I have a younger sister whose characters are the opposite of me. She is kind and gentle while I am impatient. She takes her time doing her things while I am always in the rush. Interestingly, while opposite in characters, we look kinda like twins. And we also have very similar interests.

Anyway, while I studied engineering and finance, she took nutrirional science as her major. So when the two of us were living together in Singapore, I learned a lot about nutrition from her. I owe it to her for teaching me a lot of these healthy eating habits. One of those was the need to reduce my consumption of dairy products. Since dairy can worsen any inflammations that I may have in my system.

While it was difficult to stop drinking milk when we have been drinking it every day since we were born, we managed to experiment with a few nut milk that we enjoyed to have. We tried everything from rice milk to hazelnut, millet, and quinoa milk, that were available over the counter. Nonetheless, we never thought of trying making of of them on our own.

Little that we know, there is one nut milk that is very easy to prepare at home with the help of a blender (not necessary a powerful one). This is cashew milk.

Cashew milk is a healthy substitute for cow’s milk. It is rich in mono-nonsaturated fat, which is beneficial to keep our cholesterol in check. Also, it is a good source for vitamin B and plenty of minerals, including Calcium, Magnesium, Copper, and Manganese. It does have less proteins than cow’s milk and higher calories. Thus, anyone who is watching their calories intake should be careful in drinking these creamy milk.

I experimented a bit and came up with a healthy morning drink which is great tasting and also nutritious. I added a dash of strong coffee for my caffeine kick and good taste, a spoonful of chia seeds (who does not love chia seeds these days? It has fun textures and is loaded with nutrients, anti-oxidants, omega-3, and supposed to help us to lose weight), a dash of cinnamon, and some protein powder to compensate for the milk’s lack of protein.

Coffee-Flavored Cashew Milk

Ingredients:

– A cup of raw cashew nuts (I bought one from Kem Chick supermarket under the brand Finna – I do not think this is organic – the price was around IDR 98k for 500grams)

– Filtered water

– Dash of cinnamon

– 3 tablespoons of chia powder

– 1.5 teaspoon of high-quality ground coffee

– A dash of sweetener to taste – I use stevia but you can use maple syrup, coconut nectar, honey, or even palm sugar

– 1 tablespoon of protein powder of your choice – I use Whey Powder (OPTIONAL)

– a dash of salts to taste (OPTIONAL)

Steps:

1. First soak the raw cashew nut in filtered water overnight (at least 4 hours). This soaking will soften the nuts and supposedly release the beneficial nutrients of the nuts

2. Drain the water and rinse with water again and drain – repeat several times

3. Use this proportion 3:1 for water and cashew (less water for creamier texture). Put the cashew into a blender and top it up with filtered water

4. Pulverize for 30seconds until it is white and creamy

5. Pour into serving glass or jugs (it will yield around 800ml)

6. Make a cup of strong coffee using your prefered method (I did mine using coffee filtration)

7. Mix all the other ingredients into the cashew milk (coffee, chia seeds, cinnamon, sweetener, protein powder) and serve. I like to use a shaker to shake everything and have a frothy drink.

8. If you want to refrigerate it, do not add any of the flavorings until you want to serve it

9. This should keep for about a week

You can add or substitute any of the flavorings with the followings:

– nutmeg powder

– vanilla syrup

– coconut oil

– a dash of berry juice

A note of caution: cashews contain oxalate salts which may interfere with your calcium absorption. Accumulation of calcium may develop into kidney stones. People who are prone to develop kidney stones should limit their consumption. Cashew is also known to be allergic for some people.