Almond Milk Latte – that actually tastes good!

Ooh, make an Almond Milk Latte like the above photo – it’s delicious! Simply – an Espresso Shot, Alpro professional range Almond Milk (linked below) and a single shot of Monin Sugar-Free Hazlenut Syrup. Yum.

A Great Alternative to Cow’s Milk

Take a read of the Extra Reading section below to better understand why considering alternatives to Cow’s Milk may be worth experimenting with.

If you’ve decided to seek out alternatives when you can, the most common is Soy Milk. There are a number of studies calling out issues with Soy Beans, the biggest being that they have oestrogen-like properties, that can cause a whole host of hormonal issues in guys and girls. For that reason, it’s probably not a great swap to go from Cow’s to Soy Milk.

Increasingly, you are seeing Almond Milk, Rice Milk and Coconut Milk. All of which contain no Lactose. Rice offers very little nutritional benefit and is generally the most calorific option of these alternatives. Coconut Milk is a bit of an acquired taste, but absolutely has a host of benefits if you can get accustomed.

Almond Milk for me, offers the best alternative – Tastes great, lots of nutritional benefits of Almonds, a low calorie option (if unsweetened), no reported issues like Soy Milk, and is readily available in Supermarkets. It is also starting to feature in coffee shops like Starbucks.

The Problem with Regular Almond Milk – Frothing

Whilst Almond Milk tastes great in regular coffee, tea, straight or in shakes and smoothies. It has one problem though – it can taste AWFUL when barista’s attempt to froth it to make a latte or cappuccino. The reason is that in regular milk, there are lots of sugars, that when heated up with steam caramelise. This creates a creamy froth, and the sweet tones of frothy milk.

When you do the same with regular Almond Milk, it does not have the same sugar profile, which in turn means it does not caramelise. It can actually taste bitter and sour at times, and the froth is watery. It’s really not good to be honest.

So what to do?

Almond Milk for Professionals from Alpro – Hooray!

Alpro, one of the biggest producers of alternative Milks, have come up with a special blend that solves for the bitterness and watery texture described above. And it’s delicious!

I’m not sure what they’ve done, but the claims are:

#1 – Foamable formula

#2 – Low in sugars

#3 – Can be drunk hot or cold

It’s relatively new, and has been exclusively available for businesses (i.e. Baristas), but now has become available on places like Amazon.

The one catch – currently, due to low volumes produced, and not yet opened up for the general public, it’s pretty expensive. About £2 or so for a 1L carton.

EXTRA READING: Why Would You Consider An Alternative To Normal Milk

I’m not sure about you, but cows milk doesn’t sit particularly well for me. I actually made this realisation in my early twenties, when I had this idea that it was good to drink a pint of milk a day. I would get a really congested, phlegmy throat. I was always having to clear my throat, but was never able to shake this feeling that my airways felt congested and yucky.

Once I dropped the cows milk , within a few days, the problem went away. There are a number of things happening here that are likely quite individual, but a likely cause is inflammation which in turn creates a lot of mucus to try and fight the negative situation. See, milk contains lactose, a type of sugar. We as humans have an enormous variation of enzymes and bacteria populations in our body. Should you not have much/any Lactase, an enzyme that is able to break down Lactose into Glucose, you suffer the consequences of inflammation and Lactose sensitivity or intolerance. This is more common than you realise.

Moreover, with the mass farming of cows milk, the cocktail of thousands of cows milk you have within every bottle, the antibiotics that are passed down from the cows, and some of the feeding and treatment protocols mainstream farmers use in the rearing and handling of cows can make Cows Milk an antagonist for our guts and general wellbeing. I’ll caveat that by saying that if you can get your hands on A2 Cows Milk, or Goat/Sheep’s Milk (or cheese), you’d be in a much better spot.

All that said, a little bit of Cow’s milk in your tea every day is not something we need to be overly dramatic about. It’s more the situation where you are having lots of milky coffees, cereal, milk based creamy foods and lots of cheese on a constant basis where you will likely start to see some consequences arise in time.