Trendy milk alternatives have taken supermarkets by storm in the past couple of years.
Oatly and Alpro, to name a few, have done well in their endeavour to provide the world with a plant-based alternative and even offer up barista oat milk and chocolate oat milk.
On March 9 this year, Oatly announced that it had taken in a revenue of $185.9 million in the full financial year of 2021 - a 46.3% increase compared to $127.1 million in the same period the year prior.
Clearly, everyone loves oat milk - with many Brits favouring it over traditional milk for their morning cereal and tea or coffee.
Berkshire Live Reporter Hannah Roberts hit the shops to see which oat milks she could find and unsurprisingly it was mainly the big brands.
I decided the best idea would be to compare three of the big brand oat milk to three own-brand milk. I bought some own brand cheaper alternatives from Aldi and Lidl.
I ended up with the Alpro unsweetened oat milk, the Oatly barista oat milk, the Moma unsweetened whole milk, Aldi's own brand oat milk, Lidl's own brand unsweetened oat milk and Lidl's barista-style oat milk.
The prices of the milk vary depending on which supermarket you're buying them from. Oatly barista can cost around £1.65 to £1.80 whilst Alpro unsweetened oat milk can cost anywhere from £1.25 to £2. Moma unsweetened whole milk can cost £1.35 to £1.85.
Meanwhile, Aldi and Lidl's own brand oat milk costs 89p per litre and Lidl's Barista offering is slightly higher at around £1. Clearly, there's quite a big cost discrepancy so I wanted to see if it's worth paying an extra 30p to £1 for some milk.
My mission was to see which one was the tastiest and also most cost-effective. I decided to taste test them all by themselves and then try my favourite two in a cup of coffee, which is how I usually drink my oat milk.
What did the oat milk taste like?
Alpro - The Alpro oat milk tasted ok but lacked flavour and was quite thin in its consistency.
Oatly - The Oatly barista milk tasted pretty good and was nice and thick and had a bit of richness to it.
Moma - The Moma Oat milk was really good and it tasted like it could be barista-style milk as it was relatively thick and had a rich flavour. It had a slightly different almost nutty flavour compared to the other milks. Although I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually have nuts in it.
Aldi - The Aldi milk was my least favourite as it was quite thin and tasted a bit like skimmed cows' milk. It lacked flavour and had the least amount of sweetness.
Lidl - The Lidl oat milk was pretty good. It could have been thicker but had a nice mellow flavour and the perfect amount of sweetness.
Lidl barista - This oat milk was amazing. It was really thick and had a really rich and deep flavour. I could definitely imagine it would be great for those who like to froth up their milk when they're making a coffee.
Which oat milk is best?
Overall the Lidl barista oat milk was definitely the best and factoring in the cost as well it outshone the rest by miles. That being said, the Moma unsweetened whole milk and the normal Lidl own milk were also amazing and scored really high.
I was surprised that the Lidl barista oat milk outshone the rest but it shows that expensive items don't always equal better. There are always great own-brand alternatives around for those who need them.
