Australian supermarket vegan milk taste test: one soy is gold-standard, all almond milks are watery

‘Almost two litres downed in a single session’: Tristan Lutze taste-tested 12 types of Australian soy, almond and oat milks. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Spend more than a minute in a coffee shop anywhere in the country and you’ll quickly learn that soy, oat, almond and other alternative milks have become anything but alternative. Though non-dairy milks still only make up around 7.5% of retail milk sales, a 2021 survey of over 900 cafes found that oat, almond, soy and other plant-based alternatives already make up 25% of milk coffee sales. And that number is climbing.

But while I’ve seen more and more supermarket real estate dedicated to plant-based milks, and my favourite baristas wielding endless fancy oat, soy and almond cartons, I’ve never tried them myself.