We occasionally get asked for a ‘skinny’ latte, cappuccino or flat white. Historically our stock response – as with most speciality coffee shops – was to say “we can do you semi-skimmed milk – is that ok?”. Most customers would readily agree.

But it was when catering for some running races that we stopped and checked ourselves: why shouldn’t we offer customers truly skinny (ie. made with skimmed milk) drinks? We looked in the mirror and found some worrying traces of coffee snobbery: our view being that whole milk is preferable because it tastes so good and balanced; it can be steamed more easily to look beautiful; and it offers a lovely mouthfeel and we felt that this could be compromised by skimmed milk. It’s for this reason that we, along with most speciality coffee shops, will go straight to whole milk as a default.

Snobbery is not healthy so we decided that we should try and cater for all customers: who are we to dictate their choices? -so, subject to availability, you’ll now find red (skimmed) milk in our fridge and ready for you.

But are there significant nutritional benefits to skimmed milk, vs. whole milk? And at a basic level, how do our dairy-alternative milks compare?

We’ve put the table below together to help inform your own choices! My key take-outs from this would be:

1. Skimmed milk may not taste quite so good in your coffee (subjectively!) but, other than a significant drop in Vitamin A levels, it offers all the nutritional benefits of whole milk (including calcium) but with almost none of the fat and with a significant calorie reduction.
2. Skimmed milk is not made by watering down milk – that’s an urban myth. It just looks and tastes the way it does because the fat’s been removed.
3. Of our two non-dairy options, the soya milk is giving you a way bigger protein hit than the Oat milk and in fact, is quite similar in terms of calories and fat to semi-skimmed milk. Again though, taste is personal preference and we love an oat milk cappuccino! Interestingly, calcium levels in the non-dairy options are super-close to dairy milk.

We are not nutritionists! – nor are we straying into environmental or ethical reasons for your choice of milk here – but we hope you find the comparison useful. We’d also say that a good coffee is one of the few treats you can enjoy with a clear conscience every single day: there are demonstrable health benefits we’ll explore at a later date. So make your treat count and enjoy your coffee your way … and whatever way that is, we’re here for you!