Tried and tested: Wild Child Cacao with Plant-Based Milk

ADDING PLANTBASED MILK TO YOUR CACAO CAN TASTE SO GOOD. YET, WILL IT BE OAT, SOY OR HAZELNUT? LUBOS MIKUSIAK TRIED AND TESTED THEM ALL FOR YOU.​
plant-based milk

We are grateful for Lubos Mikusiak, our cacao friend and IT specialist wanting to discover the best vegan milk for his daily cacao drinks. Here’s what he found:

MAKING MY CACAO
First, here are the steps on how I make my cup of cacao. (My cup is about 180 milliliters):

  1. Boil the water and pour it into my cup. Wait until the cup gets hot. Pour out most of the hot water. Keep just enough to be able to dip the cacao triangles.
  2. Add two or three cacao triangles to the cup. Wait a little until they melt. Then slowly stir with a spoon until a paste or thick liquid forms.
  3. Warm up the plant-based milk in a milk frother of my espresso machine. 
  4. Pour the frothed milk into the cup with cacao and stir slowly.

If I want an ice cacao, the last step is: pour the plant-based milk from the fridge into the cup
and stir slowly. Use metal ice cubes to cool down even more.

plantbased milk cacao

"I often sense vibes of vacations in the tropics when drinking this combination."

CHOOSING YOUR FAVORITE VEGAN MILK
If you prepare your cacao with plant-based milk, you might experience slightly different flavors and sensations. It depends on your taste buds, on the brands of plant-based milks, and whether you use regular milk or a barista type. 

One last thing…

Of course, I drank a cup of Wild Child X Jennifer Ann before writing this blog post. ;D

man drinking cacao

CACAO WITH PLANT-BASED MILK
I prepare my favorite beverages like cappuccino, matcha and, of course: cacao with plant-
based milks. I keep a variety of plant-based milks in my fridge, like hazelnut, almond, coconut and oatmilk. Also, a plant-based replacement of cow milk, which is a combination of coconut, rice, and soya milks. Below I describe how those plant-based milks infuence the taste of the classic Wild Child Cacao and Wild Child X Jennifer Ann:

CASHEW MILK
I mixed Wild Child Cacao with Rude Health Cashew Drink, which has a rather subtle flavor. The flavor of cashew milk stays in the background while you taste all flavors of cacao, just diluted.

COCONUT MILK
Provamel Barista Coconut suppresses the slightly sour taste of the cacao and “replaces” it with the subtle coconut taste. I also tried it with the Wild Child X Jennifer Ann herbal-infused cacao. A good choice if you want to benefit from the effects of the herbs while enjoying the flavor of cacao. I often sense vibes of vacations in the tropics when drinking this combination.

HAZELNUT MILK
(Rude Health Hazelnut Drink) has a noticeable flavor. it is subtly bitter with some sweetness. It is nice with the bitter taste of cacao while the sour flavor is diluted. Different brands of hazelnut milk vary in taste. I tried hazelnut milk from Alpro and the cacao drink was not as good as with Rude Health.

For the herb-infused edition did not expect much from the Rude Health Hazelnut Drink. However, it seems to blend with lavender pretty well. So the flavor of the herbs got slightly enriched!

ALMOND MILK
( Provamel Almond Barista ) made the Wild Child Cacao flavor more mellow. The long sour aftertaste isn’t noticeable while the bitter taste is diluted. For the herb-infused edition I used (Rude Health Almond Drink) milk that made the flavor also more ‘mellow’. 

OATMILK
Oat milk ( Provamel Oat Barista ) made the flavor of the cacao more mellow. The long sour aftertaste isn’t noticeable while the bitter taste is diluted. There is very little difference between the effects of almond and oat milk. So use the one that you use for your cappuccinos. For Wild Child X Jennifer Ann I tried Friendly Viking’s Oat Drink. This milk seems to suppress the cacao flavor while the flavors of the herbs are fully present.

CONCLUSION
Among the plant-based replacements of cow milk, my favorite so far is Abbot Kinney’s Barista Edition (coconut, rice, soya). Its flavor is quite subtle and does not really influence the flavor of the cacao. Basically, it just dilutes it. The herb-infusion also “floats” nicely on top of the creamy flavor of the milk.

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