WA’s oldest dairy, Brownes, has launched its first alternative dairy products in the form of oat, almond, and soy milks.
The company said that the new range – which will retail in cafes and select supermarkets – took just over three years in research and development before Brownes felt the product created the same results in coffee as its traditional milk products.
Supplying roughly 80 per cent of WA’s cafe market, Brownes was keen to explore how it could innovate to corner the market, marketing general manager Rebecca Smith said in an interview with The West Australian.
“It’s a big evolving segment of the milk category for some time . . . it was possible but if we were going to put something into that market, it had to be aligned with the quality and expectation we have for customers,” Smith said.
Smith added that many people were unaware the chemical formulas for almond, oat and soy milks were quite different, as well as how they interacted with coffee, which led to repeat testings with baristas.
Brownes’ research found that while the vast majority of customers still drank white dairy milk, 25 per cent drank a combination, such as white milk on cereal and plant-based in coffee. Only 5 per cent exclusively drank plant-based alternatives. The company’s study also revealed that Australian cafes now make about 30 per cent of coffees with almond, soy or oat milk.
Recent data from WA coffee shop chain Muzz Buzz found that drink orders using dairy alternatives such as oat, soy, almond, and lactose free products across its 34 sites increased by over 260% between 2021 and 2022.
Aside from soy, oat, and almond milk, the Australian market is seeing new dairy alternatives emerging such as tiger nut milk, which Aussie producer Madame Tiger claims contains the same nutrition content of cow’s milk while offering a more sustainable option than the above varieties.
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