POWERED BY VITASOY
Matthew Lewin is the 2019 ASCA Vitasoy Barista Champion and Café Ambassador for Vitasoy.
A barista’s guide to dairy alternatives: beyond coffee Vitasoy Café Ambassador and 2019 Australian Barista Champion Matthew Lewin discusses the versatility plant-based milks bring to a café, and how to bring the best out of your café staples. *For each recipe, make sure you crack the lid and shake your plant milk to create a good consistent flavour with every pour.
ULTIMATE HOT CHOCOLATE
Ingredients: Small = 15g hot chocolate powder, 110ml Vitasoy Café for Baristas Almond Milk Large = double above Whisk the powder into milk until mostly dissolved, steam to 60-65°C, and dust with chocolate shavings or chocolate powder.
ULTIMATE MOCHA
Ingredients: 1-2 shots espresso (depending on strength), Ultimate hot chocolate recipe but made with Vitasoy Café for Baristas Oat Milk instead Method: Place espresso at base of vessel, pour over the hot chocolate, and dust with chocolate.
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hristmas is just around the corner, and this ‘presents’ an opportunity when it comes to seasonal beverages. Temporary items on the menu are great for promoting on social media and create a need for the customer to visit you soon so they don’t miss out. I’ve come up with a special latte recipe capturing some of the classic Christmas flavours, while still keeping the coffee front and centre (see Spiced Christmas iced coffee recipe). But Australia’s Christmas is more ‘fun in the sun’ than the ‘winter wonderland’ you’d experience in the Northern Hemisphere, so I’ve also come up with a plant-based coffee milkshake using many of the same ingredients and flavour notes. This one might be a bit more appealing when you’re out and about on a 30°C-plus summer day (see the Coffee, hazelnut, chocolate and panela syrup milkshake recipe). As much as we all love our coffee, it’s only one part of what makes a successful café. With the bar for coffee so high across Australia, a strong and creative food and drinks offering is a great way to create a point of difference. There are so many options you can choose from to fill out your menu, but there’s three things you need to
keep in mind. One – any food or beverage you offer needs to be the highest quality possible. Two – you want the items on your menu to be inclusive; each item doesn’t need to appeal to all customers, but you need something for everyone. Three – especially if you’re working in a smaller coffee bar, you want to be smart with how you use ingredients to save on costs and space. That’s why plant-based milks fit so naturally into a café. Vitasoy’s Café for Baristas range is tailored to work with coffee for a while now, but even before then, plant milks had a place in the café for use in smoothies, other beverages, and breakfast recipes, and these are areas they still perform wonderfully. Every morning, I have a bowl of bircher muesli with Vitasoy Café for Baristas Almond Milk and it’s such a simple recipe you could add to most cafés. There are plenty of suppliers who can provide premixed bircher muesli, and after that it’s simple to add a bit of plant milk, so even a small espresso bar can offer a brunch or breakfast option. Thinking about the beverages you’d find in a café other than coffee, the first things that come to mind are probably your hot chocolates and chai lattes. You could even have something like a mocha
