How’s it going? Hope the coffee is flowing! Today I am going to be talking about another clearance find I came across during a recent grocery shopping trip. With the beginning of summer right around the corner it only seems appropriate to celebrate with a canned iced coffee. In my glass today I have Taika’s Oatmilk Latte +adaptogens.
The Brand
Taika was founded with the mission of harnessing the caffeine in coffee while preventing the jitteriness and other side effects that are sometimes associated with it. I should mention here that I don’t fully agree with this kind of marketing. Coffee in moderation, like just about everything else in life, is the key. They primarily use plant-based ingredients and include a proprietary ‘creative blend’ in their drinks. This blend consists of L-theanine, KSM-66 Ashwagandha, and Lion’s Mane, which serve as adaptogens and offer unique health benefits.
Thoughts on the Health Focus Claim
Before reviewing the coffee, I want to mention that, despite being marketed as a ‘healthier’ alternative to coffee, there are some ingredients in Taika’s drinks that, in my opinion, make a high-quality coffee like Purity or Java Planet a better choice. As you can see in the photo above, Taika includes natural flavors, erythritol, and guar and locust bean gum in their drinks. Sugar alcohols like erythritol and gums like guar and locust bean have been linked to unpleasant side effects such as gastrointestinal issues. While these ingredients are commonly used in flavored canned beverages, I like to call them out when found in ‘health-focused’ drinks, as I feel it can be slightly deceptive marketing.
Taika Oatmilk Latte +Adaptogens review:
Aroma and Body
Okay, now that my feelings about Taika are out of the way, we can talk about the coffee itself! Upon pouring it into the glass, this Oatmilk Latte had a pleasant, creamy aroma with a slight hint of sweet vanilla. The drink had a medium-light body, and while it wasn’t particularly heavy, it had more substance than the usual canned coffee. This, along with the lightly frothy oat milk, gave the coffee a surprising and pleasant mouthfeel.
Flavor Profile and Qualities
Taika’s Oatmilk Latte starts with a creamy flavor from the oat milk, along with a noticeable sugary sweetness from the monk fruit. This sweetness takes precedence in the middle, with the monk fruit overpowering both the oat milk and the coffee. The coffee finishes with a sugary sweetness that gives way to a chemically aftertaste. The erythritol is likely the cause, as the aftertaste is noticeably reminiscent of sugar alcohol.
Overall Thoughts
Overall, I actually enjoyed the coffee on the first sip; however, after that, the rest of the experience was disappointing. The drink is very sweet and lacks balance. The sweetness overpowers any coffee flavor the drink may have had. The chemically aftertaste was downright unpleasant, and this is not a drink I would find myself going back to.
Where to Purchase
You can purchase Taika’s Oatmilk Latte directly from the Taika website or on Amazon. At a price of $50 for a case of 12, an absurd $4.16 per can, there are simply too many better alternatives out there, using higher-quality ingredients, for me to recommend purchasing this.
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