Both MYOM Original Oat and MYOM Barista Oat have earned the Vegan Choice Awards 2026 stamp of approval. To mark the moment, Louise Jane, founder and CEO of The Vegan Choice Awards, sat down with our founder Mike Curtis for a proper CEO to CEO conversation on oat milk, sustainability and how to do plant-based drinks better.
The Vegan Choice Awards are not a traditional food industry accolade. There is no “best oat milk” category, no paid entry, no awards calendar to win. Products are assessed year-round by an independent panel of nutritionists, chefs, industry experts and business professionals, with blind testing at the heart of the process. Recognition is earned on merit, continuously. That is exactly why the stamp carries weight with consumers. It is a signal of trust, not a signal of marketing budget.
What follows is the full conversation. Louise's questions are in italics. Mike's answers run beneath each one. We have left it largely as it was spoken, with light edits for readability.
Why this conversation matters
Plant-based shelves are crowded, cluttered with marketing claims and confusing for the average shopper. Independent recognition that is genuinely independent is rarer than it should be. The Vegan Choice Awards are deliberately built the other way around to most food awards. No entry fee. No categories. No awards night. Just continuous, panel-led, independent assessment of products available to everyday shoppers.
A few things in particular set the Vegan Choice Awards apart.
- Not pay to play. There is no entry fee at any stage. Brands cannot buy their way in. Products are independently assessed by a panel of nutritionists, chefs, industry experts and business professionals, with blind testing where relevant.
- Year-round assessment. Products are reviewed continuously, not within a fixed awards window. Recognition is earned on merit, not on timing or which PR cycle a brand happens to be in.
- A genuine stamp of approval. The award is designed to build trust with a growing, discerning consumer group. It acts as a shortcut for shoppers navigating a category that has become difficult to navigate on your own.
Both MYOM Original and MYOM Barista earned the stamp on their own merits. We're genuinely chuffed.
Louise Jane and Mike Curtis in conversation
The MYOM origin story and the lightbulb moment
Louise: Can you kick things off by sharing the MYOM origin story? Was there a specific “lightbulb moment” where you realised the world desperately needed a better way to do oat milk?
Mike: The lightbulb moment came in 2020, sat listening to the CEO of Dubai Airports describe the daily inbound milk round as a “747 from Belgium, every single day”. It genuinely stopped me in my tracks. The absurdity of flying a chilled product of what is essentially water thousands of miles, with a short shelf life, started something in my head and I couldn't let it go.
The work of Poore and Nemecek had already made the climate case for plant-based drinks unarguable, but when you look at the plant-based milk category, the revolution typically stopped at the farm gate. Dairy built the distribution system, and nobody seemed to be questioning the basic premise, which is shipping 90% water around the world in a multi-layer carton. It just didn't add up. I came back to the UK in 2021 with a very clear mission; take the water out, build a fit for purpose product the planet and the shopper could get behind.
From idea to physical product
Louise: What did the journey look like when transitioning from that initial big idea to holding a physical product in your hands?
Mike: Long, and at times quite humbling. We kicked off R&D in October 2022 and what started as “take the water out and put it in a pouch” turned into two full years of serious food development science. We assembled a brilliant team; Sarah King, who led NPD at Innocent and Ella's Kitchen, came on as our lead food technologist, alongside a registered nutritionist, and other plant-based specialists. The core problem was that nobody had ever preserved an oat blend seven times more concentrated than standard oat milk, in a small recyclable pouch, under ambient conditions. It had genuinely never been done, which meant there was no playbook to follow.
What followed was a proper test-fail-refine cycle. The challenge was to make an ambient shelf-stable product without compromising taste, nutrition or price for the consumer. A product that would taste like freshly made oat milk regardless of how long the pouch was stored ambiently. The pouch itself ended up weighing just 6g, versus roughly 35g for a standard carton. Better taste, a lot less waste.
What sets MYOM apart from other oat milks
Louise: For those who haven't met you yet, what sets MYOM apart from other oat milks on the market?
Mike: Pretty much everything. Most oat drinks are 90% water shipped in a carton that weighs more than the oats inside it. We flipped the model. You get a small, letterbox size pouches of a the base blend of oat milk distributed as a premix. You add water when you want it, and what lands in the glass is fresher, creamier oat milk that takes up no fridge space until you mix it. Better on taste, less space in your cupboard, and dramatically better for the planet. And because we're not adding water we don't need the additives that tend to sneak into many ready-made oat drinks.
Silky texture without gums or thickeners
Louise: You've won awards for that signature creamy taste. How do you achieve such a silky texture without relying on the usual gums or thickeners?
Mike: The short answer is that when you start with a properly blended oat base, you don't actually need gums or thickeners to get that silky mouthfeel; the ingredients themselves give you the body. The trouble is that emulsions at that concentration are genuinely difficult to stabilise.
Instead of using additives, we went the hard way and built the stability into the process. High shear creates an emulsion that holds on its own. That's where the creaminess comes from; real oats, properly processed, and fortified.
Why the ingredient list stays short
Louise: Why was it a non-negotiable for you to keep the ingredient list short and avoid “nasties” like dipotassium phosphate?
Mike: Because if you read the back of a standard oat carton, you'll find things like dipotassium phosphate, acidity regulators, emulsifiers, and often a quiet little “added sugar”. Most of that is there to survive months of warehousing and chilled distribution. Don't add the water, get the process right, and you simply don't need any of it. Our stance from day one was, if we can't justify it, it's not going in. So, the list is oats, rapeseed oil, salt, and the fortification. No thickeners, no phosphates, no emulsifiers, no added sugar. It's the oat drink people assume they're already drinking, and almost never are.
Why a liquid concentrate, not a powder
Louise: Walk us through the “make it at home” process. What led you to choose a liquid concentrate over a powder?
Mike: Powder was an option, and one we consciously avoided. To make a powder you have to spray-dry an oat base which is energy intensive and undermines any transportation impact benefit. Powders can leave that chalky mouthfeel people recognise and they usually need maltodextrin and emulsifiers to help it rehydrate, and in our testing, powders never really dissolved cleanly; you always ended up with that slight graininess.
A liquid blend keeps the oats in a natural form, preserving the flavour, and mixes more cleanly with cold water and a good shake. No blender, no bits, no powdery residue. The trade-off is that a liquid concentrate is genuinely hard to stabilise at ambient temperature in a small pouch, which is exactly the problem we spent two years solving. But the result is an oat drink that tastes like it was made that morning, because in a sense, it was.
The biggest sustainability win
Louise: Beyond the great taste, your sustainability efforts really stand out. What would you consider your biggest “win” for the environment so far?
Mike: Honestly, pick your favourite metric. The pouch itself is recyclable mono-material, weighing 6g including the cap, versus roughly 35g for a standard asceptic carton, which is a multi-material composite that it is difficult to separate and recycle. Then there's the transport saving; because we don't add water, we're shipping roughly a seventh of the volume per serving. That means dramatically fewer lorries, fewer pallets, and the whole system becomes postable rather than reliant on chilled distribution. And because you only mix what you need, when you need it, household waste drops too; no half-finished cartons going off in the fridge. If I had to pick one headline, it's that we've turned a fridge product into a cupboard product without compromising what's in the glass. That is the shift.
“We've turned a fridge product into a cupboard product without compromising what's in the glass. That is the shift.”
Calcium, B12, iodine and vitamin D3
Louise: Many people stick to dairy for the calcium. Can you tell us about the fortifications in MYOM and how they compare?
Mike: This one matters, because it's where the “dairy is the only real source” argument falls over. MYOM is fortified with calcium, vitamin D3, vitamin B12, and iodine, the four nutrients that come up in every honest conversation about moving away from dairy. We have gone slightly above dairy on calcium, which surprises people. The B12 matters for anyone eating fully plant-based (it's the one nutrient you genuinely need to think about), and iodine quietly matters a lot too, especially in the UK where dietary intake is low and dairy has historically been the main source. We worked closely with our nutritionist to make sure the fortification is bioavailable rather than just ticking a box on the label.
MYOM Original Oat versus MYOM Barista Oat
Louise: What are the main differences between your Original and Barista blends?
Mike: The Original is our everyday oat drink; cleaner flavour, lower fat, works beautifully over cereal, in tea, in smoothies, or straight from the glass. The Barista is built for coffee. It has a different fat profile and fava bean protein addition to give it the micro foam and heat stability the best coffee demands. Getting the Barista right was honestly one of the toughest parts of the whole programme.
If you love coffee or a creamier taste, go Barista. If you're a tea-and-cereal household, go Original. Many of our regular customers buy both and we have different bottles, so you easily spot the difference in the fridge.
Why MYOM was designed to be postable
Louise: The small pouches are a game-changer for travel. Was portability a key part of your initial design, or a happy accident?
Mike: Absolutely intentional. The whole project started from the observation that oat milk was being shipped around the world for no good reason, so “postable” was a design constraint from the start. We wanted a product you could drop through a letterbox, stash in a cupboard, or throw in a suitcase; something that fitted the way people live now, especially if you travel, commute, or just don't have endless fridge space. A 65g pouch makes 500ml of oat milk and a 130g pouch makes a full litre, which means you're essentially carrying the blend and making it when you need.
The bit many people tend to fall in love with is you can add it directly to tea and coffee because the water is already in the drink.
Where to try MYOM
Louise: Finally, where can our readers go to grab a starter kit and try MYOM for themselves?
Mike: Easiest place is myom.shop, where you'll find everything, we make. And because Vegan Choice followers are our sort of people, we've put together two offers. Use code MYOMXVC26 at checkout and you'll get:
- The MYOM 1L Original Everyday Bundle for £12.99 (down from £20.99) saving £8 (around 38% off).
- The MYOM 1L Barista Everyday Bundle for £10.99 down from £18.99 also saving £8 (around 42% off).
Come in through Original if you're new to us. Come in through Barista if coffee is your thing. Either way, thank you for reading, and I genuinely hope you love it.
The Vegan Choice reader offer: choose Original or Barista, save £8
To celebrate both MYOM Original Oat and MYOM Barista Oat earning the Vegan Choice Awards 2026 stamp of approval, we've unlocked an exclusive launch offer for Vegan Choice readers. The code MYOMXVC26 gives you £8 off either Everyday Bundle. The offer applies to one bundle per customer, so pick the variant that matches how you drink your oat milk.
MYOM 1L Original Everyday Bundle
For tea, cereal, smoothies and your everyday pour.
- Was £20.99.
- Now £12.99 with code MYOMXVC26.
- You save £8. Around 38% off.
MYOM 1L Barista Everyday Bundle
For flat whites, lattes, and anyone who takes their coffee seriously.
- Was £18.99.
- Now £10.99 with code MYOMXVC26.
- You save £8. Around 42% off.
Choose Original or Barista. £8 off your pick. Code MYOMXVC26 at checkout.
Original Bundle £12.99 (was £20.99). Barista Bundle £10.99 (was £18.99).
Code MYOMXVC26 works on either bundle. One bundle per customer.
Frequently asked questions
What did MYOM win at the Vegan Choice Awards 2026?
Both MYOM Original Oat and MYOM Barista Oat earned the Vegan Choice Awards 2026 stamp of approval. The Vegan Choice Awards are not a category-based awards programme. There is no “best oat milk” title. Instead, products are independently assessed year-round by a panel of nutritionists, chefs, industry experts and business professionals, with blind testing where relevant. The stamp is awarded on merit.
What makes the Vegan Choice Awards different from other food awards?
The Vegan Choice Awards have no entry fee, no categories, no awards night and no fixed awards calendar. Brands cannot buy their way in. Products are reviewed continuously throughout the year by an independent panel, and recognition is earned on merit. The stamp of approval is designed to act as a shortcut for shoppers, signalling trust rather than marketing budget.
Who is Mike Curtis, founder of MYOM?
Mike Curtis is the founder of MYOM, a UK plant-based drinks brand built around the idea that oat milk should not be 90% water shipped in multi-layer cartons. After hearing the CEO of Dubai Airports describe the city's daily milk supply as “a 747 from Belgium, every single day”, Mike returned to the UK in 2021 determined to build an oat milk premix. R&D began in October 2022 and ran for two years before MYOM Original Oat and MYOM Barista Oat launched.
Who is Louise Jane of The Vegan Choice Awards?
Louise Jane is the founder and CEO of The Vegan Choice Awards. The Vegan Choice Awards independently assess plant-based products year-round through a panel of nutritionists, chefs, industry experts and business professionals, awarding a stamp of approval to products earned purely on merit.
What is in MYOM oat milk?
MYOM contains oats, rapeseed oil, water, salt and fortification: calcium, vitamin D3 (lichen-derived, vegan), vitamin B12 and iodine. There are no thickeners, no gums, no dipotassium phosphate, no acidity regulators and no added sugar. The Barista blend additionally contains fava bean protein for microfoam and heat stability.
Does MYOM oat milk have more calcium than dairy milk?
Yes. MYOM is fortified slightly above the calcium level of dairy milk, alongside vitamin D3, vitamin B12 and iodine. These are the four nutrients most cited when moving away from dairy, and MYOM's fortification is designed to be bioavailable, not just label-declared.
Why did MYOM choose a liquid concentrate instead of a powder?
MYOM is a liquid concentrate because spray-drying oats into a powder is energy intensive and would offset the transport savings of shipping without water. Powders also typically need maltodextrin and emulsifiers to rehydrate, and tend to leave a chalky mouthfeel. A liquid concentrate keeps the oats in their natural form, mixes cleanly with cold water and tastes closer to freshly made oat milk.
What is the difference between MYOM Original Oat and MYOM Barista Oat?
MYOM Original Oat is the everyday oat drink, lower in fat with a cleaner flavour, ideal for tea, cereal and smoothies. MYOM Barista Oat is built for coffee, with a different fat profile and added fava bean protein for microfoam and heat stability in flat whites and lattes. Both earned the Vegan Choice Awards 2026 stamp of approval.
How is MYOM more sustainable than carton oat milk?
MYOM ships the oat blend without the water. The pouch weighs around 6g and is recyclable mono-material, compared to around 35g for a standard multi-layer aseptic oat milk carton. Removing the water means roughly a seventh of the transport volume per serving, fewer lorries, fewer pallets, and no chilled supply chain. Households also waste less because oat milk is mixed only when needed.
How do I use the MYOMXVC26 discount code?
Add either the MYOM 1L Original Everyday Bundle or the MYOM 1L Barista Everyday Bundle to your basket at myom.shop, then enter MYOMXVC26 at checkout. You will save £8 on either bundle. The code is valid on one bundle per customer.
Try the oat milk the Vegan Choice Awards approved
If you're new to MYOM, start with Original. If coffee is your thing, go straight to Barista. Either way, the code is MYOMXVC26 and the saving is £8.
Shop MYOM with £8 off. Code MYOMXVC26.
Original Bundle £12.99 (was £20.99). Barista Bundle £10.99 (was £18.99).
Code MYOMXVC26 works on either bundle. One bundle per customer.
Thank you to Louise and the team at The Vegan Choice Awards. We're proud to wear the stamp. And prouder still that readers like you are part of the shift.
