Back in September of this year, Blue Bottle Coffee announced a pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2024. As part of this commitment, a three-cafe pilot served oat milk instead of cow’s milk as the default at no extra charge.
According to Blue Bottle, dairy is a leading emission source from its cafe operations. As such, the coffee chain shifted towards an alternative in the form of plant-based oat milk.
During the oak milk pilot’s three-month period at Blue Bottle’s Brentwood, Fairfax, and Jackson Square locations, cow’s milk was being ordered 8% less than before. After extending the pilot period to five months, 75% of milk-based drinks ordered by customers were substituted with plant-based milk.
Now, all Blue Bottle cafes in Southern California, which is more than a quarter of its US locations, are serving oak milk as the default.
“Most guests in Southern California do prefer oat milk, and it steams into a beautiful, smooth microfoam. Whether this will be a first taste, or you have ordered oat milk for years, we recommend trying the oat milk in our espresso beverages to pair for a delicate taste and texture,” says Blue Bottle. “Ultimately, we hope by providing more people the experience of oat milk we might drive higher uptake both at our cafes and at home with guests so together we can reduce our greenhouse gas footprint from dairy.”
