The ups and downs of Oat Milk—the newest dairy-free fad that’s out at Greenville’s local coffee shops.
MORGAN MCNORRILL, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Barista’s everywhere are all about the newest dairy-free trend—oat milk. So much so that producers aren’t able to keep the specially made blend in stock.
The letter board menu at Methodical Coffee, a local Greenville favorite, has oat milk on the menu under milk alternatives. But right now, instead of a price beside the item, there’s three letters: “o,” “u” and “t.”
Andrew Sutton, lead barista at Methodical goes between ordering from two different producers, Oatly and Minor Figures. Both companies currently have a waitlist for oat milk from anywhere between two to three months.
Another local Greenville coffee shop, Due South, is facing the same problem. “When we go to order, even right now, there’s a nine-week backorder,” said Wes Walton, a barista at the shop.
“You would think with such a high demand,” Walton continued, “more producers would start popping up.” He sees it as a valuable market to enter right now.
He’s not wrong. Research through the marketing intelligence agency indicates that half of Americans are consuming non-dairy milk. Other sources show a $16 billion growth for plant-based milks in 2018. Amidst all the growth, oat milk has emerged as the cool new guy at school who everyone gets to know but no one gets to spends time with.
West Greenville’s local spot, the Village Grind, is working on getting oat milk back on the bar. Manager Lindsey Montgomery shared that the last order took about three months to get. The particular brand is called Oatly and is a common preference for the Greenville coffee shops.
The milk is produced in Sweden through a seven-step process. According to Oatly, it’s the enzymatic step that slows production. In this step, natural enzymes are added to the oats that break down the oat starch into smaller components. This ensures that the oat milk will have a similar consistency to regular dairy milk.
“Oatly is slow on producing and shipping though,” Montgomery shared, “When I order again, I’ll probably go with another brand.” Despite the slow supply, Montgomery has seen many customers choose oat milk over the other alternatives they offer, such as soy and almond.
One such customer is Hannah Squires. The Greenville local realized her dairy intolerance when she started college, when lattes at coffee shop homework sessions become a necessity.
“My go-to is almond milk,” said Squires, “But I’ve seen more coffee shops offer oat milk and it’s the closest I’ve tasted to real milk.” While almond milk is accompanied with a nutty-flavor, oat milk provides more of a neutral taste.
With such high demand present, oat milk producers are trying to keep up. Oatly is proposed to open up a facility in New Jersey that will increase production eight times over so that consumer demand will be met.
But there are some who think the demand will fade. “Oat milk is the newest milk fad,” said Montgomery while watching a customer leave the shop, “It’ll phase out when something else comes along.”
