# Cravendale...not so good?



## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

I've always found Cravendale a very reliable milk.

However over the past month or so it's become so thin it's a bit like the proverbial 'knats'

I found it disappointing all over the festive season. Time of year does play it's part but I 've never found it as poor to pour as current.

I shall be ordering Yeo Dairies semi next week which I find very good.


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## Inspector (Feb 23, 2017)

I agree on that i was always buying blue cap cravendale but i stopped buying it 1.5 months ago as results became disappointing. Now i buy Sainsbury's organic blue cap and results are superb. There was no big bottle the other day and i bought yeo organic to try but couldnt manage to get the froth right again. Going back to Sainsbury's organic.


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Hi Ron

Found the Blue Cravendale a bit thinner too running up to Christmas so either time of year / feedstock or meeting demand.

Yeo Valley Organic always been very good at this time of year, even better when on offer and beats the pants on pretty much all others for steaming quality, very smooth.

John


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

I don't know about Cravendale. Whenever I have tried it I have found it overwhelms the taste of the coffee. Yeo SS works for me.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

ronsil said:


> I've always found Cravendale a very reliable milk.
> 
> However over the past month or so it's become so thin it's a bit like the proverbial 'knats'
> 
> ...


Likewise with the Cravendale quite watery and thin, does not steam very well.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Pleased I read this. Normally I use Yeo valley and like that. I bought cravendale a few times over christmas and also found it really thin and difficult to texture...I thought it was just me!


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## lee1980 (Jul 25, 2017)

This may explain some of my suddenly seeming not be able to get good froth as i posted before xmas. Just before we stopped getting long life as using so quick and getting semi to as daughter now 2 need to wean off full fat. My frothing has got better though also think I was being to cautious with introducing air. Some of this comes me having a hearing loss and having a hard time gauging noises when wearing hearing aids and when not.

Sure aint good if its not as its meant to be the Cravendale.


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Aw the best thing about small people is full fat milk... (And they should stay on it until 5 unless your health visitor says to)

We've just switched to milkman deliveries, which has really improved the texture of my milk, having only been back on dairy for about 6 months... Supermarket milk just doesn't have the same body. (Plus glass bottles are much better environmentally!)

We used Sainsbury's full fat last week and it was like trying to steam dishwater.


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## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

Anyone tried Oatley Milk, and really would like some more milk options, which one to use.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Jony said:


> Anyone tried Oatley Milk, and really would like some more milk options, which one to use.


Oatly Barista is easy to make a nice micro foam but the oat taste overpowers the coffee (for me anyway)!


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## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

MildredM said:


> Oatly Barista is easy to make a nice micro foam but the oat taste overpowers the coffee (for me anyway)!


Usually I have a extra shot with my coffee with milk, and not buckets of milk very little actually, I had Capppa at MCF with oatley and really liked it.

Thanks.


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Jony said:


> Usually I have a extra shot with my coffee with milk, and not buckets of milk very little actually, I had Capppa at MCF with oatley and really liked it.
> 
> Thanks.


Until I sorted out my milk issues I used oatly by preference. It was the least "taste altering" of the none soy alternatives. Yes you can taste the oats, but didnt alter the flavour profile of the beans.


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## Inspector (Feb 23, 2017)

Sainsbury's regular blue cap is not good, but Sainsbury's Organic blue cap is awesome imo.


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## db8000 (Dec 6, 2017)

Cravendale is the highly homogenised milk isn't it? I've never enjoyed the feel of it.

Luckily down here Yeo Valley is local so almost all the supermarkets have it. Cotteswold Dairy is the creamiest of the big-ish producers that I've found; it is less homogenised and some varieties not at all. it's a delight getting a slug of cream for breakfast.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Cravendale is micro-filtered such that even bacteria are removed. This makes it last longer and also accounts for why it steams so well (bacteria in milk break down the proteins and fats that combine to make the bubbles hold, so it behaves like very fresh milk longer than, er, normal fresh milk). It also gives it the signature pure clean taste. I tried it for a while when I had my Classic but I found the clean taste not unpleasant, but nonetheless distracting, like MildredM also said. I liked it well enough on cereal but not coffee.

Out of the NDAs or PBAs the Oatly Barista (grey tetrapak) is the only one that passes the Hotmetalette taste test and still steams ok. We tried various soy, almond and normal oat ones. Only grey Oatly came close to milk. We don't mind one or two of the other ones for taste, but they don't steam.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

On the rare occasion Mrs dirt has a coffee I use oatly barista for her. I don't like it but she says it's "ok"

We have FF cravendale in the fridge for the nippers and SS for me.

Cravendale steams best but much prefer SS any day of the week, even if the foam isn't as good.


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## JonR (Aug 21, 2017)

I find Arla B.O.B (best of both) works ok. It is a fat-free skimmed filtered milk with added protein which gives it a good semi-skimmed flavour which the family like. My understanding is that it is the protein which sustains micro-foam and the interesting post about the filtering removing bacteria may all go to explain why it works well for me.


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## eddie57 (Mar 21, 2017)

JonR said:


> I find Arla B.O.B (best of both) works ok. It is a fat-free skimmed filtered milk with added protein which gives it a good semi-skimmed flavour which the family like. My understanding is that it is the protein which sustains micro-foam and the interesting post about the filtering removing bacteria may all go to explain why it works well for me.


I tried Arla B.O.B last week

and while there seems to be plenty of foam I find it really hard to do any latte art with it.


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## LukeT (Aug 6, 2017)

Inspector said:


> Sainsbury's regular blue cap is not good, but Sainsbury's Organic blue cap is awesome imo.


Interesting. I'm a newbie, so I've been focussing on the espresso but I guess it's time to get into improving the milk. I have improved my milk a bit over time but have stuck thus far with Sainsbury's regular blue cap. Last week I found it to be a bit thinner than before and was struggling a little to get it quite so good. Perhaps it's changed with the season and I should try looking elsewhere. I find that a creamy or even slightly "off" flavour comes through that I'd like to reduce/eliminate. I wondered whether this was me over steaming it a bit but the temptags say I'm not.

I struggle to see why organic will improve this, although logicially I can see why filtered might. However I'll try the organic - the proof of the pudding is in the eating after all.


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## Inspector (Feb 23, 2017)

I dont have any explanation for this neither. Please do try and share your experience


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

The quality of milk tends to go down a bit in winter as the cows are eating feed instead of being out in the fields munching grass, daisys etc.. It's quite possible the organic feed the organic cows are eating is better quality than the normal feed alliwing them to produce better milk.


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## JonR (Aug 21, 2017)

Thanks eddie57.... I now have a perfect excuse for me having no latte art skills!


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## eddie57 (Mar 21, 2017)

JonR said:


> Thanks eddie57.... I now have a perfect excuse for me having no latte art skills!


Haha, I'm using arla organic semi-skimmed now.

much better try it.. but then you'll have no excuses


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## pgarrish (May 20, 2017)

I am lucky in that we still have a milkman who delivers un-homogenised bottled milk. There is a significant difference (even with my poor skills) between the main part of the bottle, the cream at the top or supermarket (booths full fat) milk. The bottled milk seems fairly consistent year round with a decent portion of cream all the time (yummy!)


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