Have you guys ever purchased something online from somewhere like Amazon or eBay, thinking that it's brand name or something legit? Except when it arrives on your doorstep, you discover that it's some doctored up, bootleg cheap thing that looks nothing like the product picture? This is how I feel about every TJ's product that is like the hottest thing since sliced bread on social media, and as it turns out in real life it's just aiite.
Nonetheless, I was still pretty excited to try this. Maybe it was the pretty packaging. I also happen to drink almond or cashew or almond cashew milk regularly. But in my years of drinking dairy-free drinks, I have not had a single shelf-stable nut milk that has surpassed any refrigerated nut milk. If y'all know of a delicious, shelf-stable nut milk in a carton that beats any refrigerated version, I want to know. But in the meantime, I maintain that such carton-ized nut milks are just never as good. To me, the carton stuff tastes more watery. Am I not shaking well enough before consuming??
"Smooth and creamy" are relative adjectives. If you're used to dairy milk, compare the smoothness and creaminess here to that of skim milk. Or as my husband likes to say, "water." :P
Has not been fortified with vitamin D like your orange juice, so a glass of this a day will not keep the doctor away!
I really wanted to like this and be able to sing its praises, partially because I feel like I'm almost always ragging on nut milks around here. I actually like almond milk quite a bit! Just not from a shelf-stable carton. Maybe I'm just not shaking the carton well enough...how long does one need to shake this??
1) The color is pretty sad. I've processed this photo through VSCO on my iPhone to make it look less sad. But I think a lot of nut milks usually look this tired white/gray/cream color, kinda like my face after working a string of nightshifts. So this doesn't bother me much.
2) As for the texture - it's creamy water. Sounds like an oxymoron. Creamy, as in not the most watery nut milk I've had, but still watery - more watery than some other better nut milks out there. There's also a bit of a slight chalky, sedimentary aftertaste. Meh.
3) I don't taste much of the macadamia. It's very subtle, and the almond cashew blend isn't very obvious.
4) This was TERRIBLE in coffee. The more watery the nut milk, the more watery your coffee will taste. Simple as that. Oddly, the matcha almond drink wasn't as terrible in coffee, pleasant even. That drink has a bit more body to it, which held up better in coffee.
It took me a long time to finish this quart. The taste wasn't particularly compelling. Also, at $2.29 for 1 quart, I think I'm justified to pay full price for Silk Protein Nut Milk (usually $3.99 at my grocery store for a half gallon), which is a lot creamier, thicker, and tastier. It would be nice if TJ's could come out with their own version of that - refrigerated please.
TL;DR: Trader Joe's Unsweetened Almond, Cashew & Macadamia Nut Beverage. If you like ambiguous nut flavored almost-water, be my guest. It's alright. 5 out of 10. Mantou Joe repurchase? Pass.
It’s actually all just marketing that any nondairy milks are refrigerated- all of them are shelf stable before opening.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked this, but then again I don’t just drink a glass of any dairy free milk. I use it for overnight oats, smoothies, chia pudding etc.
The silk protein you linked has some funky stabslizers and thickeners as well as just straight up oil, so that’s what is making it thicker and have a more smooth mouthfeel
I did some digging on the internet, and yes sadly everything is shelf stable. The smoother mouthfeel tricks you into thinking that it's a dupe for dairy milk.
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