What dairy-free milk do coffee enthusiasts use for hot drinks?

Anyone gone through the ringer on finding out what froths the best and imparts the least fake-creamer tasting nonsense into the coffee? I usually do a ~3-4oz cappuccino every morning and can’t stand the way unsweetened almond milk tastes. So what’s next? Oat Milk? Cashew milk?

Ask my poor cat. She hides when the alarm clock rings.

With the caveat that I don’t do proper frothing, but instead use a Keurig Cafe that heats the milk and then has a disk in the bottom that froths it, what I’ve found the best by far is Barista Blend oat milk from Clifiia Farms. That froths nearly the same as regular milk, where if I use almond or soy, it basically just heats it up, but there really isn’t any froth at all.

I’ve been using the coconut creamer from Trader Joe’s for awhile, but recently bought Califia Farms Oat Creamer at WF and like it more than the coconut creamer.
When I have cold brew, I like to add unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I don’t like unsweetened almond milk in hot coffee.
For cappuccino, I would try Oat Milk or Oat Creamer.

I concur that oat milk is far and away the best dairy-free milk for coffee, espresso drinks, and for straight drinking. I find the Oatly barista version to be the best I’ve tried, but it can be harder to find and more expensive.

Califia barista oat milk is second best that I have found to Oatly barista.

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I’ve heard high praise for Mylk from Myracle Kitchen.

Super helpful once again, Victor. Thanks for chiming in.

I’ll second (third, fourth?) the oat milk recommendation. Beyond the foaming, I think its flavor generally really compliments the basic flavor profile of coffee in all its variations and roasts, more so than other dairy milk alternatives.

What about for cold drinks?

Oat milk. Chilled. :wink:

Went through a bunch of alt milks for latte/caps in the past year on my Linea Mini. Oatly barista was my jam for a while. Froths decently, still need to be careful about getting too high of a temp and it’s still not as forgiving as whole milk for microfoam. There’s a sweetness though so depending on your tolerance of sweet flavors it could be good. Works really well to cut through matcha for matcha lattes if you ever venture there.

Got a batch of Mylk recently and that froths the closest to whole milk. There’s a slight hint of coconut, but more neutral flavored than oatmilk.

Pea milk (Sproud) barista was decent. Froths a bit less forgiving than oatly barista but I think the most neutral flavor of all.

Tache pistachio milk just doesn’t work for me. Saw an article and reviews claim it’s good but I haven’t had any success. The unsweetened version is probably closest to the awful watery almond milk (hardest to foam well) in the alt milk frothing spectrum.

Whatever alt you get, try to go for barista editions as the added fats help it froth better.

Yup, agree.

heavy cream is what I use.

Er…OP is seeking “dairy free” options.

I realize that. At least cream is milk free.

I can’t imagine a latte without real whole milk. But I have used oat milk in a pinch and honestly it ain’t bad. It doesn’t foam quite like regular milk but it’s ok.

the best oat milk hands down. It has a body to it that’s as close to real milk as possible.

Chobani Extra Creamy is the only thing that comes close to Whole Milk for me.

Will have to try this, though I find Almond mild fine in iced coffee (terrible in hot) and I keep almond milk around. Oat milk would be special for coffee… unless I make that my non dairy milk. Then again I eat/drink dairy so it is just convenience and economy to have same carton for coffee and cereal

My wife uses almond creamer (not almond milk).