Starbucks is finally caving in to customer demand, and will start serving almond milk this September.
It’s made from their own custom blend of ingredients, crafted so that it can be frothed and steamed and works just as well in hot drinks as in iced beverages.
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I’m very intrigued. Their coconut milk is kind of hit or miss for me — sometimes it curdles in my iced coffee, and other times it has a kind of off flavor.
Their soy milk is pretty good, but my Starbucks only carries sweetened vanilla soy milk. At home, I use unsweetened, unflavored, so it’s a little annoying that they only offer the sweetened and flavored variety, which affects how my drinks taste.
Almond milk could be the answer. It’ll cost you $0.60 to have it added to your drink (cue eye roll), but it only has 3 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving, a lot less than either their soy milk or their coconut milk contain (less than all their dairy milks, too).
More: Homemade organic almond milk
Their version of the stuff contains almond butter for extra toasted notes that work well with coffee, and it’s unflavored, so it won’t alter the balance of your drink too much (unlike that pesky vanilla soy milk).
But almond milk can be done wrong too. I’m guessing that in order to make it steamable, frothable and foamable, it’s made with more than just almonds and water. And nut milks are extremely perishable, so there are probably some preservatives in it too. I just hope that the added ingredients are a small part of what goes into their almond milk so that the creamy, nutty and naturally sweet flavor of the almonds can shine through.
Only time will tell. I’m excited to try their version of almond milk, and I’m also glad that Starbucks is listening to their customers’ desires — though let’s all pray they’re able to tune out the vocal minority who cry out for pumpkin spice to return starting in early July.
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