What is the best oat milk for lattes?

With the explosion in popularity of oat milk, there are more and more brands coming out with their own version. It’s a pretty simple concept: oats are starchy and make great milk. Oats are also a very environmentally-friendly option! But at a sometimes hefty price per carton, you want to be sure that it’s going to be a good one before you buy.

I’ve spent the past couple years slowly testing some of the options I’ve seen crop up, and thought it might be helpful to share my results. I would also love for you to share in the comments any that you’ve tried, whether successful or not!

Now, you can absolutely make your own oat milk – in fact, I have a recipe in my college cookbook! But the thing is, to get the right frothing consistency, I haven’t been able to do this with homemade oatmilk. And all of my thoughts below are to the standard of steaming and frothing, for lattes or matcha. If anyone has figured out the secret to making homemade oat milk that you can steam, let me know in the comments!

Unlike most lists, I’m going to start with my favorites.

1. Chobani – Plain Extra Creamy

This one is my go-to: it steams perfectly, doesn’t separate, and is a mild flavor to blend in with matcha or coffee. It’s also not horrendously expensive, and I have one store locally where it costs less than all the others.

• Flavor: 5/5
• Hold up to steaming: 5/5
• Foam: 5/5
• Price: 4/5

2. Oatly – Full Fat (blue one)

This one is my boyfriend’s go-to. It also steams perfectly, and those more adept than I can make pretty good latte art with it. This was the first plant-based milk that he would accept, after a life of heavy reliance on cow’s milk. And is still his preferred, though he also likes Chobani.

• Flavor: 5/5
• Hold up to steaming: 5/5
• Foam: 5/5
• Price: 4/5

3. Oatly – Barista (grey one)

This one is of course perfect for steamed milk for lattes, but it costs a bit more than the full fat. The plus side is that you can find this in a shelf-stable package, so that you can have a few on hand in the cupboard for emergencies.

• Flavor: 5/5
• Hold up to steaming: 5/5
• Foam: 5/5
• Price: 3/5

Still Testing: Planet Oat

This one was a new test this week, and so far it’s holding up. Steaming is working well, flavor is good. I will update after further trials.

• Flavor: 4/5
• Hold up to steaming: 3/5 *still under review
• Foam: 4/5 *this could be user error
• Price: unknown

Oat Milk for Smoothies or Cereal

Here are a few that I’ve tried, and unfortunately either didn’t hold up to frothing, or had too much oat flavor to use in a latte. They work great for smoothies, cereal, or oatmeal.

• Oatly organic
• Oatly skim
• Elmhurst milked oats
• Pacific Foods Organic Oat

Now, one last mention, that I’m really hesitant to say, because I hate saying anything bad. But I think it’s important, in case someone tries a plant-based milk for the first time and finds it bad, they may write off all plant-based milks. And I usually love Silk’s products – milks, yogurts, ice cream… But their Oat Yeah was perhaps developed too quickly, as it doesn’t work for frothing, and its flavor will take over even the fruitiest smoothie. I would love to try it again, if Silk has a chance to revamp the recipe!