10 Oat Milk Creamer Brands, Ranked Worst To Best
For fans of oat milk and coffee, your world just got a whole lot sweeter (and creamier). If you have yet to try all of the oat milk-based creamers out there, don't worry. I decided to taste test and rank all the oat milk creamer brands I could get my hands on so you don't have to pick one to try in the dark. There is no gatekeeping here, especially not when it comes to all things coffee and creamers. I am a fan of oat milk creamers, so I wanted to see what brands I should be repurchasing, and which ones I shouldn't waste my dollars on.
I was surprised at how much the flavors of these oat milk creamers varied since the ingredients listed on most of them were quite similar. In the end, though, I definitely had some clear winners and some clear ones that missed the mark, sadly. I attempted to get all of these oat milk creamers in the same or similar flavor of vanilla in order to more accurately put them head-to-head against each other. It is hard to compare a flavor like hazelnut to a flavor like caramel, as they are so different, so making sure the playing field was even was essential.
For all the dairy-free and nut-free coffee (and iced coffee) lovers out there, here are some oat milk creamer brands, ranked from worst to best.
Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.
Read more: 31 Popular Coffee Brands, Ranked
10. Nut Pods
In last place is, disappointingly, Nut Pods. This may come as a shock to many people, as Nut Pods often dominates the plant-based creamer aisles (and has done so for many years now), with people like YouTuber Emma Chamberlain singing its praises. And don't get me wrong -- you'll also often find me bowing down to Nut Pods, as well. But in this instance, the French vanilla oat creamer from Nut Pods was not it.
The qualm I had with this creamer was that it just wasn't that: a creamer. It tasted like straight-up oat milk, so it didn't taste bad by any means, but it just wasn't the product I was expecting. It did not even taste like vanilla oat milk; I didn't detect even a whisper of vanilla in there, and I shook the bottle countless times to attempt to mix up the contents more and find any vanilla lurking around in there. It just was not a creamer in any sense of the word, so this brand (in the oat milk creamer sense) is, sadly, a skip for me. This really was a shame, though, because Nut Pods kills it in so many other realms.
9. Elmhurst
Coming in second to last place is Elmhurst, a pretty well-known plant-based beverage brand you will commonly find in Whole Foods Market. Elmhurst, from its packaging to its pricing, is marketed as being in a higher echelon of plant-based milk. But for its oat milk-based creamer, it didn't even come close to comparing with any other creamer on this list.
Upon opening the carton, the creamer gave off a very strong scent, which I did not mind -- and which actually made me hopeful that the taste of the creamer would be satisfying. Unfortunately, Elmhurst made a similar misstep to Nut Pods: This oat milk creamer was all oat milk, no creamer. There was not any creaminess or richness in this beverage, and it was very watery. The only reason it ranked higher than Nut Pods was because it did have a vanilla flavor to it, so it, at the very least, did something it advertised.
8. Trader Joe's
A bit higher up the rankings (though not by much) you will find the beloved Trader Joe's. I cherish a good Trader Joe's run and appreciate all of the fun snacks and frozen goodies the grocery store has to offer. But when it comes to the brand's oat milk creamer, it was not as dazzling and showstopping as I was hoping it would be.
First of all, Trader Joe's disappointingly only currently has one oat milk creamer on offer: brown sugar. While the price is enticing (only $1.99), you have to love the brown sugar flavor so much that you would consider moving in with it in order to willingly add this product to your cart. I cannot emphasize how strong the flavor of this creamer is, and how its strength is more akin to taking a shot of alcohol than it is to a coffee creamer. On other fronts, it was super rich, though not very creamy. And it is a very small carton of creamer, so if you are enamored with it, you will probably go through it quite quickly.
All in all, it was an actual creamer with actual flavor and a richness that would go nicely with your coffee. But personally, I found the brown sugar flavor to be overwhelming and slightly artificial tasting (hence the alcohol similarity).
7. Planet Oat
If you are a big fan of Planet Oat's typical oat milk, you will probably like its oat milk creamer, though it might not be your favorite one on this list. At least, that's how it went for me. Shockingly, with the first sip of this oat milk creamer, I genuinely thought that someone had taken Coffee Mate's dairy French vanilla creamer and poured it into the bottle I had. They tasted identical to the point that if you put them side by side, you would probably have no idea which was which.
Now, this is great news for people who want their non-dairy creamer to taste the same as dairy creamer. This was the only oat milk creamer on the list that came closest to tasting like actual dairy, so that's good to keep in mind if you are into that (kind of like vegetarians looking for an Impossible Burger that tastes like real meat). This creamer wasn't super creamy, which was a bummer, but it was fairly rich, which redeemed it a bit.
Overall, I was not obsessed with the slight artificial vanilla taste that it had (if you have tried Coffee Mate's French vanilla creamer, you will know exactly what I'm talking about). It wasn't the best oat milk creamer I tried, but it was not the worst. And when Planet Oat was compared to coffee creamer brands of all kinds, it came in seventh place -- a similar ranking spot to this.
6. Sown
Sown had one of the most unique creamer flavors out of the entire bunch. Because of that, I could imagine it being a divisive oat milk creamer, with some folks loving the interesting and individual flavor, and others being put off by it. I tried the Sown brand oat milk creamer in the vanilla flavor, and I found that it actually mixed really nicely with my coffee. I appreciated that it blended with the coffee flavor, instead of transferring a chemical-esque aftertaste.
What made this flavor unique was that it almost tasted like the milk you get at the bottom of a bowl of cereal, like the concept used at the Milk Bar stores in its ice cream. Some people cherish that flavor and seek it out every chance that they get, and others think it is strange and avoid it at all costs. Aside from this flavor, the Sown brand also currently offers brown sugar, salted caramel, and sweet & creamy oat milk creamer flavors for you to try out if you need to see how you feel about this brand for yourself.
5. Coffee Mate Natural Bliss
The Coffee Mate "natural" branch of its brand is called Natural Bliss. When I tried Natural Bliss' oat milk creamer, I was expecting it to taste like a traditional Coffee Mate creamer, since these products are under the same company. However, that was not the case at all. This creamer ended up being a very standard, run-of-the-mill oat milk creamer in comparison to all the other brands I tried.
I tried the vanilla flavor, and I found that there was not anything horribly wrong with it, but there also was not anything exciting and new about it to set it apart from the crowd. I appreciated that it tasted like an actual creamer (which is more than some of the brands on this list) and that the flavor it advertised was the flavor it contained. But overall, the price was similar to most of the other creamers ($5.69), it is pretty widely available, the flavor was fine, and there was not anything wrong with this creamer at all. It just did not rank higher because these next few creamers really wowed me.
4. Silk
One of the original non-dairy milk brands out there, Silk has stepped into the oat milk creamer game confidently, and for a good reason: It has got a seriously amazing product on its hands. When you think of what an oat milk creamer would probably taste like, the Silk brand is probably what you are imagining. I tried the vanilla flavor, and there was a lot to like about it. It was creamy and had a strong but not sickeningly sweet vanilla flavor.
My favorite part about this creamer was that you didn't need to pour a lot of it into the coffee to get the flavor out of it. Just a splash was all you needed to taste the creamer, which is something you can't say for a lot of these oat milk creamer brands. Plus, with how much actual product you are getting in the carton, you are getting an amazing bang for your buck with this brand. I paid $4.99 at Target for this creamer (almost $1 cheaper than many of the competitor creamer brands), and based on how much volume you will need in your coffee, this oat milk creamer is a great deal (though, you don't just have to use creamer in coffee).
3. Good & Gather
The Good & Gather brand from trusty old Target ranks in third place on our list. I was surprised at how well this oat milk creamer hit all of the marks, considering that, currently, the only oat milk creamer flavor that the Target brand has to offer is sweet & creamy. But I suppose if you are going to pick only one flavor to offer, sweet & creamy would probably be it. It makes sense because it is not a particularly polarizing flavor (imagine if Target picked something like hazelnut to be its only oat milk creamer flavor available).
This oat milk creamer came in a fairly small bottle (though not as small as some of the other brands we ran into), and it was sold at a fair price of $2.29. I enjoyed this oat milk creamer thoroughly and found it to be incredibly creamy, sweet, and delicious. You do not need a lot of it at all in order to get the flavor into your iced coffee, and I could imagine someone buying one bottle of this stuff every two weeks or so and being just fine and not running out of it.
My only qualm is that Good & Gather doesn't offer any other oat milk creamer flavors, though hopefully, that will change soon. Also, I will note that this creamer does contain almonds for some reason, so keep that in mind if you are avoiding tree nuts.
2. Oatly
Coming in second place is one of my general favorite creamers of all time: Oatly. I love the overall Oatly brand and everything oat-milk-based it has to offer, from tasty ice cream to milk to cream cheese and now creamer. And it does not just offer only one creamer flavor: There are, as of writing this article, four flavors on the market, including vanilla (which I tried), mocha, caramel, and sweet & creamy (which I have also tried in the past and loved).
What sets the Oatly creamers apart from the crowd is that they are not trying to be something they are not. These oat milk creamers are not masquerading as dairy creamers, nor are they trying to be straight-up oat milk. The Oatly creamers are creamy, rich, sweet, and everything I love about a creamer. They blend beautifully in iced coffee, and I also really enjoy the aftertaste (something I can't say about a lot of creamers, even ones on this list). The only reason this brand did not get the top spot was because the No. 1 brand was simply unbeatable in every way. Oatly, I love you, though, and I will continue to repurchase your oat milk creamers.
1. Califia Farms
The absolute No. 1 oat milk creamer brand I tried was by far Califia Farms, and it won by a landslide. Everything about this creamer was perfect, and I quite literally have no notes. Califia Farms hit the nail over the head in every category of judging, from creaminess to richness to flavor to price value to aftertaste to availability to even packaging.
The flavor I sampled was vanilla oat, and at first glance of the bottle, I thought it was humorous that the image depicted on the front was that of scoops of vanilla ice cream, rather than the typical vanilla bean pods or vanilla flowers. But once I had that first sip, I knew exactly why there was vanilla ice cream featured on the bottle front. This creamer tasted like liquid vanilla ice cream in the absolute best way possible. The creaminess and coldness of the drink incorporated beautifully into my iced coffee, and I did not need to pour a lot of creamer at all to get the flavor in there. It was, in a word, perfection, and Califia Farms knocked the oat milk creamer game out of the park.
And what really is the cherry on top? Califia Farms also offers some other exciting oat milk creamer flavors like mint chip, cinnamon roll, and unsweetened oat, which are unique flavors that most of the other brands on this list do not yet offer in their oat milk creamer varieties.
Methodology
I picked these oat milk creamers based on what was available in my area, and then subsequently based the ranking on quality of flavor, creaminess, richness, aftertaste, price, and how much bang for your buck you get. None of the oat milk creamers tasted bad per se, but some of them hit the creamer mark more than others.
I used the same iced coffee base in order to taste test the creamers on the same playing field: a Trader Joe's cold brew concentrate diluted with water. In order to get the full flavor of each oat milk creamer, I first independently took a sip of just the creamer itself to get the flavor on its own. I then poured a little bit of the creamer into the blank slate iced coffee, and taste tested. I subsequently added more and more creamer until it was to the point where I could actually taste the creamer, which did factor into my rankings. Some creamers, though large in size, required a lot of creamer per cup in order to impart their flavor, while others, though smaller in size, required just a quick splash into the coffee to do so.
Notably, I also chose to try and stick to one flavor profile of vanilla for every brand, when possible. This was because I wanted the creamers to have a fighting chance against each other — and if you choose the same flavor, then you are able to compare more accurately the actual differences between them.
Read the original article on Tasting Table
