Inez's profile

Thursday, June 23rd, 2022 9:55 AM

What’s the difference between your chilled vs. your ambient oat drink?

Everyone has a different go-to aisle for milk in the supermarket. Some head straight to the refrigerated section, others wander into the long-life section. Whether you’re looking in the fridge, or on the shelf, you can be sure to find some Oatly goodness that can help you ditch traditional cow’s milk!   

 

Our chilled cartons need to be kept in the fridge from purchase to their final drop, whereas the ambient cartons can be kept at room temperature for up to a year, and just need to be popped in the fridge from the moment you first open it. And that’s actually the only real difference between the two ranges.

 

However, both ranges include different varieties of oat drinks to suit you, your needs, desires and how you like to use your Oatly. So, whether that be an oat drink perfect for frothy coffees, a chocolate option or an organic version we can guarantee that you will find your Oatly BFF – ambient or chilled. You can explore all ingredients here (be sure to select your market for country-specific products) if you’d like to compare the oatlicious drinks!

 

Ps! Most our oat drinks have a lot of good things in common: the enrichment, the creamy consistency and the fact that they all can be used in cooking or baking — if you don’t prefer drinking them as they are, of course!

1 Message

2 years ago

Thanks for this answer! I was wondering about this too.

The question I still couldn't find an answer to, is why does the cooled one have a shorter "use-by-date"? Are they heat-treated in a different way? 

142 Messages

Hi Luke,

 

thanks for the feedback there - good point! 

We use the same heat treatment for pretty much all our products but the difference here lies in the packaging. The ambient drinks have an extra layer of aluminum as well as an inner seal underneath the lid. This allows a longer shelf life (unopened) whereas the chilled ones have just a regular lid with no inner seal. 

 

Hope this clarifies!

Love, 


Åsa at Oatly

1 Message

So you are charging more for chilling the same product that doesn’t last as long…? This doesn’t make sense to me surely this is a waste of energy and money 🤔 

142 Messages

Hi Dawn,

 

thanks for your question!

Agree the pricing in store may seem confusing at times and as for energy, it's true the climate footprint is a tad higher for our chilled version; 0,31 kg CO2e vs 0,27 kg CO2e - this difference mainly has to do with storage and transportation.

 

For us, it's about offering a range including long life oat drinks (that's how we started way back!) as well as being visible and ready available in the chilled section right next to dairy for an easy shift to plant-based! Either way we hope you've found your favourite? 

 

Love,


Åsa at Oatly

 

2 Messages

2 years ago

Hi so does the chilled version and the ambient versions taste exactly the same then? 

35 Messages

Hi @rachael_wallis!

That depends a little on which product you have in mind, in particular. We have multiple versions of both chilled and ambient oat drinks. But since the recipes for the ambient vs. the chilled drinks do vary slightly, it's of course possible that you may experience a difference in taste.  

 

Let me know if you had a specific oat drink in mind and I'll be sure to investigate further! 

Love,

 

Inez at Oatly

1 Message

The barista blend, chilled vs ambient taste wise? 

29 Messages

Hi Tina, 

 

The taste should be the same as they use the same recipe. Do let us know if you have any other questions. 

 

Have an oatsome day!

Love,

Shawn from Oatly

1 Message

2 years ago

Can you still drink your refrigerated oat milk if it hasn't been kept in the fridge? I put mine in the cupboard without realising and it has been there for 5 days... Thank you in advance. M

2 Messages

Hi Morag,


Sorry for the late reply!


If you’ve specifically bought the chilled version of our oat drink, it must be refrigerated both before and after opening it (in comparison, our ambient packaging will remain happy in room temperature until you’ve opened it). Unfortunately, five days in the cupboard surely means it’s spoiled and should be tossed, but you’ll clearly notice if it has gone bad by both smell and taste. 


Please feel free to reach out again if you have any other questions or concerns!


All the best,

Rebecka at Oatly

1 Message

2 years ago

Hi, how can it be that your chilled barista has a climate footprint of 0.44 while the ambient one has a climate footprint of 0.50? Is the refrigerating process not taken into account? Thank you and greetings from Vienna! Verena

17 Messages

Hey Verena,

 

that's such a brilliant question - happy to help here!


Instinctively, you would probably guess that the chilled version of your Barista Edition would have a larger climate footprint than the ambient one, right?! So yeah, our chilled drinks require an unbroken cold chain in transport and storage (which is not necessary for our ambient drinks). But since we include the entire life cycle of the products in our calculations, the final CO2e value additionally depends not only on the country in which you finally buy a product (maybe you noticed that the numbers differ within this comment section, that's because oat punks from different markets come together here) (so international) and on the length of the way it took to get there from the production facility, but also the conditions at the respective factory itself come into play: The mains reasons for the climate footprint of the Chilled Barista (bought in Austria) being lower in direct comparison to the ambient version are a) the product is produced in Landskrona where we use 100% renewable energy (yay!) and b) super local oats from Sweden. The ambient Barista Edition for the DACH market is produced in another facility where we don't use 100% renewable energy (yet), but these numbers might be adapted from time to time as we are always working towards even more sustainable ways to create our oat delicacies at each of our factories. Did you know that by 2029, all of the facilities that produce our products are intended to meet the so-called 'future factory' criteria?! I'd suggest you to keep on reading here if you want to know more what those criteria are about: https://www.oatly.com/de-de/oatly-who/sustainability-plan/set-the-example-as-a-future-company

 

Okay, the whole thing is a bit confusing - calling this a good question wasn't just a phrase, really! So feel free to reach out again if you your facial expression comes close to the confused-math-lady-meme right now.


Sending some oatlicious regards your way,
Marlene at Oatly

1 Message

2 years ago

Hi! So, I purchased the 250ml Oat Drink from the supermarket but thought this was an Ambient product? (ie: could be kept OUT of the fridge until we need to drink it) however it was in the chilled section of the supermarket... So, can we now keep this 250ml out of the fridge until we need to use it, OR as it has been chilled by the supermarket do we need to keep it in the fridge?!

The ideal answer is "It can be kept out of the fridge" - but please let me know!

14 Messages

Hi Graham,

and thanks for checking in with us on this! 

It is in fact an ambient product, so you can go ahead and leave your valuable refrigerator space for something else. Please let me know if you have any further thoughts or questions.  

Over and oat,

4 Messages

2 years ago

Hi Dear, Can I heat the oat drink during winter without opening the package? And am I need to finish it after heating and cannot keep few days without opening?

Best wishes with thanks,

German

10 Messages

Hello German,

 

If the oat drink has been frozen, you can heat it but we do recommend to do so in a pan and not while the oat drink is still in the unopened carton. 

 

Over and oat,

Karim at Oatly

4 Messages

Thanks Karim.

1 Message

2 years ago

Hello!

Why does the chilled version froth better and taste better when making coffee compared to the ambient version (even if the ambient version has been in the fridge)?

16 Messages

Hi Katie! 

 

That's an interesting question! I'm going to assume you are referring to our chilled and ambient versions of our Oat Drink Barista! If only our oat drinks could talk so they could give you an answer to this, as that is quite the mystery! On our end, there is no reason for there to be a difference, as they contain the same ingredients, such as the fat content which determines how well the oat drink would froth. Perhaps storage or how long the cartons are opened for might impact this! Nonetheless, we're happy to hear you have an option that froths and tastes dreamy! 

 

Love, 

Jas at Oatly 

2 years ago

Is the packaging of the chilled version more easily recycled and is does it use less energy to produce?

29 Messages

Hi Virginia, 

 

Our packaging is within the most common streams for sorting and collection. We try to ensure that our packaging is technically possible to recycle everywhere. Though, there is still a lot of progress to be made to further enhance recycling, collection schemes, and recycling facilities globally. As for energy, our ambition is to source 100% renewable energy. We’re also constantly working on ways to use less of it overall. Do let us know if you have any other questions. 

Love,

Shawn from Oatly

1 Message

2 years ago

My workplace just had an ~8hr power loss so I wanted to clarify to be safe—

We store the ambient aseptic milks in the fridge. Are they still ok since they were unopened? I’m not sure since this would mean they’d be re-refrigerated after having lost their refrigeration.

14 Messages

Hi Ashley,

and thanks for reaching out to us about this, better to be safe than sorry, am I right or amirite?

Anyway, fret not! The chilled range is the only one that NEEDS to be kept cold, and as with any of our products regardless of if shelf stable or not, it is imperative that they are kept cold once opened.  Please let me know if you have any further thoughts or questions.  

Wishing you a t-Oatly great weekend, 

4 Messages

2 years ago

Is longlife oatly as healthy as chilled oatly?

142 Messages

Hi Mi,

 

our chilled and longlife oat drinks are just the same - only different packaging! Hope this helps, please let us know if we can clarify anything about a specific oat drink or so?

 

All the best, 

Åsa at Oatly

4 Messages

Thank you for replying so quickly.  I read that longlife cow milk is less nutritious than fresh cow milk: "Nutritionally, UHT milk is slightly poorer than fresh pasteurised milk; it contains around a third less iodine, and the quality of protein degrades during storage." (source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27898-so-many-milks-but-do-their-health-claims-really-stack-up/).  I wonder if it is the same for longlife Oatly vs fresh Oatly?

142 Messages

Hi again Mi!

 

No, it's not. All our oat drinks undergo the same heat treatment and we do quality checks to ensure the nutritional values stated on the package correlate to the content - also over time.

 

For us offering both ambient and chilled oat drinks has to do with the fact we want to be available in the dairy section for an easy swap from cow's milk plant-based! Hope this makes sense!

 

All the best,


Åsa at Oatly