Evaporated Milk – which is the best brand?

Evaporated milk is in our opinion, is the secret ingredient to a balanced cup of kopi or teh. You’ll find it a handy condiment to have if you’re trying to brew your own kopi at home.

Sadly, it tends to be overshadowed by its sweeter counterpart, condensed milk.

We serve local kopi and teh as part of our traditional kopi cart service.

To elevate the taste of our drinks, we look for the following characteristics in an evaporated milk product:

• Mouth feel: It should have a thick, viscous mouth feel that adds body to the drinks.
• Taste: in simple terms, evaporated milk is a reduced form of milk. We don’t want it to taste too sweet, nor have any off putting taste or aftertaste.

While we were developing our recipes, we were curious if there are significant differences in these characteristics, across brands of evaporated milk.

So, we headed to the nearest supermarket, got our hands on the most commonly found evaporated milk products, and drank a ton of kopi to find out.

Disclaimer! This is not a scientific experiment, there is nothing statistically significant. Everything written below is based on our opinion and taste.

tl:dr; don’t troll, experiment to develop your favourite kopi or teh recipe instead.

Our Evaporated Milk Taste Test

How we ran the test

6 different evaporated milk products were purchased at the nearest supermarket.

Two rounds of tasting were done, focusing on different purposes;

• Round 1: Evaporate milk taste test – we tasted the evaporated milk on its own
• Round 2: Beverage taste test – we tasted kopi and teh made using the different evaporated milk products.

The Evaporated Milk candidates

We purchased 6 evaporated milk products from different brands, they are:

Marigold Evaporated Creamer Contains: Milk Solids, Vegetable Fat, Sucrose, Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Vitamins (A and D3)	F&N Evaporated Filled Milk Contains: Milk Solids, Palm Oil, Emulsifier, Stabiliser, Vitamins (A and D3)	Fairprice Evaporated Filled Milk Contains: Water, Milk Solids, Palm Oil, Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Vitamins (A and D3)
Carnation Evaporated Full Cream Milk Contains: Milk Solid, Milk Fat, Emulsifier, Stabilisers, Vitamins (A and D3)	Marigold King of Kings Evaporated Milk Contains: Milk Solids, Milk Fat, Emulsifier, Stabiliser, Vitamins (A and D3)	Teapot Evaporated Creamer Contains: Milk Solids, Palm Oil, Sugar, Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Vitamins (A, D3)

Notes:

• There are slight differences between evaporated fill cream milk, evaporated creamer and evaporated filled milk. These are explained in a later section of this article.
• You’ll also notice patterns between labels and ingredients, I expand more below.

Taste Taste Part I: Evaporated Milk

First, we tasted the evaporated milk straight from the can.

Not the most exciting part but knowing how the evaporated milk tastes allows us to compare the products directly.

It also gives us an idea of how the evaporated milk will affect the final taste and experience of our beverages.

There were also detectable differences in the evaporated milk.

Pardon my poor camera skills, but you should be able to see the difference in intensity between the various brands. (FnN Evaporated Filled Milk is not included above as it was added in during the 2nd run of the test. Colour-wise, it lies between Marigold King of Kings and Carnation.)

Marigold King of Kings, Carnation and FnN were also more viscous compared to the rest.

What we think…

Marigold Evaporated Creamer Least sweet, detectable body, has an astringent aftertaste.	F&N Evaporated Filled Milk Has a thick, heavy body, balanced with a floral aftertaste.
Carnation Evaporated Full Cream Milk Balanced, sweet with a pleasant aftertaste.	Marigold King of Kings Evaporated Milk Rich aftertaste, probably good for thick mouth feel. Visibly more viscous than the rest.
Fairprice Evaporated Filled Milk Very sweet with no other detectable flavors. However, it has a weird aftertaste that feels fat or oily.	Teapot Evaporated Creamer Sweet with pleasant lingering aftertaste.

Best tasting evaporated milk by itself? In my opinion, it’s the F&N Evaporated filled milk.

But I doubt you’ll want to drink evaporated milk straight from the can, so on to the more important test:

Taste Test Part II: lim kopi

We brewed a range of beverages (namely; kopi, kopi c, teh, teh C), using different evaporated milk product.

Drinks in the same category were brewed using the same concentrate, in a single seating.

Our drinks recipes are shared here. I’ve also listed them in the section below.

In this part of the test, we tasted the assembled beverages and compare the differences.  

What we think…

Marigold Evaporated Creamer Kopi tastes balanced with a good mouthfeel. Doesn’t overpower the taste of kopi. May need to add more sugar in a Kopi C. Goes well with teh too.	FnN Evaporated Filled Milk Kopi tastes less bitter and feels thicker. A lingering milky aftertaste is detectable, may not be suitable for everyone. (may be rectified if we tweaked our recipes later) We would probably go with this for Hong Kong styled milk teas.
Carnation Evaporated Full Cream Milk Very similar to FnN’s evaporated filled milk. Kopi tastes less bitter and has a good body. Has a slight astringent aftertaste.	Marigold King of Kings Evaporated Milk Provides the richest, thickest mouth feel out of the entire test group. However, there’s a lingering astringency after drinking. We might have to reduce the amount used in our recipe should we decide to go with this evaporated milk product.
Fairprice Evaporated Filled Milk Very sweet, but doesn’t provide detectable body or milk taste.	Teapot Evaporated Creamer Beverages tastes relatively sweeter which is no surprise as the Teapot Evaporated Creamer is sweeter to start off with. There was a slightly bitter after taste which was surprising.

Best Evaporated Milk Brand?

Taste Test Conclusion

We liked that the Marigold Evaporated Creamer is versatile and works well for all beverages, but loved the milk tea made with Carnation’s Evaporated full cream milk.

With exception to Fairprice Evaporated Filled Milk (I would personally avoid it), all of these evaporated milk would produce enjoyable kopi or teh beverages with small tweaks in our recipes.

In a nutshell, here are our takeaways:

• Marigold Evaporated Creamer is a versatile evaporated milk product that works for most drinks.
• For thicker, milkier kopi or teh, use Marigold King of Kings or F&N.
• Carnation and Teapot are relatively sweeter, and seem to be more commonly used as cooking ingredients.

P.S. I may be slightly biased. At Alliance Coffee, we use Marigold’s evaporated creamer for our recipes.

If you’re using other brands, you may need to tweak the recipes according to your taste and preference. (but this article is not sponsored, we carried out this test simply because we were curious about evaporated milk options.)

Our Recipes

Every coffee shop in Singapore uses different brands and different recipes, which ultimately affects the taste of their drinks.

Here, we share the recipe used at our Traditional Kopi carts or pop ups. 

To ensure consistency across our stage 2 test, we use the same recipe, substituting only the evaporated milk product. Coffee and Tea concentrates are pre brewed and used to assemble the final drinks. (This is how we brew kopi)

We’ve published our traditional kopi recipes previously.

Here’re the recipes we used for this test:

Kopi recipe:

• 3/4 cup Kopi concentrate
• 1 teaspoon condensed milk (heap)
• 3 teaspoons evaporated milk
• Top up with hot water
• Mix well

Kopi C recipe:

• 3/4 cup Kopi concentrate
• 3 teaspoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Top up with hot water
• Mix well

Teh Recipe

• 3/4 cup Teh concentrate
• 1 teaspoon condensed milk (heap)
• 3 teaspoons evaporated milk
• Top up with hot water
• Mix well

Teh C Recipe

• 3/4 cup Teh concentrate
• 3 teaspoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Top up with hot water
• Mix well

Although evaporated milk is commonly used in the ‘C’ or ‘Si’ beverages, we’ve noticed that it gives our kopi and teh a good mouthfeel. If you find your kopi a little thin, give evaporated milk a try.

Definitions

If you took a walk down the supermarket aisle for processed milk, you’ll find a range of “evaporated” milk products – evaporated milk, evaporated creamer, evaporated filled milk, full cream evaporated milk, etc.

Don’t panic!

Here’re the differences:

Evaporated Milk vs Evaporated Creamer

Evaporated milk refers to milk that has been reduced by heating while evaporated creamer refers to a reconstituted milk product made by combining milk solids, edible vegetable fat and water. 

This is probably the first question that will come to mind if you’ve ever needed to purchase some evaporated milk for cooking, baking or even brewing coffee. Evaporated milk and evaporated creamer tend to be used interchangeably, especially in local coffee shops.

Here’s a more in-depth explanation of their differences:

Evaporated Milk manufacturing process

During the manufacturing process, approximately 50% to 60% of its original amount of water is removed, leaving a thicker, more concentrated milk product that looks creamy.

Because of the process it undergoes, evaporated milk is often characterised by a subtle caramel (or toasty) taste. It is often used in cooking and baking for a creamier texture and to add an additional flavor dimension and is said to contain high level of protein and calcium.

You can even make your own evaporated milk. Here’s a tutorial on youtube.

Evaporated Creamer manufacturing process

On the other hand, evaporated creamer is a reconstituted form of milk.

It tends to be less sweet compared to evaporated milk and is often used in beverage recipes (i.e. coffee, teas, fruit juices, etc) as well as desserts to provide a creamier, thicker mouthfeel.

Evaporated Milk vs Condensed Milk

Another common ingredient in local coffee is condensed milk.

You’ll probably be surprise to note that they are very similar. The only difference between evaporated milk and condensed milk is the addition of sugar. Condensed milk is essentially the sweetened version of evaporated milk. 

We’ll dive more into condensed milk in another article…soon.

What is evaporated full cream milk?

Evaporated milk can come in various options – full cream aka regular, low fat or fat free aka skimmed.

Basically, evaporated full cream milk is the same as evaporated milk. The distinction only comes in handy when you are comparing between regular, low fat or fat free evaporated milk.

What is evaporated filled milk?

Filled milk refers to milk that has been reconstituted with vegetable oil (or fats) from other sources (instead of daily cows). Evaporated filled milk is usually used for cooking and baking and rarely used in beverages as it has an unusual characteristic flavor.

For the scientific definition of evaporated milk, you can read this chapter from the book “Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition” on Science Direct.

Some FAQs

Can I use fresh milk instead of evaporated milk?

Yes you can.

However, do note that evaporated milk products are generally thicker and this contributes to the mouthfeel of your final drink.

We’ve also noticed that fresh milk do not seem to cut through the kopi concentrate as well. You will need to tweak the recipe to your preference.

Can I use oat milk instead of evaporated milk?

Can. You do you.

Do you sell evaporated milk?

No. You can check out the supermarket near you, or find evaporated milk products on Lazada, Shopee or Qoo10.

Quick note on the use of evaporated milk products at local kopi shops

I talked to (and “spied” on) several of favorite kopi shops. It is of no surprise to notice that the evaporated milk product of choice varies between the coffee shops.

The most popular products based on my rather limited observation are: Marigold’s Evaporated Creamer and F&N’s evaporated filled milk. 

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get your hands on F&N’s evaporated filled milk. These seem to be mostly sold B2B, I’ve only seen it at selected ABC discount stores. You may also find it on Lazada or Shopee.

tl;dr

We did a quick, small scale taste test of 6 different evaporated milk products with our kopi and teh beverages.

Marigold Evaporated Creamer and F&N Evaporated Filled Milk are good options to start with. If you like a milky aftertaste in your kopi, King of Kings is a good option.

Regardless of your choice, you will probably need to tweak the recipe to your liking.

Start brewing kopi at home with our kopi kits!