But I Really Love Milk in My Coffee! A Guide to Plant Milk Substitutes for Those Who Care

So, let’s say that you are a person with good intentions, trying to live a socially responsible life.  You recycle more faithfully than ever before, you take your own bags to the grocery store, you trade your old gas guzzling vehicle in for an energy efficient car (or even better, you walk or ride your bicycle or take public transportation everywhere),

you replace all your light bulbs with LED high efficiency ones, and you decide to do the right thing, which is to buy those carbon offsets so you can continue to fly without guilt

.up up and away

Okay. Good on ya!

Now, let’s say that you take your commitment to live your socially responsible life to the next level: your diet.

You give up on single use plastic packaging, you buy only organic, locally sourced food,

you stock up on bulk goods (which you wisely choose to store in glass, NOT plastic), you sign up for one of those food share delivery programs, choking back your shock at the costs as you do but hey, local farmers!

You find yourself looking with envy at your neighbor’s chicken tractors

and even begin to consider the feasibility of getting your own chickens. That would be cool.

Or, maybe you are even thinking about going the whole way. You are going to give up meat altogether and become vegetarian or vegan.

That’s one option (but please, don’t become a self righteous boor about it).

Still, you still need that cup of coffee, or tea, in the morning. And you happen to like it with milk.

 

If you’re like most people who make the decision to live responsibly, you have already figured out just how devastating cattle and their waste are to our planet. Livestock create 18% of the world’s green house gas emissions and cattle are the source of nearly 80% of that total. You don’t want your cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate to continue to play a part in that ongoing pollution.

Chances are that you will simply pick up a container of almond milk next time you are at the store and call it good. Or, maybe you’ll go with coconut or soy or cashew. Or even oat, flax, rice, hemp, macadamia, etc.

The list of plant based milks goes on and on.

Here’s the thing: just substituting non-cow’s milk for one of the above doesn’t automatically make it a more socially conscious, or even healthy, choice.

Take almond milk, the most common substitution with the most marketing dollars behind it: while one cup of almond milk may only contain 30-35 calories (the unsweetened kind) and have half the fat of cow’s milk, it takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow a single almond in California’s desert climate (where 80% of the world’s almonds are grown) irrigating almonds

and a full two cups of almonds for one half gallon of the liquid, which means an additional 48 ounces of pure water will be used. That doesn’t even take into consideration the processing, packaging and distribution impacts of that package you just picked up. Given California’s severe drought status, purchasing almond milk from a market comes close to being an environmental crime.

Yes, you could make your almond milk at home if you have a blender, cheesecloth, and the time, but the environmental impact of using all of that water

is not going to go away.

Cashew milk, meanwhile, appears at most progressive grocers, fighting for shelf space with that almond milk, so it must be okay, right?

Well, it has one third the calories of cow’s milk, logging in at only 25-50 per cup, it has half the fat of cow’s milk, which is great, but it has negligible protein, meaning you are going to need to supplement with a higher protein source if you struggle to meet your daily protein levels.cashews

Like almond milk, cashew milk can be made at home if you want to avoid the packaging and transport dilemma. But sadly, cashews use almost as much water per nut to grow as almonds, and then you’ve got that processing problem.

Okay, Coconut milk. Surely it is a more sustainable and nutritious choice?

Well, it’s not an easy answer. Coconut milk is creamy, which is why some folks like it so much. It only has about 45 calories per cup and 90% of those calories come from saturated fat, which should be a good thing—it’s just that recent studies show that coconut oil raises bad LDL cholesterol levels and has no protein.

Furthermore, our increasing love affair with coconuts is leading to destruction of traditional farming methods in the tropical countries where they are native

as well as an alarming increase in monoculture farming (bigger $$), both of which are bad for the environment.

According to the World Watch Institute, food transportation is quickly becoming one of the world’s fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Sadly, getting that delicious, creamy coconut milk to you means long journeys across the planet, leaving clean air left fouled by every load.

Okay. Then going back to locally produced soymilk is probably the thing to do. Yes?

soybeans on the vine

In terms of nutrition, soymilk is a close nondairy substitute for cow’s milk. It contains a similar amount of protein, but around half the number of calories, fats and carbohydrates. It is also one of the few plant-based sources of high-quality “complete” protein, which provides all the essential amino acids. These are the amino acids that cannot be produced by the body and must be obtained from the diet. But it contains no natural calcium at all.

Plus, wait an important minute!

Soy contains a frighteningly large number of isoflavones.

Isoflavones impact the estrogen receptors in our bodies, affecting our hormone levels, thereby increasing our estrogen levels. And study after study has linked high estrogen levels to increased breast cancer. Too much soy is a bad thing for babies and other humans.

Additional issues to consider with soymilk includes the fact that the vast amount of soybeans grown today have been genetically modified, it takes huge amounts of electricity to process those soybeans and turn them into a liquid “milk”, and in South America, farmers responding to the rapidly increasing demand for soy,

have taken to cutting down or burning immense tracts of the rainforest to turn it into a soy producing monoculture. Damn.

Moving on.

Rice milk has the highest levels of carbohydrate of all the alternative milks (but it also tastes watery). It has a high glycemic index, thereby raising blood sugar levels, which is not great for people with diabetes, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, and rice milk has been shown to have worrying levels of inorganic arsenic, linked to cancers and heart disease.

We won’t even bother with discussing the production, packaging and distribution issues, which are comparable to those of coconut, soy, cashew and almond milk.

Macadamia milk has shown some promise in terms of sustainability.

A company called Milkadamia is especially focused on the sustainability of its product. The nuts are sourced from Jindilli Farms in Australia, which, according to the company, boasts “abundant rainfall, ample sunshine, rich soil, and low-impact farming.” Milkadamia claims its focus is regenerative farming, which aims to rebuild soil health. Its macadamia nuts grow on so-called free-range trees that do not require irrigation.

Macadamia milk is creamy and apparently only has a subtle taste of the macadamia nut itself, which you will either like or you wont. Still, transporting this nut milk all the way from Australia to your neighborhood means those nasty greenhouse emissions have to be taken into consideration..

Hemp milk comes on strong for those who care most about footprint of their edibles (pun may be intended) and least about flavor. The good news is that hemp grows quickly,

does not use a lot of water, suppresses weeds naturally, and resists disease. The not so good news is that most people who have tried it complain about its weedy flavor and the fact that it curdles when poured into hot drinks.

Oat milk also comes on strong.

It’s been my personal favorite for awhile and it’s both easy and inexpensive to make at home.

If that’s not your style, a Swedish company, Oatly, seems to have cornered the market on the really good ready made stuff, even perfecting a recipe which leaves their “barista brand” so that it foams like dairy.

Oatmilk is creamy and works really well in things like Golden Milk Tea and lattes, though your typical coffee drinker may find the fact that the homemade, and most sustainable version of the beverage, doesn’t turn their coffee that creamy shade of tan.

Oat milk has about the same amount of calories as cow’s milk (140-160) and has up to 5 grams of protein per cup. Due to its high fiber content, it helps lower LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) and can contribute to lowered blood sugar levels. These are good things!

Oats only use 1/6 the amount of water that it takes to grow almonds and the other nut milks, they are a nitrogen “catch” crop, which means farmers often plant them as a cover after their legume harvests are in to protect the soil.

When comparing all of the plant based “milks”,

most environmental experts agree that oat milk is the most sustainable and socially responsible choice, particularly when you make your own.

So, there you have the good news:

if you want to have your latte, your milky tea, your coffee con leche, your hot, frothy cup of cocoa on a cold day AND stay consistent with all of the other choices you are making to live a conscious, socially responsible life, oat milk is  your number one choice.

You’re welcome.