Oat Milk

Oat milk is the runaway success of modern plant milk, and it began quietly in a Swedish laboratory. In the early 1990s, food scientist Rickard Öste at Lund University worked out how to use enzymes to break oat starches down into naturally sweet liquid — work that became Oatly. That enzymatic trick is why oat milk tastes creamy and softly sweet without any added sugar. Today it's the default dairy-free choice in coffee shops from London to Melbourne, because barista blends steam, froth and hold latte art as well as dairy does. Beyond the flat white, it's good in porridge, pancakes and baking, where that rounded cereal sweetness flatters rather than competes. It's also one of the lowest-impact milks to produce.