US Coffee Shops: Soymilk Out—Pecan, Hazelnut Milk In

Popular food website Eater recently profiled the boom of alternative milks in American coffee shops, focusing specifically on the rise and fall of soy milk. Writer Marian Bull recounts when soy milk was typically the only non-dairy option during the 1990s, but that trends toward products seen as more “fresh” and “healthy” have led consumers away from the ultra-pasteurized, processed, and homogenized soy milks of yesteryear. In its place, fresh, housemade nut milks are rising to popularity—and not just the simple almond variety America has come to embrace. Coffee houses around the nation are reaching health- and ethically-conscious customers with options such as cashew, hazelnut, and macadamia milk. At Joule coffee shop in North Carolina, the default non-dairy option is a pecan-almond milk blend, made from the state-grown local pecans, and sweetened with dates. The New York Times even named the almond-macadamia milk iced latte from G&B Coffee in Los Angeles “almost certainly the best latte” in the nation. Dairy alternatives have come a long way in the past few years, and these exciting, creative innovations in coffee shops will only continue to help drive the success of a more healthful, compassionate milk.