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Why oat milk got so popular

Kai talks with Deena Shanker of Bloomberg about how Oatly made oat milk popular.

A man pours oats into a tupperware container.
A man pours oats into a tupperware container.
Cate Gillon/Getty Images

U.S. sales of oat milk have skyrocketed to $29 million, up from $4.4 million in 2017. Deena Shanker, who wrote about oat milk for Bloomberg, says it became an alternative milk favorite because its taste and texture are similar to milk.

“The reason it got so popular is that baristas loved how much it foamed like milk-milk,” Shanker said.

Oatly, a Swedish company, is dominating the oat milk market. It’s widely credited for creating the oat milk craze, and opened its first plant in the U.S. earlier this year.

Click the audio player above to hear the interview.

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