Is Expensive Milk a Scam?

[00:00] been overwhelmed by all of the options we now have. Sure, there's still your standard whole, 2%, 1%, and skim. But now, we've also got things like

[00:12] ultrailtered milk, A2, lactoseree, low temperature pasteurized milk, or organic almond, which have standard versus barista style additions. And simply put,

[00:25] I have so many questions. Well, friends, as you can see, I bought a lot of milk. three parts. Part one, what is milk? We'll define milk in simple terms,

[00:40] essentially remixing these components in different ways. And based on what we learned, I chose four different whole milk options for a taste test. Ooh, much

[00:53] thinner than number one. I picked up that right away. Part two is the rise of traditional dairy can't by kind of re-engineering the sensory experience of

[01:05] milk with different ingredients. And I'm going to do that sidebyside ice latte test of almond versus oat versus whole milk. And lastly, in part three, how to choose the right milk for you. And part three is really important because as

[01:18] we'll learn, milk is a pretty unique ingredient where there's a pretty good chance the milk you end up buying at the store is not the one that tastes the best. Or you may want to purchase different milks for certain situations,

[01:32] coffee. And speaking of, later in the video, the iced latte coffee test is brought to you by this video sponsor, Cometier, which made the testing process easy and perfectly controlled. And the reason why Cometier tastes so great is

[01:48] that it's the first coffee that is flash frozen and stored at peak freshness. The drinks I order from a coffee shop. And here's how it works. Cometier sources

[02:02] of the beans and carefully brew them at 10 times the strength before portioning the coffee and flash freezing them into capsules. And you can already start to

[02:15] smell the richness and complexity of the aroma as soon as you open these. To make and espresso style drinks, just thaw it ahead of time and pour it in. No

[02:27] some of my family, which was a lot of fun. The watermelon candy was one of our going to use the Eclipse from Onyx for iced coffee with those different milks.

[02:42] or Father's Day gift coming up, head to the link in the description or scan the QR code on screen for 15 cups free on your first order. But now, let's break

[02:55] down the five components of milk on a percentage basis. The milk that comes straight from the cow is typically around 87% water, 5% carbohydrates, primarily in the form of

[03:08] lactose, which is a sugar, 3.5 to 4% fat, 3.5% protein, and then around.5% vitamins and minerals and other little bitty things. And this is important to understand because every milk option out there is essentially remixing these five

[03:23] components in some way. Some differences might be really obvious and others not so much. So to get your wheels turning a bit, I want to quickly compare and contrast two examples. Skim milk and A2 milk. Skim or fat-free milk legally

[03:38] needs to be less than.5% fat and it's removed through the standardization process. However, the sugar and protein content remains the same, meaning on a 100% basis, our water content increases from 87% to around

[03:53] 90.5%. So if you've ever tasted skim milk and gone, "Well, it feels more watery to me." It's because it's literally made of more water. Now, when it comes to flavor, the fat is gone, which provides a lot of texture. And

[04:07] skim and whole milk are fundamentally different. So, if you were trying to follow a recipe that calls for whole milk and you only have skim, you'd want to add some butter or oil to make up for the difference. Now, an example of a

[04:19] less obvious difference is A2 milk, which I didn't even realize existed before starting this video. Compositionally, A2 milk is going to be the same from a water, carbohydrate, fat, and vitamin or mineral perspective,

[04:32] but the key difference is in the protein, and it doesn't have more protein, but a different kind of protein. A2 milk specifically refers to milk that comes from cows, either bred or selected to produce only the A2 type

[04:46] of beta casein. But the primary reason why the term A2 protein is marketed has nothing to do with the taste. The total protein in milk is made up of around 80% casein and 20% whey. And a lot of the casein content comes from that A1 and A2

[05:03] beta casein proteins. But how much depends on the breed of the cow. And Holene cows are around 50/50 while other cows are almost entirely A2 protein. And

[05:16] the reason why A2 protein is starting to become labeled on the milk is that there are some studies that have shown that A1 beta casein can be difficult for some people to digest, while milk with only A2 beta casein may be better tolerated

[05:30] by certain individuals. Now, a quick caveat. This has nothing to do with lactose intolerance because lactose is the sugar in milk, not the protein. But if you are someone who is not lactose intolerant, but still has some digestive

[05:45] discomfort when you drink or cook with milk and other dairy products, A2 milk may be worth giving a try. And hopefully these two examples are beginning to show you how the milk you end up buying at the store can be a nuance conversation.

[05:59] in on A2 milk's potential digestive benefits. But where I can lend some thoughts are in the differences of flavor between these various milks based

[06:11] taste tests for this video or milk flights if you will. Now, before we get to tasting these, we need to do a quick overview on how milk is processed. This

[06:23] way, you'll understand why I chose these four particular milks to do a test with and how the processing could affect the flavor, such as taste, aroma, and texture.

[06:36] The first step of the milk process is choosing the cow. Like we just talked about, the choice of the cow can make a difference when it comes to the resulting raw milk that comes out. Most commercial dairy cows in the US are

[06:49] crazy stat from the USDA, the average milk production per cow averaged a bit over 24,000 pounds in 2024. However, it gets a little crazier than that.

[07:04] According to this article at holenusa.com, top producing Holene cows milk three times a day have been known to produce over 72,000 lbs of milk in 365 days. Now, while most milk for drinking comes from the Holene breed,

[07:19] sometimes other breeds like Jersey or Gernzie cows may be preferred for other dairy products like cheese, cream, and butter. For example, as we learned in the butter deep dive, grass-fed cows may produce milk with more beta carotene,

[07:32] leading to milk with a slightly yellow tinge instead of pure white. And to use in our taste test. And this variable has nothing to do with the processing of the milk, but everything to do with the genetics of the specific

[07:47] cow breed. However, that changes with our other three milks I'm going to try. So after the cows are grown and ready to produce milk, we're ready for step two, milk collection. Cows are typically milked mechanically and the milk is

[08:00] quickly cooled to prevent spoilage. And like we touched on, this raw milk will vary a bit from bit, but generally will contain around 87% water, 5% lactose, 3 to 4% fat, 3.5% protein, and then vitamins and minerals. And depending on

[08:14] where you live in the United States and around the world, you can purchase unpasteurized raw milk for consumption. and it has been growing in popularity. for or against it. There are plenty of other articles and videos out there I

[08:28] will link below if you're interested. From a practicality standpoint, raw milk does leave you with a much higher risk for getting sick due to the pathogens. And from a lifestyle perspective, raw milk also has the shortest shelf life as

[08:41] the enzymes and live bacteria left in the milk cause it to ferment and sour much faster than milks that have been pasteurized. And as we're going to find out in step three, depending on how milk is pasteurized, this can lead it to have

[08:54] an expiration date ranging from just a bit over a week to up to a few months. remove the bacteria and also make it consistent from jug to jug. And this

[09:07] transformation happens through three key processes. One, fat standardization. Two, pasteurization. And three, homogenization. So first up, we have standardization. This is where the raw milk is separated into cream and skim

[09:21] milk and then is blended back to a specific amount of cream. And this is how we create whole milk, which typically has 3.25% fat, 2% with 2% fat. And it's the same on down to 1% and then skim milk has to have less than.5. And

[09:35] all of these whole milks I'm about to test have that same amount of fat in them at 8 g per 250 ml. After standardization, this is where the milk is pasteurized and we begin to see some differences in our whole milks.

[09:49] Pasteurization kills bacteria by heating the milk to a certain temperature and holding it there for a set amount of time. And all three of these milks were pasteurized at different temperatures and times. First up is HTS or high

[10:03] temperature shorttime pasteurization. This is the most common one used for milk in the grocery store and is done by raising the milk's temperature to 161° F for just 15 seconds before being rapidly cooled back down to 39° F. Next is UHT

[10:19] or ultra high temperature pasteurization. This is done by raising the milk's temperature to 280° F, but for just 2 seconds. And if you have a milk that has a really long expiration date, like several months, it was likely

[10:32] UHT pasteurized. Fairlife, for example, says they use UHT on their milk on the website. Now, on the opposite side of the spectrum, we have low temperature, longtime pasteurization. And this is done by raising the temperature of milk

[10:45] to 145° F for 30 minutes. And typically, if a producer uses LTLT, they're going to list it on the label because it takes longer and is less efficient, so the resulting milk will cost more. And I was able to find some locally produced milk

[11:00] using this method. Now, through pasteurization, even though it's generally a short time, we are essentially cooking the milk a bit, which could impact the flavor. How much kind of depends on and we're going to

[11:12] get into shortly, but the last step after pasteurization is one has not. And here's how it works. So, the milk fat naturally will separate from the water content over time. So in order to prevent this, homogenization is

[11:28] done by pushing the milk through very high pressure valves to break up the fat globules into ultra tidy ones so they won't separate. Now after these three core steps, there are some optional advanced processing that can happen

[11:41] during these processes as well. First is fortification, second ultrailtration, and third is lactose removal or really it should be called lactose breakdown. processing has removed or just to boost the overall nutrition profile. For

[11:59] example, vitamin A, D, and E are very common ones that you'll see on milk labels. Ultra filtered milk, on the other hand, is when the milk is pushed through a soft membrane filter that separates molecules by size. And in most

[12:12] cases, this process is used to remove some of the water content, the lactose, and certain minerals, which in turn concentrates the protein and calcium in milk. And this is how Fair Life is able to get higher protein, lower sugar milk.

[12:26] Then lastly, in order to make lactose-free milk, it's not done by purely removing the lactose, but instead by breaking it down with lactase. Lactose is a milk sugar made up of glucose and galactose. And people who

[12:39] are lactose intolerant don't produce enough lactase, which is an enzyme that breaks lactose down into those simpler sugars that our small intestine can absorb. So to make lactose-free milk, lactase is added typically before

[12:54] because glucose and galactose are sweeter on their own than pure lactose is. But in short, these processes explain how we end up with so many

[13:06] different milk choices at the store when we're wandering the dairy aisle. Fat standardization is how we get macronutrient differences such as skim 1 2% and whole milk. There are micronutrient differences such as atune

[13:19] protein or lactose-free milk. We have expiration dates ranging from 1 to two weeks or over a couple of months and price differences from 3 to 7 or 8 or $10. And there's most likely going to be some flavor difference, too. So, let's

[13:32] see how different these milks actually taste. Okay, so I've got all the milks to spin these and randomize them a little bit just because I want to I

[13:44] are any differences here. So, let's give them a quick little spin. Number one, [Music] two,

[13:58] three, four. Reposition. We are ready to go. You guys will know on screen, but I will not know, which will be fun for me. I I love going into taste test just completely

[14:12] blind like this. Well, I should get some water. All right, green one. Oh my gosh. Also, I've not just had a plain glass of whole milk in a while.

[14:27] I forgot how luscious and rich it is. It's crazy. But number one, very, very good whole milk. Ooh. Much thinner than number one. I picked up that right away. I'm going

[14:43] to go back. M. Yeah, this one's way more creamy and and like the texture kind of sits on my tongue a bit. This one feels a little bit waterier to me. Um, the flavor is also a

[14:58] like maybe a little bit more I don't know like cooked. I wonder if that's one of the higher temperature ones. We'll see. All right. Number

[15:20] three. These two are much closer in texture to each other than this one. This one may be slightly thicker. the flavor itself. Um, much more balanced. Let's go to the last

[15:36] them. Um, texture- wise, I would say the the green one to me sticks out as like the most creamy, the most luxurious. Kind of sits on your tongue really

[15:48] nicely, and it feels very decadent and and nice to drink. Um, then coming down, I would say orange is probably the closest to green, but it definitely the purple one here feels the most watery. Um, as far as kind of like taste

[16:06] and aroma go, I think green, I feel like I really get like that buttery, dairy, creaminess kind of taste and aroma to it. It also feels a little bit maybe maybe a little bit more sweet. I don't know. And then um so I would say like

[16:21] green and orange are a little bit closer to each other as far as taste and aroma. Um purple to me has kind of a Yeah, purple to me kind of has like that that like kind of more cooked like

[16:38] or or a cheese sauce like that's kind of what this reminds me of. It's not bad but it's just like there is kind of this clear difference in flavor. And then blue is also pretty mild. So all of them are good. But for the coffee test that

[16:53] I'm going to do later in this video, I'm gonna move forward with this green one. To me, it is the most luxurious of them. So let's see what we

[17:07] have. Okay. So I'm going to keep these in line. So what is green? So that's the ultra pasteurized. Definitely just

[17:19] feels it it feels very like thick and luxurious. Number two is the low temp. Oh, interesting.

[17:31] Store and A2. So, my big observation here is that yes, you can definitely pick up on differences in the taste, aroma, and texture of these various if I was using these in a baking recipe or maybe a cheese sauce, all of them are

[17:49] difference because if you're making a cheese sauce, the cheese is really what you're adding cocoa powder, sugar, and tons of other ingredients. So, these

[18:03] would all work in like a cake recipe where you might run into some issues if fundamentally adding less fat. Now, additionally, I'm not someone who can just like throw back a big old glass of whole milk with dinner or something. I

[18:19] forgot just how rich and decadent this really is. But one area where I do like to use whole milk is in my coffee. And what we're going to do in the second part of this video is talk about the rise of alternative milks and kind of

[18:33] explain how they try to recreate these same five core components that we have in whole milk except using different ingredients. than traditional dairy milk. For example, some people are lactose

[18:50] intolerant. Some avoid animal products entirely for ethical or other environmental reasons. Some may prefer the flavor or texture of plant-based options. And others of us might just be curious what these taste like. And this

[19:03] is exactly why I wanted to do a little coffee test because the area where I've found these are most common are at cafes and coffee shops. I even did a quick poll on my Instagram and of the 2,29 of you that voted, 34% typically order oat

[19:18] milk with their espresso drinks. Also, if there are any cafe owners or workers watching, I'd be curious to know how many people typically order some type of alternative milk and what those numbers look like maybe 5, 10, or 15 years back.

[19:31] Now, before I get to tasting, we need to do a quick crash course on how these milks are made. And now that we understand how we end up with so many what's going on with alternative milk because we're essentially remixing those

[19:46] same five components from earlier, but just sourcing them from different ingredients. First, we need water. This is the base of all milks, regular or alternative. And alternative milks are made by blending the core ingredient, in

[20:00] this case oats and almonds with water. Second, we need fat. Fat is needed for the body, richness, and creamy texture of milk. This almond milk uses the fat content naturally occurring in almonds, but the oat milk needs to add rape seed

[20:13] oil since obviously oats do not really have any fat in them. They're primarily a carbohydrate. And the barista versions of alternative milks generally have a they will also have stabilizers added like dip potassium phosphate in order to

[20:29] help foam and thicken for espresso style drinks. Third, we have carbohydrates milk we had lactose, but in oat milk the sugars are created when the oats are

[20:41] cane sugar added to it. Fourth, we need protein. This is used for structure, mouth feel, and a bit of savoriness. The alternative milks generally have a much

[20:53] lower amount of protein in them, as both the almond and oat milk have just 3 g per 240 millit compared to 8 g in whole milk. Additionally, glutamic acid is one of the key amino acids that make up the casein and whey protein content in cow's

[21:08] milk, which triggers our umami taste. So, it'll be interesting to see if that comes through differently with oat and almond milk. And lastly, we have vitamins, minerals, and miscellaneous. Like mentioned, dip potassium phosphate

[21:20] style milks. And salt will commonly be added on the ingredient label for a bit of salty taste. Then oat milk can still be high in calcium, but almond milk is just lower. It kind of just depends. And here's what the nutrition labels look

[21:35] like for a cup of milk from the whole barista oat and almond milk variations. And basically, alternative milks are kind of like a remix. They're using plants and other ingredients to recreate the similar sensory experience

[21:48] of cow's milk, but each one has their own quirks and trade-offs. For example, they're mixed with water first and then used in coffee? Well, let's find out.

[22:00] Okay, so we have our ice lattes ready with different milks? Let's give them a little bit. Um, the goal of these tests is not to like crown one as a winner.

[22:12] This is all personal preference at the end of the day. Um, but I find it's more fun for me if I am pleasantly surprised and don't know which one's which. So, I'm going to blindfold up and try to fit them in our little taste testing box

[22:25] here. One, two. This might barely work. Okay, I think they're all in different cups. Okay, cool. I

[22:38] think we're good there. They can can take that off. So, let's give him a shot and see what we have. Number one, I mean, just really good. Going to grab some water. And you can let me know

[22:55] or roastier kind of aromomas when it comes to coffee. But if I'm drinking it hot, I much prefer kind of fruity. Um, so these are really, really nice.

[23:11] Whoa. Very different those two. I think this second one was much kind of thicker to me. Yeah. Let

[23:23] me Oh, yeah. Yeah. Number two much thicker and luxurious compared to number one. Also but I'm gonna still unpack that a little bit. Number

[23:48] three, not a big fan of that. Um, texture- wise, these two are very, very close to each other. Um, there is

[24:02] some kind of like aroma that I feel like I I don't I don't think I like number three as much. Feels a little bit more bitter to me. Like no, like it's not bad, but like I just don't think I prefer number three

[24:18] that much. I'm going to go back to number one. Yeah, I mean number one solid smooth. It's definitely less thick though. Like the texture is really what I'm picking up

[24:32] on. And I think that almond milk might be lower in fat. So that would kind of check out that it is the the least viscous. All right, this is really interesting. Again, there are some very clear differences between them. I think

[24:47] texture for me jumps off right off the page right away. Um, this first one is definitely thinner and and it feels a little bit watery um compared to two and three. Two and three to me feel very similar. I think um two is kind of that

[25:01] that more luxurious kind of texture that we're getting. As far as taste and aroma, there are definitely some differences as well. Now, all three of these I would be perfect perfectly happy with drinking. Um that being said, the

[25:14] third one for me feels like maybe a little bit more bitter. Um two feels the most balanced to me. Like a nice balance of like sweetness with kind of those darker aroma notes from this particular coffee. And then uh this first one, I

[25:29] would say it has like some kind of something else going on. I'm not sure. If I had to guess, I'm I'm thinking like these outer two ones are probably the almond and the oat and this middle one's the whole milk. Um but let's see what we

[25:43] got. Got to be careful here. Okay. Yeah, almond and oat. That's interesting. But yeah, I think my clear observation is you 100% again can pick up on differences like as you would expect, right? You know, oat milk and almond

[25:59] milk again, they have similar of those five components, but the way they get there is differently. So that does show up when we start using them in coffee. bitter and kind of I don't know, it feels like it maybe overpowers the

[26:16] coffee a little bit, at least to me. And then for for me again this is all milk is kind of what I'm used to and it to me again it feels like it's in the

[26:28] most balanced with the with the coffee. It feels like the milk and the coffee are working together a bit more in terms of taste and aroma. So as always very interesting test. Would highly recommend giving this a shot if you're at home and

[26:40] milk. you I guarantee you'll very clearly be able to pick up on some of this video where I want to pose the questions that you should be asking

[26:54] yourself in order to help you figure out what milk you should be buying at the grocery [Music] store. Okay, so as we've seen throughout this video, not all milks, whether dairy

[27:07] or plant-based, are created equal. But the real question is, how do you take all this information and actually use it when you're standing in the grocery store or when a barista asks you what type of milk you want in your latte?

[27:19] that everyone should consider when purchasing milk. Lifestyle, health, flavor, and values. Like I mentioned in the intro, the milk you like the flavor

[27:31] of the most may not be the one you end up buying. For example, in my case, if I'm at a coffee shop and want a cortado, I'll go ahead and order it with whole milk. However, you typically will not find whole milk in my fridge. I

[27:44] typically buy 1% or skim milk, and that's because I use milk differently at home. First, if I'm drinking a plain glass of milk, I want it to be low calorie and high protein. Second, when I am at home, I tend to drink most of my

[27:57] coffee black, so I don't use milk much there. But if I do need it for a recipe, I can either add a bit of extra fat to it, or if I really feel like whole milk buy a small container of it. Additionally, since I don't drink that

[28:13] expiration date, that is generally a bonus in my opinion. So, here are the key questions you should ask yourself when it comes to purchasing milk. These

[28:25] like, what is your primary use case for milk? How much milk do you drink? And how often do you shop for groceries? Second is health. Are you lactose intolerant or sensitive to milk? Do you prioritize high protein option? Or

[28:40] calories or fat content a concern? Third is flavor. Do you want a creamy, rich something new? You could give goat milk a shot. Then fourth is values. Is

[28:52] environmental impact important to you? Do you prioritize organic or local grew up with three brothers. So, back in the day, we would go through a gallon of milk pretty quickly. And depending on the answer to these questions is how

[29:06] you'll figure out what milk type to buy. And I can give you some examples of what I'd recommend. For example, if you're someone who likes coffee drinks but has a sensitive stomach and price is not an issue, I would say try out an A2 protein

[29:18] milk or a barista style addition of oat or almond. If you're a big cereal eater ahead and buy a store brand 1 or 2% milk. If you avoid animal products

[29:31] entirely, alternative milks like oat, soy, almond will be the ones for you. If I'd probably recommend unfiltered milk. Or if you're an occasional milk drinker,

[29:43] life. And all of these recommendations really come from understanding those five components we talked about throughout this video so you can figure out what milk works best for you. So that will wrap it up for me in this one.

[29:59] buy at the grocery store. For many of you, I'm sure it's not a simple answer. You may buy whole. You may buy 1% sometimes. Some of you like skim. Some me know down in the comments. Anyway, that'll wrap it up for me in this one.

[30:16] I'll catch you all in the next one. Peace y'all.