Los Angeles-based Califia Farms, best known for its innovative plant-based beverages in distinctive curvy bottles, has released a new line of oat milks. The new portfolio includes an oat barista blend launching in February and an unsweetened oat milk launching in April.
The new oat barista blend joins Califia Farms’ original and unsweetened almond milk barista blends.
Unlike some other leading oat milk providers, Califia’s oat beverages are made with North American whole grain, gluten free oats. Califia Farms’ oat barista blend is also completely unsweetened and has no gums or stabilizers.
“In many ways, the global barista community leads cultural changes in coffee and milk consumption and were early adopters to almond milk and now oat milk,” said Greg Steltenpohl, founder and CEO of Califia Farms. “Since our first production of almond milk in 2012 and carrying this success with many coconut-based offerings, Califia has been a leader in innovation by bringing diversified plant-based products to market. We’ve been a dependable partner to the specialty coffee trade for some time now and offering a new oat milk barista blend was a clear next step to help cafés reliably meet their customers’ demand and quality expectations.”
Plant-based diets continue to rise due to personal and environmental health concerns. Alternative milk has seen a 52 percent growth since 2013, and while almond milk is leading the category with further projected growth, sales of “other” non-dairy milk have soared. Sales are forecasted to nearly double in size over the next five years, according to a 2018 survey by U.S. Mintel. Helping drive this growth is oat milk, which is up 168 percent over the past year, with coffee shop-specific sales growing 425 percent since June 2017.
In addition to the oat barista blend, Califia Farms also will be launching an unsweetened oat milk designed for at-home consumption and for purchase in natural, specialty and grocery retailers. This new oat milk will be bottled in Califia Farms’ signature 48-ounce curvy caraf and is made from North American whole grain, gluten free oats, is free from gums and stabilizers and has 50 percent more calcium than milk.
These new oat milks join Califia Farms’ family of almond, coconut and cashew plant milks and will be previewed at Natural Products Expo West in March.
Inspired by Queen Califia, the mythical namesake of the state of California, Califia Farms was founded in 2010 and has become one of the fastest-growing natural beverage companies in the U.S. Most recently Califia launched a line of probiotic dairy free yogurt drinks.
