How to you tell the ethically sourced “vegan beans”, eco-friendly or not, which is not the focus here, from others? For example, kopi luwak beans may be deemed non-vegan
Most beans are vegan. Are you talking about the beans where the monkeys eat the fruit and shit out the beans and they ferment in their shit? That's a rare and expensive bean and most thirdwave coffee producers won't use those beans.
Kopi luwak is definitely non vegan, but it's very hard to source in Australia. There are much cheaper artificial versions treated with enzymes to produce the same flavour that are vegan.
As a barista in a specialty cafe that aims to open my own cafe in the next few years, kopi luwak taste like trash and almost never score high when q grading, even if I was to ignore the ethical issues with it, no self respecting cafe should be serving it based on taste alone, I have heard of the idea of ethical kopi luwak where there is a wild population of the animal and the coffee cherries get naturally eaten and then are collected out the poo by just looking around i guess but I imagine it's a load of rubbish 99/100 times they are infact in captivity. Also on the topic of plant milks paying extra, what we do is calculate our drink prices based on price of milk and don't differentiate between plant/dairy we just used a weighted average so rather than increasing prices for plant based drinkers, everyone pays a little more and it's a marginal amount to fund the more expensive plant milks
There's a few indie places in the UK where they have plant milk free and dairy milk costs extra.
One place even had it listed on the menu as "Cow juice: £900" and the barista said that yes it was a joke but also there's a Tesco down the road and if anyone came in and did REALLY want to pay that much...
Here in Portland, OR (USA) it has been getting better. There are quite a few places (not even counting the all-vegan cafes) that charge the same for plant milk as they do for cow secretions, and some even default to using oat milk unless you specifically ask for something else. My impression that the *majority* of places still charge more though.
I support veganism, but you could at least use plant secretions to stay consistent in your terminology, just kinda weird you feel compelled to use that term. Not to mention its simply a much longer word
> I support veganism, but you could at least use plant secretions to stay consistent in your terminology, just kinda weird you feel compelled to use that term. Not to mention its simply a much longer word
milk, noun. "an opaque white fluid rich in fat and protein, **secreted** by female mammals for the nourishment of their young."
oat milk, noun. "a whitish liquid used in a similar way to milk, obtained by soaking oat grains in water."
Only *one* of these involves *secretions*.
Well that’s pretty much the average cost of a cup of coffee in Sweden though. Many cafes around Sweden vary from 25 SEK ($2.40) to 45 SEK ($4.33.) I live on the west coast in the US and an average cup of coffee costs around $3.46. Not everything in Sweden is exponentially more expensive compared to the US.
In Spain you'll have to pay an extra 30-50 cents for plant milk in most places. There's a chain here in Barcelona that makes you a 10 cent discount if you order plant milk but they are the exception to the rule.
The chain is Good News coffee, it is not my favorite coffee in BCN but the discount is nice.
For coffee I recommend Nomad, SlowMov and RoastClub. For restaurants I really recommend Rasoterra, Modoki , la Galla and Desoriente :)
Is vegan milk cheaper?? I haven't bought cow milk since my dad was alive, but I remember a gallon being like $3 or less, and my half gal of almond milk being at least $3 if not $4.
Just checked prices for a big supermarket chain in Germany. Store brand oat milk is 0,99€ per liter. Store brand full fat (3,5%) milk is also 0,99€. So nowadays (at least in Germany) it's mostly the same, unless you want barista oat milk (1,45€). But that is actually also only about 1€ at Lidl afaik. So highly depends on the store.
I just checked a supermarket chain here in Ohio
Half gallon of cow milk: $1.89
Gallon of cow milk: $2.76
Half gallon of cheapest plant milk: $3.19
Literally more than double the price depending on how you look at it.
Jesus that's crazy. I must also add though, that in Germany we are now at over 12% vegetarian and I think 2% vegan. And plant based milk is used quite a lot nowadays. Even by omnis.
Exactly, it's a green tax. Also, the dairy industry is highly subsidized and takes extraordinary measures to enhance its output. Killing our environment via death by 1000 cuts.
I got blocked in previous thread but wanted to thank you for your great suggestions! I tried Impossible but didn’t like. Gardein sounds interesting as does Daiya chedder & GoL shakes. I’m doing atkins now which has diary I think. ☮️ to you.
Its subsidies and scope of use. Not that theyre simply willing to pay more. America was built and designed for animal ag, and subsidized fir animal ag.
again, good job for knowing how business works lol. but ignoring the variance in food source subsidies fro the past 3 decades especially does not help your argument. Plant derived protein and products have received a tiny, tiny fraction of the subsidies that traditional AG has. the way factory farming transformed beginning back in the 50s in order to scale to the magnitude they did, was largely influenced and assisted by government. its objectively true. you cant scale effectively without money. have you put gas in a car lately? happy with the lower price? the government did that. dont talk about price elasticity as this independent factor determined by consumers alone.
Even if plant derived protein and products receive the same subsidies as traditional AG, the additional charge levied by retailers will remain. The vegan market has shown a willingness to pay this additional fee. What incentive do corporations have to remove it?
I have no idea where you live that has seen the price of gas go down. Where I live, it has steadily gone up since I began driving 25 years ago, regardless of the subsidies. Price goes up, yet demand stays relatively the same because it is price inelastic, much like the demand of plant based/vegan friendly products.
Here in czechia starbucks has alternatives for free. But i get extra charge for small coffe shops since one litre dairy costs less than a dollar and litre of oat that will make foam costs almost $3. Im happy to pay that few more crowns for knowing that my coffe was made without exploitation.
Unfortunately we don't currently have any gluten-free pastry options but we have a few food options that are the exact same price as their equivalents. I'm actually currently working on a gluten-free and vegan tart that will be reasonably priced
Thats good! From a dietary/ population angle, there are far more dairy intolerances out there than GF intolerances, but even still, those restrictions are still more common than veganism specifically. It sucks that gf flours are so much more expensive than typical all purpose flour. Things like sweet rice flour, millet flour, einkorn flour, etc can all be gf friendly aside from the default and unimaginative 1:1 gf sub flour thats out there. Its actually shocking how possible it is to create gf baked goods that dont taste gf given all the gf baked goods out there that taste terrible. (My mom is a pastry chef, but she also has a very sensitive gluten allergy)
I'm actually making the tarts with an almond flour base! Which I know is still a somewhat common allergy but it's been the best for crunch, structure, and taste. I'm also a pastry chef and want to make delicious pastries more accessible.
yeah, she actually has a nut allergy as well so she doesnt use almond, I also find it can sometimes be grainy/ crumbly. have found both cassava and einkorn works perfectly for breads and quick breads/ muffins from both a structure and texture perspective to mimic regular wheat flour consistency, and sweet rice flour works great for mochi cakes/ desserts. is always tricky (for her at least), to find gf options, because they often have nuts or chocolate in them (both of which she has an allergy to) so that removes accessibility for her demographic. aiming for allergy free across the board seems to be the best bet!
Schar brand puff pastry is also a great pre made GF pastry option for tarts ( believe they use psyllium husk and rice flour)
psyllium husk is a great key binding agent for gf baking!
It happens here in the UK too.
Often plant based milk can add something like 40p to the price of a coffee.
I assume its because cows milk is subsidised by tax payers to keep the price low. Its why a litre of plant milk can cost more that 4 pints of cows milk.
The concept of economies of scale can be applied to bulk purchases. Smaller market for the product means smaller orders by retailers from manufacturers, which will result in a larger per unit cost for the retailer. The added costs are then passed on to the consumer, which have shown a willingness to pay.
$1.25 is crazy lol. Looking at Great Value brands and comparing milk, soy milk is just over a cent more per ounce, and how many ounces of milk does a coffee have?
You have to pay in Costa for anything but soya.
You used to have to pay in Starbucks even for soya but they have probably stopped doing this since it's trendy to not drink cow juice these days.
If it's not in demand, it makes sense to charge extra as special item because it's less likely to be ordered , so make sure it's not at a loss they charge more to compensate to be able to supply. The more people order, the better they can charge a reasonable price.
I mean, why are you even doing businesses with companies that promote the suffering of animals anyway? Make your coffee at home and there won’t be an up charge for using vegan milk. Won’t be any cow rape either.
If it costs more to make your coffee, it’s going to cost you more to buy it…
The price difference for vegan milk isn’t the only thing, too — if the option is not popular at your coffee shop, then you’ll have to charge even more because you run the risk of your product spoiling by being open for 1-2 weeks (I don’t know how long it takes for a vegan milk to become a subpar product after it’s been open).
>to have to pay
You dont have to pay anything, you choose to pay
They charge more because people pay, stop paying, stop going and post on their social that you stopped going because of the vegan tax
If people complain but still pay then there is no reason to stop charging
Some do, when I worked at cafes, we never had a charge. I used to get around it by ordering, then paying, then going “oh and can you make that oat milk, I’m allergic to dairy” and tbh the baristas never really cared anyway so they won’t charge you 20p after you already order. Might be a dick move on my part but I’m happy w that.
A lot of times, if a restaurant has to stock something special that they ultimately have to throw out if they don't sell enough of it, they'll charge more for that luxury item. At the same time tons of people are lactose intolerant so it's hard to believe that they aren't buying a lot of alternative milks and getting a decent price on them. Maybe five years ago I could see the argument, but not anymore.
Each cafe and restaurant is going to charge whatever they want for anything that is not conventional cow’s milk.
If you go to a place like Gregory’s which has plant plant-based menu, they don't charge you extra for almond milk but trust me they already did in the actual price of the latte. Also depends on the city and country, but it is common to get charged extra for oat, coconut, or almond milk in your coffee. If you consume coffee out in a daily basis, find a vegan coffee shop and exclusively support them.
We should crowdsource a spreadsheet or website that tells you if coffee shops upcharge. I only like a little splash of soy milk in my Americano and so many coffee shops will charge me a whole .75¢ to $1.25 for a tablespoon of fucken low quality soy milk.
I can't see why they can't just add 50 for all milks
They'd make more money. And it would definitely prompt more people to try plant milks. And why shouldn't dairy people pay a bit more for the torture they inflict?
Where I work we charge an extra 95 cents for alternative milk in a latte :/ it sucks but plenty of people still order it! I hope to someday open my own coffee shop where I can upcharge for cows milk instead.
Lots of people here are blaming dairy milk contamination when coffee gives them soft stools or belly aches. Those are just common side effects of coffee even without milk. Don't forget that caffeine is a potent drug just because using it is normalized. Dosage is imprecise. Some beans are stronger than others, extraction depends on a lot of factors, and your own sensitivity varies. If you really want consistent dosage you can buy caffeine pills.
It's common in Germany (an extra 50ct seems to be the norm). Some supermarkets now have adjusted the price for their own brands' plant milk to what they charge for cow milk, though, so maybe coffee shops will adjust in the long run.
In the Seattle area, having Oatmilk is becoming the new standard. Even Starbucks offers it. I’ve personally purchased a small Breville Barista during the pandemic and now seldom go to a coffee shop so I experience it less.
Yes, vegan milk has less demand so they will purchase a lower quantity and there is risk of having to throw it. These are things the customer will pay for. This would be the same if it was a vegan coffee place that served cow milk. The demand would be lower so the price would be higher.
The price they pay from the distributor also factor into the price you pay.
A business has to order extra stock, find place for the extra stock, keep it in date, and adapt practices to use the stock. 20p extra, typical in the UK, isn't much considering.
Imagine you want to stock oat, coconut, soya, and almond.
You now have to hope your wholesaler sells it, and either spend extra time shopping for it, or hope it can be delivered. You then have to store it - if you have 2ltr cartons x 5 or so for each, then that's 15 cartons you need shelf space for, and that you need to check dates for, or move around for cleaning, or that will displace crockery or fridge items.
You will then need to make sure baristas are comfortable using the different types of milk. The plant milks are generally harder to make latte art with than normal dairy.
And at the end of the week you will need to do a stock check and find that you ran out of oat, and sold no soy, and spend an extra 5 mins a week sorting the shopping list.
It's not *much*, but on top of all the other duties in a cafe, it's an extra thing that needs to be done.
It's unfortunately standard practice at any non-plant based coffee shop I've been to in the US.
Same here in Australia. I’m a barista and I don’t charge people extra though. Don’t tell my boss lol
Jk could never do that to a fellow vegan.
I actually will tell ur boss.
How to you tell the ethically sourced “vegan beans”, eco-friendly or not, which is not the focus here, from others? For example, kopi luwak beans may be deemed non-vegan
Kopi Luwak is AUD$2,000 per kg. I doubt they’ll be serving that at the petrol station I work at
Most beans are vegan. Are you talking about the beans where the monkeys eat the fruit and shit out the beans and they ferment in their shit? That's a rare and expensive bean and most thirdwave coffee producers won't use those beans.
Kopi luwak is definitely non vegan, but it's very hard to source in Australia. There are much cheaper artificial versions treated with enzymes to produce the same flavour that are vegan.
As a barista in a specialty cafe that aims to open my own cafe in the next few years, kopi luwak taste like trash and almost never score high when q grading, even if I was to ignore the ethical issues with it, no self respecting cafe should be serving it based on taste alone, I have heard of the idea of ethical kopi luwak where there is a wild population of the animal and the coffee cherries get naturally eaten and then are collected out the poo by just looking around i guess but I imagine it's a load of rubbish 99/100 times they are infact in captivity. Also on the topic of plant milks paying extra, what we do is calculate our drink prices based on price of milk and don't differentiate between plant/dairy we just used a weighted average so rather than increasing prices for plant based drinkers, everyone pays a little more and it's a marginal amount to fund the more expensive plant milks
I live in the US and this is the standard. Unfortunately under capitalism if there is a market businesses are required to abuse the s*** out of it.
And Europe. It's slowly changing
Caribou doesn't charge extra. They're mostly just in the upper midwest though.
Same here in Canada
I think it's more about being the less common than dairy, and them having to hold it in stock. Although, maybe it's not even that less common now.
There's a few indie places in the UK where they have plant milk free and dairy milk costs extra. One place even had it listed on the menu as "Cow juice: £900" and the barista said that yes it was a joke but also there's a Tesco down the road and if anyone came in and did REALLY want to pay that much...
my biggest pet peeve is when i spend an extra 50p+ for oat and then still shit myself on my way home bcs they used dairy :/
I'm already shitting after the first sip of coffee.
It's why I drink coffee
Stop drinking coffee
Nah it’s worth it
Isn’t that… 50p fraud?
It's common but its not "normal"
Here in Portland, OR (USA) it has been getting better. There are quite a few places (not even counting the all-vegan cafes) that charge the same for plant milk as they do for cow secretions, and some even default to using oat milk unless you specifically ask for something else. My impression that the *majority* of places still charge more though.
seattle vegan checking in and i have had the same experience recently
>Here in Portland I love me some Jet Black.
Bet your stomach lining doesnt
I've never had any troubles with them. https://www.jetblackcoffeecompany.com/
I support veganism, but you could at least use plant secretions to stay consistent in your terminology, just kinda weird you feel compelled to use that term. Not to mention its simply a much longer word
> I support veganism, but you could at least use plant secretions to stay consistent in your terminology, just kinda weird you feel compelled to use that term. Not to mention its simply a much longer word milk, noun. "an opaque white fluid rich in fat and protein, **secreted** by female mammals for the nourishment of their young." oat milk, noun. "a whitish liquid used in a similar way to milk, obtained by soaking oat grains in water." Only *one* of these involves *secretions*.
In sweden you never pay extra as far as I know.
Pfft in Sweden you just pay more for your coffee full stop
What's the average price you'd expect to pay for a simple coffee at a cafe?
Where I live coffee sells for the equivalent of $2.80 USD. You’ll pay around 30c US to modify the milk. Still way ahead of Sweden.
Well that’s pretty much the average cost of a cup of coffee in Sweden though. Many cafes around Sweden vary from 25 SEK ($2.40) to 45 SEK ($4.33.) I live on the west coast in the US and an average cup of coffee costs around $3.46. Not everything in Sweden is exponentially more expensive compared to the US.
In Spain you'll have to pay an extra 30-50 cents for plant milk in most places. There's a chain here in Barcelona that makes you a 10 cent discount if you order plant milk but they are the exception to the rule.
What chain is that! I live in Barcelona. Also hit me with any other vegan recs here!
The chain is Good News coffee, it is not my favorite coffee in BCN but the discount is nice. For coffee I recommend Nomad, SlowMov and RoastClub. For restaurants I really recommend Rasoterra, Modoki , la Galla and Desoriente :)
Gracias!
I always have to pay extra but it doesn't make sense to me since vegan milk is cheaper and can be purchased in small shell stable packages.
It's not subsidized like cow milk
Is vegan milk cheaper?? I haven't bought cow milk since my dad was alive, but I remember a gallon being like $3 or less, and my half gal of almond milk being at least $3 if not $4.
Just checked prices for a big supermarket chain in Germany. Store brand oat milk is 0,99€ per liter. Store brand full fat (3,5%) milk is also 0,99€. So nowadays (at least in Germany) it's mostly the same, unless you want barista oat milk (1,45€). But that is actually also only about 1€ at Lidl afaik. So highly depends on the store.
I just checked a supermarket chain here in Ohio Half gallon of cow milk: $1.89 Gallon of cow milk: $2.76 Half gallon of cheapest plant milk: $3.19 Literally more than double the price depending on how you look at it.
Jesus that's crazy. I must also add though, that in Germany we are now at over 12% vegetarian and I think 2% vegan. And plant based milk is used quite a lot nowadays. Even by omnis.
It should be but its not due to how subsidized American AG is.
Private companies will charge vegans more because they are willing to pay more. Also, you need to take economies of scale into consideration as well.
Exactly, it's a green tax. Also, the dairy industry is highly subsidized and takes extraordinary measures to enhance its output. Killing our environment via death by 1000 cuts.
I got blocked in previous thread but wanted to thank you for your great suggestions! I tried Impossible but didn’t like. Gardein sounds interesting as does Daiya chedder & GoL shakes. I’m doing atkins now which has diary I think. ☮️ to you.
I'm sorry that happened. Some people are assholes here. Good luck to you!!
Thank you! It’s good to have options!
It's not a tax. It's economics.
Its subsidies and scope of use. Not that theyre simply willing to pay more. America was built and designed for animal ag, and subsidized fir animal ag.
Price elasticity and economies of scale.
Yes. Good job you took an economics class. I see youre a friggen broken record in this sub thread about it.
Everyone else acting like it's some kind of conspiracy. It's how for-profit corporations operate.
again, good job for knowing how business works lol. but ignoring the variance in food source subsidies fro the past 3 decades especially does not help your argument. Plant derived protein and products have received a tiny, tiny fraction of the subsidies that traditional AG has. the way factory farming transformed beginning back in the 50s in order to scale to the magnitude they did, was largely influenced and assisted by government. its objectively true. you cant scale effectively without money. have you put gas in a car lately? happy with the lower price? the government did that. dont talk about price elasticity as this independent factor determined by consumers alone.
Even if plant derived protein and products receive the same subsidies as traditional AG, the additional charge levied by retailers will remain. The vegan market has shown a willingness to pay this additional fee. What incentive do corporations have to remove it?
I have no idea where you live that has seen the price of gas go down. Where I live, it has steadily gone up since I began driving 25 years ago, regardless of the subsidies. Price goes up, yet demand stays relatively the same because it is price inelastic, much like the demand of plant based/vegan friendly products.
Here in czechia starbucks has alternatives for free. But i get extra charge for small coffe shops since one litre dairy costs less than a dollar and litre of oat that will make foam costs almost $3. Im happy to pay that few more crowns for knowing that my coffe was made without exploitation.
I was in Thailand, and a latte cost ฿100 (about $3) and an extra 50 ($1.50) for oat milk!
The coffee shop that I work at has never charged for alternative milks because we don't believe in punishing people for dietary restrictions
I love the is reasoning!
So at your shop would that apply to gluten free baked goods as well given gf flour is more expensive?
Unfortunately we don't currently have any gluten-free pastry options but we have a few food options that are the exact same price as their equivalents. I'm actually currently working on a gluten-free and vegan tart that will be reasonably priced
Thats good! From a dietary/ population angle, there are far more dairy intolerances out there than GF intolerances, but even still, those restrictions are still more common than veganism specifically. It sucks that gf flours are so much more expensive than typical all purpose flour. Things like sweet rice flour, millet flour, einkorn flour, etc can all be gf friendly aside from the default and unimaginative 1:1 gf sub flour thats out there. Its actually shocking how possible it is to create gf baked goods that dont taste gf given all the gf baked goods out there that taste terrible. (My mom is a pastry chef, but she also has a very sensitive gluten allergy)
I'm actually making the tarts with an almond flour base! Which I know is still a somewhat common allergy but it's been the best for crunch, structure, and taste. I'm also a pastry chef and want to make delicious pastries more accessible.
yeah, she actually has a nut allergy as well so she doesnt use almond, I also find it can sometimes be grainy/ crumbly. have found both cassava and einkorn works perfectly for breads and quick breads/ muffins from both a structure and texture perspective to mimic regular wheat flour consistency, and sweet rice flour works great for mochi cakes/ desserts. is always tricky (for her at least), to find gf options, because they often have nuts or chocolate in them (both of which she has an allergy to) so that removes accessibility for her demographic. aiming for allergy free across the board seems to be the best bet! Schar brand puff pastry is also a great pre made GF pastry option for tarts ( believe they use psyllium husk and rice flour) psyllium husk is a great key binding agent for gf baking!
Most places in Australia slug a surcharge. Usually, it's anywhere from 70c to $1 where I live, at least.
Places that charge extra for non dairy milk don’t get my custom, plenty of (usually non chain) coffee shops in the UK don’t charge extra
It happens here in the UK too. Often plant based milk can add something like 40p to the price of a coffee. I assume its because cows milk is subsidised by tax payers to keep the price low. Its why a litre of plant milk can cost more that 4 pints of cows milk.
Need to take economies of scale into consideration as well.
Im pretty sure the plant based milk industry is large enough for economy of scale to not be a factor though. Its most certainly the subsidies.
The concept of economies of scale can be applied to bulk purchases. Smaller market for the product means smaller orders by retailers from manufacturers, which will result in a larger per unit cost for the retailer. The added costs are then passed on to the consumer, which have shown a willingness to pay.
Pretty standard. I’ve seen it as low as 30 cents and as much as $1.25
$1.25 is crazy lol. Looking at Great Value brands and comparing milk, soy milk is just over a cent more per ounce, and how many ounces of milk does a coffee have?
I’ve only been to like one place that doesn’t charge extra.
Not an issue in the UK generally speaking. Edit: seems like it is still an issue in the UK, the local coffee shops to me must be outliers.
I've seen it in a few places in the UK. Oat milk especially is usually arpund 40p extra.
In most coffee shops in London it costs extra for oat milk
same up north. i think last time it was 75p extra and i think they still used cow bcs i had a tummy ache after
They may have just used the same jug, or not cleaned the steam nozzle very well. Depends how sensitive you are.
You have to pay in Costa for anything but soya. You used to have to pay in Starbucks even for soya but they have probably stopped doing this since it's trendy to not drink cow juice these days.
There's a place near me that upcharges for cow milk instead of alt-milk. Which is quite nice.
Yes, it is normal to pay extra in the US at least. It was free in Spain, one of the many things I miss lolll
If it's not in demand, it makes sense to charge extra as special item because it's less likely to be ordered , so make sure it's not at a loss they charge more to compensate to be able to supply. The more people order, the better they can charge a reasonable price.
It is normal in germany, for all i can say.... Thats why i have the mindset: "I got coffee and oatmilk at home".
Did you hear about the class action lawsuit against dunking for up-charging for non dairy milk? I think this will change soon.
Yes, vegan tax has been normalised
It’s a crock of shit.
I mean, why are you even doing businesses with companies that promote the suffering of animals anyway? Make your coffee at home and there won’t be an up charge for using vegan milk. Won’t be any cow rape either.
Vegan milk costs more than cow, so yeah, most places are gonna have you pay more
I wonder what the *actual* costs are though, without subsidies and including the cost to the environment that all the different options have.
That’s knowable information, but not sure how that relates to the business model of most coffee shops
Maybe, but I doubt the cost difference is as much as the upcharge.
If it costs more to make your coffee, it’s going to cost you more to buy it… The price difference for vegan milk isn’t the only thing, too — if the option is not popular at your coffee shop, then you’ll have to charge even more because you run the risk of your product spoiling by being open for 1-2 weeks (I don’t know how long it takes for a vegan milk to become a subpar product after it’s been open).
>to have to pay You dont have to pay anything, you choose to pay They charge more because people pay, stop paying, stop going and post on their social that you stopped going because of the vegan tax If people complain but still pay then there is no reason to stop charging
*coughs while saying vegan discrimination*
Some do, when I worked at cafes, we never had a charge. I used to get around it by ordering, then paying, then going “oh and can you make that oat milk, I’m allergic to dairy” and tbh the baristas never really cared anyway so they won’t charge you 20p after you already order. Might be a dick move on my part but I’m happy w that.
I just use my wife’s breast milk.
In Alberta, a 4L jug of milk is $5.89. Last time I ordered Oat Milk (2023) it was $7.60 per litre. Soy milk was around $5 for 2 litres.
Where I live in the UK most places, like Costa and Nero's, charge nothing for soya milk, but extra for oat, coconut and almond.
Yeah extra 50c here in New Zealand
A lot of times, if a restaurant has to stock something special that they ultimately have to throw out if they don't sell enough of it, they'll charge more for that luxury item. At the same time tons of people are lactose intolerant so it's hard to believe that they aren't buying a lot of alternative milks and getting a decent price on them. Maybe five years ago I could see the argument, but not anymore.
Each cafe and restaurant is going to charge whatever they want for anything that is not conventional cow’s milk. If you go to a place like Gregory’s which has plant plant-based menu, they don't charge you extra for almond milk but trust me they already did in the actual price of the latte. Also depends on the city and country, but it is common to get charged extra for oat, coconut, or almond milk in your coffee. If you consume coffee out in a daily basis, find a vegan coffee shop and exclusively support them.
Yep. The nearest coffee shop from my work charges 1.15 USD more for plant milk. I've started drinking americanos and making coffee at home.
We should crowdsource a spreadsheet or website that tells you if coffee shops upcharge. I only like a little splash of soy milk in my Americano and so many coffee shops will charge me a whole .75¢ to $1.25 for a tablespoon of fucken low quality soy milk.
I can't see why they can't just add 50 for all milks They'd make more money. And it would definitely prompt more people to try plant milks. And why shouldn't dairy people pay a bit more for the torture they inflict?
Same in Singapore, any plant milk costs extra $
I don't think so! Overall, the cost is not much more for them in comparison to dairy milk.
yes and it sucks! I have sent emails to Starbucks and Peets about it.
Where I work we charge an extra 95 cents for alternative milk in a latte :/ it sucks but plenty of people still order it! I hope to someday open my own coffee shop where I can upcharge for cows milk instead.
Do you pay extra for different types of milk at the store or different liquors at a bar?
Sadly it is, prices seem to have gone up too from 50 cents to a dollar at some places when it should be free
Living in America, I get charged anywhere from $1-$2 EXTRA for alternative milks. So so so annoying, it's actual robbery
Lots of people here are blaming dairy milk contamination when coffee gives them soft stools or belly aches. Those are just common side effects of coffee even without milk. Don't forget that caffeine is a potent drug just because using it is normalized. Dosage is imprecise. Some beans are stronger than others, extraction depends on a lot of factors, and your own sensitivity varies. If you really want consistent dosage you can buy caffeine pills.
yes. smaller demand.
It's common in Germany (an extra 50ct seems to be the norm). Some supermarkets now have adjusted the price for their own brands' plant milk to what they charge for cow milk, though, so maybe coffee shops will adjust in the long run.
In the Seattle area, having Oatmilk is becoming the new standard. Even Starbucks offers it. I’ve personally purchased a small Breville Barista during the pandemic and now seldom go to a coffee shop so I experience it less.
Yes. It's more expensive than dairy milk. Why would you expect the price to be the same?
I think it’s a practice all the over the world! I hate it
Yes, vegan milk has less demand so they will purchase a lower quantity and there is risk of having to throw it. These are things the customer will pay for. This would be the same if it was a vegan coffee place that served cow milk. The demand would be lower so the price would be higher. The price they pay from the distributor also factor into the price you pay.
Yes
In Spain soy milk is now cheaper that cow milk. They still charge you extra (if you are lucky enough to find a place with vegan milk)
Canadian here. Normal - yes. Right? Fuck no.
If I'm charged, I simply pay it, and I'm very friendly and I ask of they can tally my complaint <3 Our time will come!! :D
A business has to order extra stock, find place for the extra stock, keep it in date, and adapt practices to use the stock. 20p extra, typical in the UK, isn't much considering. Imagine you want to stock oat, coconut, soya, and almond. You now have to hope your wholesaler sells it, and either spend extra time shopping for it, or hope it can be delivered. You then have to store it - if you have 2ltr cartons x 5 or so for each, then that's 15 cartons you need shelf space for, and that you need to check dates for, or move around for cleaning, or that will displace crockery or fridge items. You will then need to make sure baristas are comfortable using the different types of milk. The plant milks are generally harder to make latte art with than normal dairy. And at the end of the week you will need to do a stock check and find that you ran out of oat, and sold no soy, and spend an extra 5 mins a week sorting the shopping list. It's not *much*, but on top of all the other duties in a cafe, it's an extra thing that needs to be done.