Make Pistachio Milk, the Perfect Butter for Summer Iced Coffee
Summer is (almost) here, and many people are switching from hot coffee to an icy cold drink. But not me. I’ve been drinking iced coffee all this time. My summer switch to caffeine is more subtle: instead of changing the coffee temperature, I switch from half to half to plant-based “milk.”
Dairy products, when I’m hot and sweaty, make me nauseous. It’s too rich for temperatures above 75℉. Oat milk works great, but it doesn’t add much flavor. I was thinking about playing with cashew milk until a friend and fellow food writer posted a pistachio milk meme. I hadn’t thought about pistachio milk until this point, and I found myself having a hard time taking it.
Making your own pistachio milk is cheaper than buying it
Unlike almond, oat or cashew milk, pistachio milk is hard to find even in hippie-oriented markets and health food stores. It’s also predictably expensive, as nuts aren’t cheap. The most popular brand of pistachio milk, Táche , costs about $8 for 32 ounces. But like any other nut milk, it’s easy to make your own. All you need is raw pistachios and water (and maybe some salt and vanilla as a treat).
Mix everything and strain through a fine sieve with cheesecloth or a nut milk bag. That’s all you need to do. Finding the pistachios will probably be the hardest part. In my pursuit of raw pistachios, I visited three different stores, but ended up ordering them online because I was tired of shopping.
I was able to buy about four cups of pistachios for $22.50, enough to make four batches of 32-ounce pistachio milk, which is less than six dollars per batch, a couple of dollars cheaper than Táche, and about the same price as and one. drink from Starbucks.
How to use pistachio milk
Pistachio milk is just like any other nut milk. It is slightly creamy and tastes like the nut from which it was derived. You can drink it straight, add it to your morning Wheaties, or add it to your coffee. However, be aware that adding it to hot sour coffee can cause it to curdle. I didn’t have any issues with my iced coffee, but adding it to hot drip coffee resulted in tiny clumps. To prevent this, try adding coffee to your milk to gradually heat up and lower the pH instead of shocking it with sudden changes.
Like I said, I didn’t have any problems with iced coffee. I added iced coffee to an iced shaker along with fresh pistachio milk and some simple syrup, then swirled the whole thing together to make an icy, frothy, slightly sweet pistachio flavored drink (which happens to be one of my favorite drinks). top three nuts. It was delicious and now it’s ready to be my official drink of the summer, along with Diet Coke, which is actually my official drink of eternity.
DIY pistachio milk
Ingredients:
- 1 cup shelled pistachios
- 3 cups water, plus more for soaking
- 1 large pinch of salt
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Add the pistachios to a bowl or large measuring cup and cover with a few inches of water. Let soak in the refrigerator overnight.
Drain and rinse the pistachios and transfer to a powerful blender. Add everything except vanilla and beat on high speed until the mixture is as smooth as possible. You should see some pistachio grit, but no noticeable bits. Stir in vanilla. Strain through a fine sieve with cheesecloth or a nut milk bag. Store in the refrigerator for three to four days and shake well before each use.