03/26/2026
We had an interesting moment in the Tea Lounge yesterday. Someone ordered coffee with oat milk and...they left their drink half unfinished! We asked them if there was something wrong with the coffee and they answered that they actually didn't like the oat milk. That was the first time someone let us know about their disappointment with our oat milk, so it gave us a reason to share about the oat milk we use.
We don't really have a lot of people requesting oat milk anyway, so we've never been able to keep the large cartons of alternative milks that other cafes use, because they're perishable in a week. We also don’t want to use the typical “barista-grade” oat milks, and here's why 👇
Most of them are made with gums, seed oils, and other additives or thickeners. As explained by our co-founder and nutritionist, Dr. Gayatri Borthakur: many commercial dairy alternatives are designed for texture and foam, often using processed seed oils like rapeseed oil, or MCT oil, or gums to thicken and stabilize. This creates creaminess and mouthfeel, but also adds hidden calories if you reach for it on a daily basis. These ingredients can also negatively affect people with sensitivities, inflammation issues, and other existing gut conditions. So a clean and simple ingredient profile is always best.
Instead, we use an organic, non-GMO oat milk made from just oats and water. It thickens and foams up a little, but definitely won't be as creamy as other commercial oat milks on the market. And to be perfectly honest, we don’t really recommend oat milk (or any milk) with our teas or coffee anyway. The coffee beans we use are smooth, mellow, and low-acid, while our teas are complex and full of flavor notes that get dimmed by the addition of milks. Try ordering them without milk and see how you like it!
The choices we made when creating our Tea Lounge was aligned with how we approach food and drink personally. But for those who would still prefer barista-grade oat milks, we hope you understand our limitations in carrying perishable ingredients that don't get ordered often enough.
