Review: Alpro Rice Milk

Alpro's new rice milk get's the Veganoo review treatment. Can it compare to Rice Dream? Alpro is now a big brand in dairy-free milks, filling increasing amounts of supermarket shelf space. They haven't produced a rice milk until now though... so do their years of experience with soya mean they make a great rice milk too?

Let's start with the texture, because it caught our eye straight away. This milk has a distinct sheen issue with floating oil and fine grains visible at the top of a glass. It's hard to pick up in a photo, but it looks like we've used a dirty glass for the above shot (we promise we haven't).

This issue is even more visible as a sort of tide mark on the side of the glass. You can clearly see the grit left behind. Vegans who make their own nut milks will be familiar with this sort of graininess, but we think general consumers will be put off by this. If you're new to non-dairy milks you might think they're all this grainy.

Taste wise, this is one of the better rice milks. It doesn't quite match the market leader Rice Dream in this respect, but it certainly is pleasant and mildly sweet. It's also mercifully free of vanilla (which is fine in desserts but not on your cornflakes).

Control Cuppa (Provamel Red) on the left, Alpro Rice Original on the right

For the tea test, we're introducing something new to our reviews: The Control Cuppa. On the left above is a cup of tea made with Provamel Red (the classic unsweetened soya milk). All of our plant milk reviews will now feature this Control Cuppa, because it's the perfect cup of tea - white, hot, no taint. Provamel Red has enough body to make your tea white without having to add too much (which makes your tea cold). It is also so neutral in taste you can give it to a dairy drinker.

Alpro's rice milk doesn't fare too well against the Control Cuppa. You have to add lots to make your tea white, thus making it cold. It also sweetens the brew and is therefore noticeable in taste. Finally, that oily/grainy sheen is also visible on top of the tea too.

Round Up

We love Alpro, but we think they still need to do some work on their rice milk. The taste is great, but that oil sheen and graininess issue is a problem. The makers of Rice Dream have nothing to fear yet.

Verdict: Great but Grainy

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Veganoo Score: ★★★☆☆
Alpro Rice Original (rice milk)

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Footnote: Ingredients

Here is the ingredients panel from the pack we reviewed.

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