Coffee creamer is bizarre. It makes everything you add it to taste sweet, oily and industrial yet it’s so popular in some cultures that it’s considered a no-brainer.
Well, there are over 5 billion lactose intolerant people out there. Coffee creamers do typically include a very small amount of milk derivative, but it’s not enough to make a difference if you don’t have a dairy allergy.
It tends to be geographic, so if you live in a region that’s able to deal with lactose, you’d have the impression lactose intolerance isn’t super common. But entire regions are lactose intolerant, like Southeast Asia (including China) and about half of India.
Basically anytime you see dairy as rare or non-existent in a region’s traditional cuisine, that’s why.
Coffee creamer is bizarre. It makes everything you add it to taste sweet, oily and industrial yet it’s so popular in some cultures that it’s considered a no-brainer.
For anyone wondering about transatlantic definitions: US Heavy Cream is 38%, UK Double Cream 48% US “Half and half” is 12%, UK Single Cream 18%
They can basically be used interchangeably.
Milk is also basically the same, UK Semi-skimmed is 1.7%, so (obviously) closer to 2%.
Good coffee is good black
I discovered creamer recently, I honestly don’t get it. It tastes awful and why not use actual cream or milk in coffee than this thing ?
Well, there are over 5 billion lactose intolerant people out there. Coffee creamers do typically include a very small amount of milk derivative, but it’s not enough to make a difference if you don’t have a dairy allergy.
Five billion? So the majority of people are lactose intolerant?
Yes. 60-70% are the estimate ranges I’ve seen.
Wow, I didn’t think it was that widespread.
It tends to be geographic, so if you live in a region that’s able to deal with lactose, you’d have the impression lactose intolerance isn’t super common. But entire regions are lactose intolerant, like Southeast Asia (including China) and about half of India.
Basically anytime you see dairy as rare or non-existent in a region’s traditional cuisine, that’s why.