114.1 points (88% of 129.6 points). In order to represent the ratings on a scale of 1 to 10, the percentage values ​​were divided by 10. A rating of 88% therefore corresponds to a grade of 8.8 on the scale of 1 to 10.

This approach was carried out with both a fruity espresso as well as with a classic and darker espresso roast ("chocolaty").

Rating Cold: Pure Oat Milk

In addition to evaluating the four aspects, the taste of the cold milk was also evaluated by the test subjects. Each test subject could award up to 6 points, with 6 being the highest and 0 the lowest. This resulted in a maximum total score of 36 points per tasting. However, since each oat milk was tasted twice, each oat milk could achieve a total of up to 72 points.

As before, the maximum score was reduced by 10% to allow for a more realistic representation. An adjusted maximum score of 64.8 points was set. This score corresponds to 100% of the realistically achievable points for tasting the cold milk.

The best-rated oat milk scored 46 points in this area. To represent this on a scale of 1 to 10, the score achieved was first converted into a percentage (46 out of 64.8 points corresponds to about 71%) and then divided by 10. The best oat milk thus received a rating of 7.1 on the scale of 1 to 10 for the taste of the cold milk.

Rating price-performance

To calculate the price-performance ratio, we first determined the average of the ratings for each brand in the five categories of fruitiness, chocolateiness, cold milk, sustainability and foamability. The ratings in these categories were given on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best result.

The value for money was then calculated by dividing the average of the ratings by the price of the respective oat milk. The resulting value gives an idea of ​​how much "quality" or "value" you get for every euro spent. A higher value means better value for money.

Sources, Further Links, Notes

*https://www.wwf.ch/sites/default/files/doc-2020-10/2020_10_%C3%96kobalance%20Milch%20und%20 Vegetable%20Alternativen.pdf

Philipp Schallberger is co-founder of Gutsch. He was not involved in the evaluation or the development of the criteria of the test. The tasting was carried out blind. No taster knew at any time which milk he was tasting.

Thanks and team

The oat milk test was prepared by Tobias Milz and Felix Hohlmann . Tobias Milz is an environmental technologist and regularly writes about his research on the subject of coffee and sustainability on our website . Felix Hohlmann is the 2024 German Barista Champion and prepared the cappuccinos with barista trainer Andrea Perin . Dario Pieber is the Swiss Latte Art Master and was responsible for the uniform frothing of the cappuccinos in the Latte Art test.

The sensory panel consisted of the above-mentioned Tobias Milz and from right to left:

Pascal Rutz , pastry chef, barista and founder of Brootmacher:innen

Gabriela Blank , Barista, HR administration KM, yoga teacher, co-founder Rabbithole Basel

Nicolas Schwob , food scientist, co-founder Rabbithole Basel, R&D Vito

Nadja Schwarz , Q-Grader Robusta and Arabica, wine sommelier, Swiss certified hotelier-restaurateur, sensory course leader

Philipp Schallberger , Head of Roastery Coffee Makers, Partner, Sensory, Former Judge at World Barista Championships and World Brewers Cup

Thanks for the cooperation to everyone involved, as well as to the other supporters in the background.