Soy milk has been mentioned a lot, especially here. I started a thread on goat milk here. Because this seems to be a relatively esoteric topic, I thought I would try to link it all together in one thread.

Anyway today I tried something new I saw at the market: Hemp Milk! The numbers on the box look very good, with a protein-carbohydrate-fat ratio similar to soy milk, if not better, holding out hope for steaming. Given the hype over soy lately, I figured it was worth a try. I am avoiding cow milk for health reasons regarding cholesterol, the thread for that is here.

Now, just out of the box, hemp milk is sweet, nutty, faintly vegetal, but mighty tasty. On cereal, in tea, in coffee, etc. it's pretty much indistinguishable from cow milk.

Now on to the Latte:

pre-steaming aroma: nutty, sweet, faintly vegetal
pre-steaming flavor: sweet, sunflower seeds, filberts, alfalfa sprouts
pre-steaming texture: average

post-steaming aroma: pungent and herbaceous
post-steaming flavor: strongly green and bitter
post-steaming texture: thin and loose, much like soy milk

steaming technique notes: it steams very much like soy milk, in fact it seems hard to overwork the foam, but it comes out consistently more loose than soy milk, which is less creamy that cow milk of course.

flavor notes: At room temperature the herbal notes in the flavor of hemp milk are subdued, but they seem to be released by the heat, etc. of the frothing process. While my attempts to produce a latte gave technically adequate looking cups, the flavor and aroma was intolerably bitter and vegetal. I could not stomach more than a few swallows to assess the flavor and mouthfeel.

I would be interested in seeing if anyone else has an opinion, but for now, I don't recommend hemp milk for frothing.

I tried hemp milk as well but it was many months ago some time last year. IIRC the result was not good and I don't think I tried it again.

I don't know if it matters but what brand did you use?

I've also steamed soy and goats milk. Goat milk works very well but has a distinct texture to it. I do like it though.

Have you tried almond milk? By itself it might be too thin but maybe cut it with goats milk?

Regarding hemp milk, I have so far tried the brands "Hemp Dream" (made by the same company that makes "Rice Dream" ice cream substitute) and Pacifica Brand hemp milk with similar results.

It had not occurred to me to try almond milk because of the very poor protein to carbohydrate ratio. I might do that. I am going to cycle systematically through a few more brands of Hemp milk as well as some more esoteric stuff like hazelnut milk, etc.

As always, I am nothing if not thoroughly scientific. I continually strive to drain all the joy and spontaneity out of this hobby, but so far I have not succeeded.

I prepared my own almond milk just that weekend (will post recipe with pics when time allows). It doesn't have to be thin, if one adds less water in the process then it can be even creamy.

You may also want to try Swedish Oat Milk, assuming it's readily available where you are (pretty much everywhere in Heath Food shops and even some supermarkets in the UK).

Cheers

Mike

Hmm, you're probably referring to Oatly? The milk itself is delicious, but I haven't been able to produce any foam out of it... It's much better straight actually, than in coffee. Anyways, I have yet to find any better alternative than Provamel Soymilk+Calcium, although I'd rather not have soy, just for the sake of what if. I just figure I've given so much other stuff up, I can take a small cup of soy milk a day.

michaelbenis wrote:You may also want to try Swedish Oat Milk, assuming it's readily available where you are (pretty much everywhere in Heath Food shops and even some supermarkets in the UK).

Cheers

Mike

Ken,

have you tried farmland dairies "skim plus?

http://www.farmlanddairies.com/special_request.php

I don't like cow milk. I tried different kinds of milk, like soy milk, almond milk which I made myself, coconut milk. The almond milk I liked. Coconut milk has consistency of paint and needs to be diluted. That I liked too, yet it does not taste neutral - it's sweet - therefore it can be used as substitute for cappuccinos unless you're making a coconut cappuccino, otherwise not.
On the other hand I quite like cream, specially whipped cream (but without sugar), and cheese, blue cheese, cottage cheese a bit less, and somehow when making my almond milk cappa's I was longing to have a real dairy products in it, not a substitute. And finally I bought some long life cream with idea to whip it and make espresso with whipped cream, but then back at home I had another idea - to try steaming this whipped cream and making a normal cappa. And so I did. I steamed it rather on the cool side, and did not have a lot of silk foam, next time I'll do a better job - but the drink was very tasty and satisfying.

p.s.
I was talking about the making my own almond milk already in this thread so here is the link to the recipe, if anyone wants to try it.