When it comes to the fast-growing world of oat milk, there's lots of players. But in Asia, one brand is often among the first on everyone's lips. Oatside was founded by a Singaporean and is one of Asia's first "full-stack" oat milk brands - they source their oats directly from Australia and process it in-house at their Indonesian based facility, and their oat milk is sold across major supermarkets and across cafes in Southeast Asia. 

Recently, the brand did what is perhaps the inevitable and natural next step when it comes to the Asian consumer market: launching a matcha variant of their popular oat milk. The new Oatside Matcha Oat Milk contains 20mg L-thenanine, a natural compound found in matcha tea leaves, and is marketed as a RTD milk packet or as a natural alternative milk base in popular drinks like matcha lattes. 

We previously did a taste test of their original Oat Milk alongside two of their flavoured variants - the chocolate oat milk and the coffee oat milk, which you can read here. Naturally, I had to get my hands on the new Oatside Matcha Oat Milk to give it a taste test! Is it the new no-brainer go-to drink for matcha lovers across Asia? Let's find out! 

Oatside Matcha Oat Milk - Tasting Notes 

Appearance: Pastel milky green

Nose: Nutty aroma of oat and roasted hazelnut, with a very subtle earthy tinge of matcha.

Taste: Smooth and creamy mouthfeel, consistent with the classic Oatside textural profile. There's a gentle sweetness that makes this very approachable, with the main flavour being a roasted note of oats, hazelnuts, and vanilla cream. The matcha is surprisingly quite subdued however, adding a faint grassiness and umami that emerges mainly towards the finish. 

Finish: Its in the finish that the matcha note grows in prominence, evolving into a slightly tannic, roasted tea note, akin to a hojicha latte. I'm also picking up on some nutty undertones of sunflower seeds and rolled oats. 

Overall Thoughts 

It's clear that Oatside tends to always nail well is a good mouthfeel and rich creaminess - an element that tends to hold well over all its flavoured variant. I still enjoy the strong sweet nuttiness of oats that's present in this Matcha Oat Milk, giving it a great body. 

That said, I couldn't help but feel the matcha note left me wanting. It was fairly subdued and came through as a matcha-tint, rather than taking centre stage in the same way that was achieved with the Oatside Chocolate Oat Milk or the Coffee Oat Milk. There wasn't a punchy earthy umami that really anchored the palate, which I feel might disappoint consumers that were expecting something as akin to a matcha oat milk latte. I would say the subtle matcha undertone helped accentuate an overall nuttiness that was already present in the original base Oatside Oat Milk, rather than the other way around - having the normal Oat Milk act as a base to accentuate the matcha flavour. 

@lotusroot518