Introduction:The temporary closure of coffee shops in cities like Shanghai has led to a sales decline in the once-booming oat milk market. This article delves into how oat milk evolved from a niche plant-based milk to a coffee shop staple, examines the risks of its over-reliance on B2B channels, and analyzes whether oat milk is truly as healthy as advertised from a nutritional perspective — helping coffee enthusiasts make more informed choices.
Oat milk’s status in the coffee world has now almost become synonymous with a standard option. Whether in domestic or international markets, it’s no longer rare to see oat milk listed on the menu of any café. Originally developed to allow those who are lactose intolerant to enjoy a milk-like taste without dairy ingredients, this plant-based milk quietly existed in the market for years until 2012, when the OATLY brand repositioned it, emphasizing “environmental friendliness” and “health,” gradually capturing the attention of a new generation of consumers.
At the time, OATLY’s new CEO keenly observed the high level of public concern in the U.S. about environmental and vegan issues, and through subtle marketing tactics, tied these concepts to oat milk. On one hand, the brand leveraged environmental publications to highlight how oat milk is more eco-friendly than cow’s milk — for example, by using less water, reducing cattle-related carbon emissions, and easing environmental pollution. On the other hand, the CEO, as a coffee enthusiast himself, personally visited high-end American cafés to promote the advantages of oat milk to baristas, thus creating a trend through word-of-mouth within the industry.
Starting in 2013, European and American cafés began to add oat milk to their menus, and Starbucks was the first to introduce it into its chain system, accelerating its widespread adoption.
The oat milk boom in the Chinese market is also inseparable from Starbucks. Long before oat milk became mainstream, a few domestic cafés had experimented with offering it, but limited by market demand, it never achieved large-scale promotion. It wasn’t until 2020, when Starbucks China launched the Oat Latte under the theme of “Star Dietary Choices,” that oat milk instantly became synonymous with healthy eating. Subsequently, independent cafés and chain brands across China followed suit, with nearly every coffee shop offering oat milk beverages, driving a surge in OATLY’s sales. Other brands also launched similar products to ride the wave.
However, as cafés in cities like Shanghai and Beijing temporarily “suspended operations” due to the pandemic, the oat milk market quickly fell into difficulty. According to OATLY’s latest financial report, the company is facing “challenges in the Chinese market.” CEO Toni Petersson pointed out during the earnings call: “We have a significant amount of business in Shanghai, and in the first quarter of this year, over 17,000 retail and F&B partner stores were closed due to lockdown measures.”
As the leading brand in the oat milk market, OATLY’s sales decline also signals an overall market contraction. Since oat milk primarily relies on B2B (business customers, such as cafés) channels rather than direct purchases by general consumers, when café operations are disrupted, the entire supply chain is immediately impacted. Although there are also oat milk products targeted at C2C (consumer-end) markets, their prices are relatively high, and sales are far below those in the B2B market.
The consequence of over-reliance on the B2B market is that when café businesses halt, the oat milk industry has almost no buffer. However, this is just the surface issue — the deeper challenge lies in the vague positioning of oat milk in the C2C market. If efforts to strengthen C2C sales only begin now, the first hurdle faced is the awkwardness of product positioning.
In China, the proportion of people who are lactose intolerant is not high, and most consumers have long been drinking cow’s milk, making it difficult to change their habits in the short term. Furthermore, oat milk is generally more expensive than cow’s milk, and if it is to become a substitute for milk, it must overcome numerous market psychological and pricing barriers.
If oat milk is positioned as a regular beverage, its taste still needs further refinement, and product upgrades and innovations are also indispensable. In addition, branding and distribution in the C2C market remain insufficient. For emerging categories to establish recognition among consumers, intensive and large-scale exposure is usually required, but currently, brands’ C2C promotion of oat milk remains rather conservative.
So, is oat milk really as healthy as advertised? Below is a simple nutritional comparison of common dairy and plant-based milks (data not specific to any particular brand):
As can be seen from the table, although oat milk’s fat content is not the highest, it is also by no means the lowest. Many people mistakenly believe that the less fat consumed, the better for weight loss, but modern research indicates that fats can be good or bad, and moderate intake of healthy fats can actually aid in weight management. Secondly, in terms of protein content, both cow’s milk and soy milk contain two to three times more protein than oat milk. Protein is an essential nutrient for building human bones and muscles, and relying solely on oat milk makes it difficult to meet daily needs.
Overall, if there is no lactose intolerance issue, cow’s milk still offers the highest overall nutritional value; if there is lactose intolerance, soy milk is a more suitable alternative. Additionally, some oat milk products on the market add plant oils to enhance taste, and while some products have a noticeably sweet flavor, their ingredient lists do not indicate added sugar. Some even leave a richer mouthfeel than fresh milk after consumption. These details are worth noting for consumers — not all oat milk is suitable for pairing with coffee, nor is all coffee suitable for adding oat milk.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
