Plant Milk for Bubble Tea: Oat, Soya, Almond, Coconut or Pea

For a milk tea, soya is the plant milk closest to dairy on protein, the barista oat drink quoted here is micro-foamable, almond has the fewest calories and coconut brings a flavour of its own. Three of them, soya, almond and oat, are also on the UK's list of 14 allergens that a café must tell customers about.

Below: each drink with figures copied from its maker's UK nutrition panel on 10 October 2026, how much calcium the cartons add, what changes on a café's allergen list, and how a plant milk goes into a milk tea. We quote no panel for coconut or pea, so for those, check the carton.

Plant milks for bubble tea compared

Drink (figures from)	Protein per 100ml	Sugars per 100ml	Calcium per 100ml	Main ingredient on the UK's 14 allergens
Soya (Alpro Soya Original)	3.3g	2.5g	120mg	Yes: soybeans
Soya, no sugars (Alpro Soya No Sugars)	3.3g	0g	120mg	Yes: soybeans
Barista oat (Oatly Barista Edition)	1.1g	3.4g	120mg	Yes: cereals containing gluten
Almond (Alpro Almond Original)	0.4g	2.4g	120mg	Yes: tree nuts
Almond, no sugars (Alpro Almond Roasted No Sugars)	0.5g	0g	120mg	Yes: tree nuts
Coconut	Check the panel	Check the panel	Check the panel	No
Pea	Check the panel	Check the panel	Check the panel	No

For comparison, semi-skimmed cow's milk has 3.5g of protein per 100g in the British Nutrition Foundation's table, and the British Dietetic Association lists 240mg of calcium in a 200ml glass of cow's milk. Each figure in the table is from the named brand's own UK page.

Soya drink: the closest to dairy on protein

Soya has the most protein of the drinks quoted here. Alpro Soya Original lists 3.3g per 100ml, close to the 3.5g per 100g that the British Nutrition Foundation gives for semi-skimmed milk. It lists 2.5g of sugars, with sugar among its ingredients; Alpro Soya No Sugars lists the same 3.3g of protein and 0g of sugars.

Next to water and hulled soya beans (8.7%), Soya Original's ingredients add calcium, sea salt, a stabiliser (gellan gum) and vitamins B2, B12 and D2.

Oat drink: why it has sugars with none added

An oat drink can carry sugars with none added. Oatly's FAQ for professionals says its unflavoured UK drinks are made without added sugar, and that the sugar in them, "about 3.5 g/100 ml, is primarily maltose and is derived from the starch found in our oats", broken down by the enzymes used to turn oats into a drink. Its Barista Edition lists 3.4g of sugars and 1.1g of protein per 100ml, a third of the protein in the soya drink above.

What a barista edition adds

Oatly Barista Edition lists rapeseed oil and an acidity regulator, dipotassium phosphate, after water and oats (10%). Its page calls the drink micro-foamable and says the acidity regulator is there "to help the Barista perform to the professional expectations of coffee experts". It also lists 61 kcal per 100ml, the most of the drinks in the table.

Almond drink: the fewest calories

Alpro Almond Original lists 0.4g of protein, 2.4g of sugars and 23 kcal per 100ml, against 42 kcal for Alpro Soya Original, and almonds make up 2.3% of it. Its ingredients add sugar, calcium, sea salt, two stabilisers (guar gum and gellan gum) and vitamins B12, D2 and E. The no-sugars version, Alpro Almond Roasted No Sugars, lists 0.5g of protein and 0g of sugars.

Coconut and pea drinks: check the panel

Coconut drinks taste of coconut, which is either the point or a problem, depending on the drink. The coconut drink in a carton is not the tinned coconut milk used in cooking: Alpro Coconut Barista lists water first and coconut milk at 3.5%, with hulled soya beans among its ingredients. We quote no coconut or pea panel here, so read the carton for protein and sugars.

Neither coconut nor peas is on the UK's list of 14 allergens, and the British Dietetic Association names coconut and pea drinks among the plant drinks sold fortified with calcium. A coconut or pea drink can still carry one of the 14 in its other ingredients, as that soya bean line shows.

Is your plant milk fortified with calcium?

Many UK plant drinks are, but not all. The British Dietetic Association puts calcium-fortified soya, oat, nut, coconut, pea and rice drinks at 120 to 190mg per 100ml, and says to check for added calcium "as many organic products, for example, are not fortified". Each of the five cartons quoted in the table lists 120mg per 100ml.

Which plant milks are allergens? A note for cafés

Three of the five. The Food Standards Agency's 14 allergens include soybeans, tree nuts "such as almonds", and "cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats)", and food businesses "need to tell customers" when a drink contains one. Milk is on the list too, so swapping dairy for soya, almond or oat swaps one declared allergen for another.

Making a milk tea with a plant milk

Our Milk Tea Kit and the matcha drinks in our Matcha Bubble Tea Kit take 300ml of milk or a milk alternative, and our commercial Classic Milk Tea box says "just add milk / plant milk and ice", so the method is the same whichever you pour.

The method, step by step, is in our classic milk tea recipe and our brown sugar milk tea recipe. Which of our drinks take milk, and why a plant milk keeps them vegan, is in is bubble tea vegan, gluten free and halal, and why our fruit syrups stay with water is in why fruit bubble tea can curdle milk. That post's point holds here too: there is no single rule for every plant milk, so try the one you pick in your own drink before it goes on a menu.

Questions people ask

Which plant milk is closest to dairy milk in bubble tea?

On protein, soya. Alpro Soya Original lists 3.3g of protein per 100ml, and the British Nutrition Foundation gives 3.5g per 100g for semi-skimmed milk. Of the other drinks quoted here, Oatly Barista Edition lists 1.1g and Alpro Almond Original 0.4g.

Is oat milk gluten free?

Only if the carton says so. In the UK a drink labelled gluten free must contain no more than 20 ppm of gluten, and Oatly's FAQ says it cannot currently guarantee its drinks are that low. The Food Standards Agency lists oats under "cereals containing gluten", so a café declares oats as an allergen.

Why does oat milk have sugar if none is added?

The sugar comes from the oats. Oatly's FAQ says the sugar in its unflavoured UK drinks, about 3.5g per 100ml, "is primarily maltose and is derived from the starch found in our oats", broken down by the enzymes that turn oats into a drink. Its Barista Edition lists 3.4g of sugars per 100ml.

Milk tea kits for home

The Milk Tea Kit and the Matcha Bubble Tea Kit, our two home kits that take milk, are in bubble tea kits for home with the Fruit Tea Kit. Sign up to our emails for 15% off your entire order.