Last Updated on August 13, 2020 by Kari
My husband and I both love coffee. In fact, the way we used to drink coffee was one of the reasons it was hard to give up dairy. Even though we often drank espresso without anything added into it, our regular coffees were a little different.
I usually did half and half – half coffee and half cream. Then I would dump some sugar in for good measure.
My husband wasn’t as bad as that. He would use a little cream and sugar.
For me, giving up my cream and sugared coffee was a huge obstacle to going vegan.
Somewhere along the line, though, cream started looking gross to me. It still tasted good, but it just looked slimy or full of mucous. Then, when I decided to stop my ignorance about the dairy industry and did my research, I knew that I had had my last cup of creamed coffee that morning.
Coffee After Going Vegan
For a few weeks, I drank espresso at home and coffee with soy milk when I went out to coffee shops. It wasn’t satisfying to me, but I wasn’t going back to dairy for anything. Definitely for ethical reasons. But, also, a lot of symptoms that I thought were from my hypothyroidism cleared up quickly after cutting out dairy.
My Vegan Coffee Preference
One day, I was watching a vegan YouTuber and she was drinking coffee with Silk creamer. And she made it look really, really good. So I went out to my local store and bought this:
I also bought the vanilla Silk Almond, and I liked it too.
But, I love this hazelnut almond creamer! It’s creamy and sweet. I don’t even need to add sugar to my coffee. When I add this creamer to my coffee, my coffee tastes like hazelnut coffee with cream and sugar to me.
My husband doesn’t like it as much. He will use it if he has to, but it’s too sweet for him.
Update: I now like the vanilla creamer by Silk Almond more than the hazelnut, and yesterday I found it in a large container! This is a game changer and I’m so happy. No more buying 10 little creamers. I can buy one or two and it reduces packaging and time going to the store!
My Husband’s Vegan Coffee Preference
Somewhere along the line, after I found my perfect way of making veganized coffee, he saw someone making cashew coffee. He tried it once, loved it, and has had it every day he can since.
So I asked him if I could take pictures of him making his morning coffee and also got him to give me the technical side of what he does.
I want to clarify that he does not have measurements. He never did. He tried it one way, thought it needed more salt, added more salt, and that was it. So, if you are going to try this, make it how you think you might like it at first, and then adjust as you go.
Step 1: Put a handful of raw cashews into the Vitamix. No soaking required. I would estimate a handful is about a half of a cup, but I can’t make any guarantees.
Step 2: Grind up those cashews.
Step 3: Make coffee and pour it into a tall cup.
Step 4: Pour coffee, agave, and salt into Vitamix. When I asked him how much, he said 3 pumps of agave, and a few shakes of salt – about 1/8 of a teaspoon. He also said the salt is necessary. One time he forgot to add it, and the coffee didn’t taste good to him at all.
Step 5: Blend until smooth. Pour back into tall cup.
And then my husband is blissfully happy.
He’s also very happy that I don’t like this coffee, so he never has to worry about me touching it. I find it bitter.
We have very different taste buds.
Many Options, Many Taste Buds
There are so many different ways to make your coffee vegan now. If you don’t like these two options, keep looking, you will find something!
I’m glad we didn’t let the fear of coffee not being good anymore get in the way of going vegan. Because, honestly, we both enjoy coffee now so much more than we did before we went vegan.
