The best coffees for oat milk shouldn’t be intensely strong, bitter, or come with an oily surface. Read on to pick the right choice.
Oat milk is one of the best plant-based choices to replace cow’s milk without losing any sweetness. But drinking oat milk by itself time and again is not the best resort. So why not prepare some stellar recipes by adding coffee into your oat milk?
The creamy texture and mild sweetness in oat milk will lower the bitterness in your coffee fix. Today, there are many insanely cool coffee oat milk drinks to inspire your taste buds, such as chai lattes, iced lattes, or iced mochas. So the real question here is, what type of coffee is the best choice for oat milk?
What To Look For In the Best Coffee For Oat Milk?
Ingredients
Fresh, organic coffee always performs better than a ton of additives. Go for plain, bean-to-ground coffee to pair with oat milk instead of low-quality instant coffee with sugar and other harmful substances.
Strength
Some people prefer outstandingly strong coffee like Robusta, while others prefer less intense flavor in a perfect Arabica batch.
Coffee Quality
Understand what makes a quality coffee. The best coffee will have a strong, pleasant aroma that smells fresh.
Quantity
Buy a small batch instead of a large one. Coffee will lose its freshness after it is roasted, especially if you don’t know how to store it right.
How To Pick The Best Coffee For Oat Milk?
- Get familiar with the flavor profiles of the different coffee origins first.
- Opt for naturally-processed coffee to inherit from its complex bouquet of aromatics and ripe fruit qualities when paired with the delicate taste of oat milk.
- If you’re choosing to make latte art, aim for high-quality oat milk that uses organic sunflower oil instead of highly processed oil.
- When in doubt, go for a blend.
- Get a coffee pod if you don’t have time to grind your coffee from beans or are unsure which recipe to go after.
You might also enjoy our barley milk iced coffee recipe.
4 Best Coffee For Oat Milk You Should Try Today
The Best Arabica Coffee For Oat Milk
I recommend Arabica beans because of the flavor; Gevalia Traditional Roast Mild is a great choice. Since Arabica coffee beans are grown and harvested at a higher elevation, their tasting profile is more diverse than Robusta coffee.
Arabica beans have a low acidity level, and that’s why this type of coffee introduces a smoother texture to your throat. When the coffee escapes from your throat, it will leave flavor notes of chocolate and sugar in the aftertaste. Plus, Arabica beans are grown without the use of animal fertilizer.
Pros:
- Low acidity for a smoother texture
- Easy to store
- Slow roasted, snap cooled beans to lock in flavor and aroma
- Compatible with all coffee makers
Cons:
- More expensive
- Difficult to farm, and that’s way harder to find
- Less caffeine
Find it on Amazon.
The Best Coffee For Oat Milk For Those Who Need A Boost
Robusta follows Arabica to be one of the most popular types of coffee consumed in the world. Robusta coffee is a reasonable option to pair with oat milk if you don’t want to overspend on a simple drink.
The nature of Robusta leans towards bitterness and harshness due to the higher concentration of caffeine compared to Arabica.
As a Vietnamese coffee lover, Robusta is second to none and I love its earthy flavor and a peanut-ty aftertaste. The Trung Nguyen Vietnamese Coffee is a perfect blend of Arabica and Robusta that will ensure your drink will have a deep note of chocolate to pair with that extra sweetness and a thick crema. However, make sure to use just the right amount of Robusta black coffee; otherwise, it will out-mask the delicate taste of oat milk.
Pros:
- Low in fat
- Cheap
- Deep, intense flavor and high in caffeine
- Fruity fragrance and chocolate hints
Cons:
- Less diverse flavor
- Bitter
- Some coffee filters don’t agree with the size of the ground
Find it on Amazon.
The Best Light Roast Coffee For Oat Milk
After trying out different types of plant-based milk, such as oat, coconut, and macadamia milk, Caribou Light Roast Ground Coffee is the best pairing out of many levels of roasts out there. Light roast coffee packs the original flavor longer and better than dark roast coffee. It has a fruity and caramel sweetness with a nutty finish to diversify oat milk’s creamy, sweet, and nutty nature.
Pros:
- More caffeine
- Original flavor
- Rainforest Alliance certified
- Flavors hold up over time
- Enough body and refreshing over ice
Cons:
- Likely to upset your stomach
- Higher acidity
- The grind size is too fine to make drip coffee
Find it on Amazon.
Contains one 20 Ounce Bag of Caribou Coffee Daybreak Morning Blend Light Roast Ground Coffe. 100% Arabica coffee, small batch roasted and hand-packed in Minneapolis
The Best Honey-Process Coffee For Oat Milk
Honey-process coffee is gradually taking the world by storm thanks to its mellow flavor from the sticky-sweet beans. The reason why honey-processed coffee makes a perfect pairing with oat milk is the “just right” processing method which allows the beans to preserve their clarity and sharpness.
After being ground, the Jaya Family’s Plantation honey-process coffee will lend its depth of flavor to serve as the backbone of the oat milk. The mild sweetness of oat milk, when blended with notes of chocolate, brown sugar, spice, and cedarwood in The Jaya Family’s Plantation honey-processed coffee, will create a great drink. When the mixture escapes from your throat, what’s left behind is a natural sweetness and floral qualities that make you crave more.
Pros:
- Complex flavors
- Uniform and round taste with a balance of sourness
- Strong sweetness
- 100% processed organic Ecuadorian coffee
Cons:
- Not widely available
- More acidic
- Lack of the initial brightness of a wet coffee
Find it on Walmart.
Testing Criteria
The final flavor is my main concentration when testing out how oat milk reacts to different types of coffee. However, that is not the only thing that went into my consideration. I played around with different recipes for each combination, less of this and more of that, before deciding which coffee is the best pairing for oat milk.
The recipe plays a crucial role in my testing. It can define whether or not the blend turns out fine. Even if I pick the proper coffee, but the ratio is incorrect, the drink will eventually go wrong.
Date of use is another factor that came to play. Open oat milk can stay up to 10 days in the fridge, but the flavor gradually fades towards the end of its lifespan. I made sure the recipe used freshly opened oat milk so that I wouldn’t miss out on its freshness, creaminess, and aroma.
If you liked this post, you might also enjoy these healthy alternatives to sugar in coffee.
Why You Can Trust Me
Ever since I went on a diet a year ago, I have paid more attention to everything I eat. And that goes the same way for a drink. Coffee with condensed milk had always been my go-to drink, but I finally changed it to plant-based milk to cut on calories without sacrificing the flavor I love.
The Caribou light-roast coffee is my top pick if I have a chance to find a decent specialty coffee shop. For those who aren’t big fans of mild coffee, go for the Robusta blend and enjoy its strong bitterness but make sure to add just the right amount of coffee so it won’t bother the natural sweetness of oat milk. Look at the product links I provided or visit a trusted coffee store and talk to the sellers before buying the proper coffee for oat milk.
