Barista milk

Barista milk is formulated to produce beautiful and tasty milk-based coffees, especially when using plant-based (e.g. almond, oat, soy) milks.

Why barista milk?

A milk-based coffee with stunning latte art requires milk that won’t break when heated and that will produce the right size of bubbles for texture. For the most part, this is not an issue with cow’s milk. However, non-dairy (i.e. plant-based) milks can be tricky to work with. In addition, coffees bought at cafes need to taste better than anything you can make at home.

Barista milk in the Australian market

Many manufacturers of dairy and non-dairy milks now offer a barista range of products. Brands include Milklab (which belongs to Procal and is used in many cafes), Vitasoy, Australia’s Own, Sanitarium So Good, Almond Breeze, Inside Out, Oatly and Coles. Most brands are available in supermarkets and cafes, and some sell only to businesses.

Ingredients in non-dairy barista vs regular milk

I made a comparison for brands that have both barista and non-barista products. I had the suspicion that barista milks would have a lot more ingredients than regular milks. However, a lot of non-barista dairy-free milks do contain several additives, and the difference stems on which extra ingredients (highlighted in yellow below) are added to the core ones (i.e. water and nuts/soybeans/soy protein).

Vitasoy Home Barista Almond Milk	Vitasoy Unsweetened Almond UHT Milk
filtered water	filtered water
whole almonds (min 3.5%)	whole almonds (min. 3.8%)
raw sugar
sunflower oil
	mineral (calcium phosphate)
emulsifiers (471, 322)	emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)
sea salt	sea salt
natural flavour	natural flavour
vegetable gums (407, 418)	vegetable gum (gellan)
food acid (331)

Vitasoy Home Barista Oat Milk	Vitasoy Oat Long Life Milk
filtered water	filtered water
whole oats	whole oats (min. 10%)
sunflower oil	sunflower oil
oat flour	oat flour
	gum arabic
mineral (calcium, phosphate, calcium carbonate)	mineral (calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate)
food acid (340)	food acid (340)
emulsifiers (471)
natural flavour	natural flavour
sea salt	sea salt

Vitasoy Home Barista Soy Milk	Vitasoy Soy Milk Original
filtered water	filtered water
whole soybeans (min. 14%)	organic whole soybeans (min. 15%)
	barley malt
	barley flour
raw sugar	raw sugar
	sunflower oil
mineral (calcium phosphate)	mineral (calcium phosphate)
vegetable gums (460, 466, 407)
natural flavours	natural flavour
sea salt	sea salt
food acids (340, 331)
	kombu (kelp)
	vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin B2)

Sanitarium So Good Barista Edition Almond Milk	Sanitarium So Good Long Life Unsweetened Almond Milk
filtered water	filtered water
ground almonds (3%)	ground almonds (2.5%)
cane sugar
corn starch
mineral (calcium)	mineral (calcium)
emulsifiers [473, 472(c)]	emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)
	natural flavour
salt	salt
	mineral salt (sodium bicarbonate)
vegetable gum (gellan)	vegetable gum (gellan)
antioxidant (ascorbic acid)	antioxidant (ascorbic acid)
vitamins (B12, B2, B1)	vitamins (B12, B2, B1)
acidity regulators (332, 450)

Sanitarium So Good Chilled Barista Almond	Sanitarium So Good Chilled Unsweetened Almond Milk
filtered water	filtered water
ground almonds (3%)	almonds (2.5%)
cane sugar
corn maltodextrin
vegetable oils (sunflower, canola)
minerals (phosphorus, calcium)	mineral (calcium)
emulsifier (322)	emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)
	natural flavour
	salt
	mineral salt (sodium bicarbonate)
vegetable gums (410, 418)	vegetable gum (gellan)
antioxidant (ascorbic acid)	antioxidant (ascorbic acid)
vitamins (B12, B2, B1)	vitamins (B12, B2, B1)

Sanitarium So Good Barista Edition Oat Milk	Sanitarium So Good Oat No Added Sugar UHT Milk
filtered water	filtered water
oat flour (9%)	milled oats (min. 9%)
vegetable oils (sunflower, canola)	vegetable oils (sunflower, canola)
minerals (phosphorus, calcium)	minerals (calcium, phosphorus)
	acidity regulator (332)
salt	salt
antioxidant (ascorbic acid)	antioxidant (ascorbic acid)
vitamins (B12, A, B2, B1)	vitamins (B12, A, B2, D, B1)

Sanitarium So Good Barista Edition Soy Milk	Sanitarium So Good Long Life Regular Soy Milk
filtered water	filtered water
soy protein (3.5%)	soy protein (3.5%)
corn maltodextrin	corn maltodextrin
vegetable oils (sunflower, canola)	vegetable oils (sunflower, canola)
cane sugar	cane sugar
minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium)	minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium)
acidity regulators (332, 450)	acidity regulators (332, 450)
corn starch
soy fibre
antioxidant (ascorbic acid)	antioxidant (ascorbic acid)
vitamins (B12, A, B2, B1)	vitamins (A, B12, D2, B2, B1)
	natural flavour

Coles Dairy Free Barista Almond Milk	Coles Unsweetened Almond Milk
water	water
almonds (2.5%)	ground almonds (2.5%)
maltodextrin
sugar
sunflower oil
acidity regulators (340, 332)
	tapioca starch
salt	salt
sunflower lecithin	vegetable emulsifier (322, sunflower)
vegetable gums (gellan gum, xanthan gum)	vegetable gums (418, 415)
natural flavour	natural vanilla flavouring
	mineral salt (170)

Coles Dairy Free Barista Soy Milk	Coles Regular Soy Milk
water	water
milled soy beans (4.7%)
	soy protein (4%)
maltodextrin (from corn)	maltodextrin (corn)
sugar	sugar
canola oil	canola oil
	mineral salts (450, 509, 526, 504)
acidity regulators (332, 340)	acidity regulators (338, 332)
natural flavours
sunflower lecithin
stabilisers (460, 466)
salt
	vegetable gum (407)
	vitamins (riboflavin, A, B12)

Almond Breeze Barista Blend Blue Diamond	Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk
filtered water	filtered water
ground whole almonds (2.5%)	ground whole almonds (2.5%)
sunflower oil
corn maltodextrin
	tapioca starch
	mineral salt (calcium carbonate [ground limestone])
acidity regulator (dipotassium phosphate, potassium citrate)
stabiliser (carrageenan, locust bean gum, sodium alginate, guar gum)	stabiliser (carrageenan)
salt	salt
emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)	emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)
natural flavour	natural flavour

Australia’s Own Barista Almond	Australia’s Own Unsweetened Almond Milk
water	water
organic almonds (3.5%)	organic almonds (3%)
sugar
sunflower oil	organic sunflower oil
maltodextrin (from corn)
acidity regulator (340, 332)
vegetable gums (418, 415, 410)
sunflower lecithin
salt	salt

Inside Out Barista Almond UHT Milk	Inside Out Almond Unsweetened UHT Milk
filtered water	filtered water
activated almonds (5%)	activated almonds (5%)
maltodextrin
raw sugar
minerals (potassium citrate, potassium phosphate)	mineral (calcium phosphate)
coconut fat [coconut oil, glucose syrup, E1450, E551]
vegetable oil (rapeseed)
faba bean
sea salt	sea salt
vegetable gum (gellan)	vegetable gum (gellan)

Oatly Oat Milk Barista Edition	Oatly Oat Milk
water	water
oats (10%)	oats (10%)
rapeseed oil	rapeseed oil
acidity regulator (dipotassium phosphate)
calcium carbonate	calcium carbonate
calcium phosphates	calcium phosphates
iodised salt	iodised salt
vitamins (D2, riboflavin, B12)	vitamins (D2, riboflavin, B12)

From the analysed products, we can see the most common ingredients added to barista milk are salt, vegetable oil, sugar, minerals, acidity regulators, maltodextrin, vegetable gum, emulsifier and natural flavour. The most common ingredients added to non-barista milks are salt, minerals, natural flavour, vegetable oil, vitamins, vegetable gum, emulsifier and mineral salt.

Nutrients in non-dairy barista vs regular milk

I was expecting barista milks to have more fat and more sugar than regular milks. This is the case for many, but not all products. Check the tables below for a nutrient comparison per 100ml of product. I have highlighted in red those values that are higher in barista than in non-barista milk (except for protein) and in green those values that are lower in barista than in non-barista milk (again, except for protein).

Product	Almond Breeze Barista Blend Blue Diamond	Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk
Energy	100	67
Protein	0.6	0.5
Fat, total	1.9	1.2
– Saturated	0.2	<0.1
Carbohydrate	1.2	0.7
– Sugars	0.2	0.1
Sodium	47	52

Product	Australia’s Own Barista Almond	Australia’s Own Unsweetened Almond Milk
Energy	155	90
Protein	1.0	0.6
Fat, total	2.5	2
– Saturated	0.2	0.2
Carbohydrate	2.5	0.3
– Sugars	1.7	0.1
Sodium	41	40

Product	Coles Dairy Free Barista Almond Milk	Coles Unsweetened Almond Milk
Energy	108	75
Protein	<1.0	<1.0
Fat, total	2.0	1.4
– Saturated	<1.0	<1.0
Carbohydrate	1.3	<1.0
– Sugars	<1.0	<1.0
Sodium	41	39

Product	Coles Dairy Free Barista Soy Milk	Coles Regular Soy Milk
Energy	227	244
Protein	1.9	3.1
Fat, total	2.6	3
– Saturated	<1.0	<1.0
Carbohydrate	5.4	4.7
– Sugars	1.8	1.6
Sodium	35	60

Product	Inside Out Barista Almond UHT Milk	Inside Out Almond Unsweetened UHT Milk
Energy	199	68
Protein	0.7	0.16
Fat, total	2.0	1.4
– Saturated	0.2	0.1
Carbohydrate	6.2	0.2
– Sugars	1.5	0.1
Sodium	26	34

Product	Oatly Oat Milk Barista Edition	Oatly Oat Milk
Energy	247	193
Protein	1.0	1
Fat, total	3.0	1.5
– Saturated	0.3	0.2
Carbohydrate	6.6	6.7
– Sugars	4.0	4.1
Sodium	42	42

Product	Sanitarium So Good Barista Edition Almond Milk	Sanitarium So Good Long Life Unsweetened Almond Milk
Energy	106	69
Protein	0.7	0.6
Fat, total	1.5	1.4
– Saturated	0.1	0.1
Carbohydrate	1.9	0.3
– Sugars	1.4	0.1
Sodium	40	36

Product	Sanitarium So Good Chilled Barista Almond	Sanitarium So Good Chilled Unsweetened Almond Milk
Energy	164	69
Protein	0.8	0.6
Fat, total	2.6	1.4
– Saturated	0.2	0.1
Carbohydrate	2.8	0.3
– Sugars	1.6	0.1
Sodium	39	36

Product	Sanitarium So Good Barista Edition Oat Milk	Sanitarium So Good Oat No Added Sugar UHT Milk
Energy	239	181
Protein	1.0	0.8
Fat, total	3.1	1.5
– Saturated	0.4	0.2
Carbohydrate	6.0	6.4
– Sugars	2.0	2.3
Sodium	41	43

Product	Sanitarium So Good Barista Edition Soy Milk	Sanitarium So Good Long Life Regular Soy Milk
Energy	241	273
Protein	3.4	3.2
Fat, total	3.1	3.5
– Saturated	0.4	0.4
Carbohydrate	3.9	5.1
– Sugars	1.9	2
Sodium	40	40

Product	Vitasoy Home Barista Almond Milk	Vitasoy Unsweetened Almond UHT Milk
Energy	123	86
Protein	0.5	0.7
Fat, total	2.2	1.8
– Saturated	0.4	0.2
Carbohydrate	1.8	0.3
– Sugars	1.5	0.1
Sodium	68	36

Product	Vitasoy Home Barista Oat Milk	Vitasoy Oat Long Life Milk
Energy	209	201
Protein	0.6	0.6
Fat, total	2.2	2.1
– Saturated	0.4	0.3
Carbohydrate	6.5	6.2
– Sugars	1.0	1
Sodium	51	50

Product	Vitasoy Home Barista Soy Milk	Vitasoy Soy Milk Original
Energy	175	257
Protein	3.0	3.3
Fat, total	1.8	3.3
– Saturated	0.3	0.5
Carbohydrate	3.1	5
– Sugars	2.1	2.6
Sodium	70	60

What about barista dairy milk?

Dairy milk is not commonly marketed as barista milk because it usually has the right composition to make good milk-based beverages. Not surprisingly, the ingredients in barista cow’s milk are most of the time just milk. One brand (Norco Foods) adds milk solids to their barista milk. Fat content in barista dairy milks ranges from 3.5 grams per 100 ml (same as regular full cream milk) to 4.2 grams per 100 ml.

Summary and recommendations

Barista milk is formulated to achieve the desired texture and flavour in cafe-style milk-based coffees. To this end, manufacturers add a number of ingredients, including sugar and vegetable oils, to non-dairy milks (e.g. almond, oat, soy). As a result, barista milks are often higher in energy, fat and sugar than their non-barista counterparts.

Should you drink barista non-dairy milk? Obviously, if you buy your coffee at a cafe you have no control over which milk they use. However, if you have a few options near you, check which milks they use if you wish to make an informed choice. If you buy milk for home and use it regularly, I suggest you choose the milk with better ingredients even if your latte art doesn’t turn out perfect.

For more information about plant-based and dairy milks, check out my previous articles: Oat milk comeback, What’s the deal with almond milk? and Is dairy good for you?.