kevlar Senior Member Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Winnipeg Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Miss Silvia Grinder: her friend Rocky
Posted Sun Apr 20, 2008, 7:54am Subject: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
I see tons of topics about steaming milk right or this milk is better etc but no one talks about alternatives? Even the Barista Handbook doesn't talk about steaming Soy, Hemp or almond milk. So let's see what everyone is using.
For Soy I have tried So Nice and So Good which where both terrible, no microfoam no matter what I did also overly nutty taste that distracted from the drink. Silk works very well good foam but requires you to really work it or you get big soapy bubbles, tastes good, good mouth feel as well. I then saw that Pacific foods had Barista grade soy, interesting. Found a supplier and bought a tetra pack, holy cow. Amazing foam really easily, tastes great no distracting nutty flavor and rich creamy mouth feel. If you are using Soy then I really feel that this is the stuff to use.
ChrisUK Senior Member Joined: 28 Feb 2008 Posts: 49 Location: UK Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: La Pavoni Pub Single HX Grinder: Mazzer Mini Electronic Roaster: Gene Cafe
Posted Sun Apr 20, 2008, 1:47pm Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
Hi there,
I can only assume nobody talks about milk alternatives because they're not very nice. Most people on here are striving to create the best tasting coffee they can..........soya+coffee=nasty:-)
Joking aside.....my girlfriend is lactose intolerant so we have a fridge full of soya......i've managed to create pretty good microfoam with it........we use really bog standard soya, no sweeteners or anything.......she loves a soya latte.
I use high fat fresh milk and would personally rather just drink straight espresso or americano's if i couldn't have milk but if soya is all you can have it is definately worth trying different brands as they vary massively....as you discovered.
She drinks loads of tea and i've found if you put 1/2 inch of cold water in the cup first.....then put a tea bag in the PF and switch it on it makes a cracking brew! (The 1/2 inch of cold water is to stop the soya milk curdling).
kevlar Senior Member Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Winnipeg Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Miss Silvia Grinder: her friend Rocky
Posted Sun Apr 20, 2008, 7:19pm Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
I certainly understand that everyone is trying to create the best drink possible. So am I, for me I have no choice, I like espresso straight up but also really enjoy 6oz lattes. So the challenge of finding really good soy is exactly that a challenge. I would really love input on other brands, like I said so far the Pacific Foods Barista grade is hands down the best I have found even though I am probably going to have to buy it buy the case.
hansadoer Senior Member Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 2 Location: austin, tx Expertise: Pro Barista
Posted Sun Apr 20, 2008, 9:49pm Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
i have found that Pacific Soy Blenders low fat soy milk works best. we've tried others in my cafe', and none compared! you should be able to find it pretty much anywhere these days! Almond Breeze almond milk also works pretty well, and i prefer it for the flavor...or lack thereof.
FredFal Senior Member Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 328 Location: Jacksonville, AR Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Brewtus II (Deuce) Grinder: Mazzer Mini E Type B (E.B.) Roaster: GC (Gene)
Posted Mon Apr 21, 2008, 3:26am Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
Kevin,
Welcome to CoffeeGeek!
I'm lactose intolerant (it just infuriates me)! I've tried Silk and I agree that it's tough to work with. I've also noticed that the microfoam breaks down very quickly after you stop steaming.
My "go-to" soy milk is Soy Dream. I first tried Soy Dream when I took the espresso enthusiast class at Intelly (that's what they use). It's really quite good. Steams up well, you can create microfoam and even latte art with it. It's not as easy to work with as cow milk, but much easier than Silk.
I recently picked up some Kikkoman Vanilla Soy milk just because I saw it in the supermarket. I was surprised at how well it steamed up as well. They didn't have a "plain" flavor, but if you're making vanilla lattes (like many of my friends like) it'll save you having to add syrup. It's pretty good too.
Soy Dream for me (usually on the shelf by Power Bars and stuff in the market). -Fred
IceBarista Senior Member Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 21 Location: Iceland Expertise: Pro Barista
Posted Mon Apr 21, 2008, 5:41am Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
I work at a café, and we serve (apart from cow's milk) soy, rice and oat milk. The rice and oat are pretty much impossible to handle, and you really need to focus if you want some foam on the oat milk, but with the rice one it's a lost case.
We use soy milk in blue cartons (pavamel, provamel or something like that) and it's almost like using cow's milk, only it looks more yellow. I can make the prettiest latte art using soy, something I'm having difficulties processing with the cow's milk.
rlma Senior Member Joined: 13 Mar 2007 Posts: 9 Location: lakewood, CO Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Quick Mill Anita Grinder: MACAP
Posted Mon Apr 21, 2008, 9:12am Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
I am casein (milk portein) sensitive. The result of my lab test indicated that I should stop consuming animal milk ( cow/goat, etc). Therefore , I had the dilemma of finding an alternative to steaming for lattes. I currently am using a combo of 10 parts Original Rice Dream, 4 parts Whole Foods 365 unsweetened soy milk and 1 part Silk (soy) Creamer. It is fairly satisfactory regarding flavor and steams somewhat well.
The almond milk that I've used makes the coffee bitter. I've experimented with coconut milk (1 tablespoon to a cup added to the above combo), but it doesn't foam when steaming.
Anyone with a suggestion? I don't like sweeteners or flavoring.
Jasonian Senior Member Joined: 8 Aug 2005 Posts: 3,831 Location: Lubbock, TX Expertise: Professional
Posted Tue Apr 22, 2008, 8:42am Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
hansadoer Said:
i have found that Pacific Soy Blenders low fat soy milk works best. we've tried others in my cafe', and none compared! you should be able to find it pretty much anywhere these days! Almond Breeze almond milk also works pretty well, and i prefer it for the flavor...or lack thereof.
It's the only soy milk I don't grimace a bit before sipping in an espresso based drink.
Impossible to find. I can find Pacific Almond milk, Pacific Rice milk, even Pacific soups. The Soy is a pain to get in most stores. At least, that's been my experience.
kevlar Senior Member Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Winnipeg Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Miss Silvia Grinder: her friend Rocky
Posted Tue Apr 22, 2008, 7:18pm Subject: Re: Can't drink Cow's milk? What do you use
I found a local roaster who supplies local coffee houses and is bringing in The Barista grade Pacific Soy, I have to buy it buy the case but that's fine the stuff works better then anything else I have used.
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