10 delicious flavour pairings for plant milk

Think of an oaty apple crumble with custard. Apples bring brightness, sourness and fruity notes. Come to think of it, this would definitely be a horse’s favourite drink...

Heat a 1:1 mixture of apple juice and oat milk. No further sweetening is needed; the apple will take care of that. Or if you prefer, a drizzle of maple syrup and a shake of cinnamon will make it taste like an American apple pie!

Oats are rough and rustic. Ginger and brown sugar are too. The trio combine to make a hearty hot drink.

Simmer a mug of oat milk for a few minutes with ½ teaspoon of ground ginger or a fingernail-sized piece of fresh ginger, and a teaspoon of brown sugar. A dash of treacle works nicely instead of sugar too, for a deeper sweetness.

Avena caliente is a classic hot drink in Colombia and Dominica. Think of banana bread fresh out of the oven - in drink form.

Put half a cinnamon stick and one clove in a small saucepan over a medium heat for 30 seconds, then add a mug of oat milk and simmer. Warm through and sweeten to taste with brown sugar.

It tastes better at room temperature rather than piping hot, so ideal if you’re the type to make a hot drink then answer the doorbell / get your kids dressed / hoover behind the curtains – but reheat if you like.

Coconut and hazelnut are popular flavours to pair with your hot chocolate, or in chocolates, desserts and pastries, as they add a depth of flavour.

Almond is much milder so add bitter almond if you pair it with chocolate, in the form of an essence or an almond syrup. Notice the hints of dark cherry flavour, like a Black Forest Gateau!

Almond and coffee share rich nutty notes, and cardamom has long been used to flavour coffee in the Middle East and North Africa.

Whether you’re having your coffee short and black or tall and creamy, just add a small amount of ground cardamom to your ground coffee before brewing. Add in almond milk, frothed if you like, and enjoy! Especially tasty for decaf drinkers, as the cardamom makes up for what any flavours lost in the decaffeination process.

A delicious Japanese green tea infused with toasted brown rice, sometimes known as ‘popcorn tea’. Brew toasted brown rice along with loose-leaf green tea – experiment with the amount of rice to find a strength you like. Making it with almond milk coaxes out the nuttiness without flattening the green-tea flavours.

Try a good dash of coconut in a green tea. Green tea often has clear notes of spinach and seaweed, and coconut tends to soothe away these notes in favour of its fruitier, friendlier holiday flavours.

This one's reminiscent of a warm coconut cake. Vegan Horlicks tastes good with all the plant milks, but coconut is the stand-out, giving hints of toast and coffee.

The Indian drink haldi doodh uses a classic combination of turmeric and black pepper. Turmeric is fresh and woody, a little reminiscent of carrot and ginger, and the pepper adds a prickle of heat. 

Add sweet coconut and the drink is like a forest walk in summer. Heat one mugful of coconut milk with 1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar, ½ teaspoon turmeric and 2-3 crushed black peppercorns. When hot, strain into a mug.

We rarely think of beans in a sweet context, but most pulses have one or two really successful fruit combinations. Chickpea and prune get along famously, so how about a hot version of the famous Californian date shake?

Add a tablespoon of date syrup (just blended dates and water) to a mug, add hot, unsweetened soy milk, then stir or froth. Use unsweetened soy milk, the date is sweet enough.

A bonus one, we couldn’t resist! Not a drink, but a perfect pairing none the less. Swap the water you would use to loosen miso paste with unsweetened soy milk. Miso is made with soy beans, so they are family, really, and it'll make your miso creamier.