About six months ago I gave up cow’s milk, cheese and yoghurt as part of my personal Anti-Cancer Plan. The very first hurdle I encountered was, what would I put in my tea now instead of milk?
So I started with almond milk. And guys, almond milk in regular Barry’s or Lyons tea is not good. It swiftly turns your lovely cup of tea into a not-so-lovely cup of dirty dishwater. Yuck. However. I persevered for a few months, trying different brands of almond milk, and then higher-strength almond milks (which were better, but still not great).
Around about the same time, my husband and I would treat ourselves to a Sunday coffee at the Happy Pear Café in Clondalkin. While chatting to their barista one day while he was making our coffees, he told me that oat milk worked better for a coffee as it didn’t ‘split’ with the heat from the coffee machine. So I decided to try an oat milk coffee that day and I really liked it. It seemed much more creamy than almond milk and there even seemed to be a little bit of sweetness to it which I liked, as I also gave up refined sugar at the same time as I gave up dairy (I know, talk about taking all the joy out of life tea!).
Some more time passed and eventually I started ordering my cappuccino in Starbucks (a once-a-week treat) with oat milk too. And finally then I started buying oat milk in the supermarket too, instead of almond. And it was only THEN that thunder struck and I realised just how wonderful oat milk is in tea. Gosh it took me awhile, didn’t it?! But ladies and gentlemen, oat milk is just lovely in regular tea. It’s the way forward and I’m only too delighted.
If you’ve also given up dairy (and sugar) – get thee down to your local SuperValu and buy a litre of Oat Dream and give it a try in a good ol’ steaming cup of Barry’s – you can thank me later!
