In an effort to create a more sustainable campus, coffee supplier Maas has launched a pilot with plant-based milk in three different coffee machines. On the second and fourth floors of the Polak Building and on the ground floor of the Sanders Building, cow milk has been replaced with oat milk in the coffee machines. Two more machines with plant-based milk will be installed in the new educational building.
Four Erasmus University employees wait at the machine in the Sanders Building for an oat milk cappuccino. Michiel van der Donck, who works as an Information Security Officer, is pleased with the plant-based option in the machine and offers two students a free cup of coffee. “I think the oat milk is surprisingly tasty. It’s a bit sweeter, which makes me want a cappuccino more than before”, he says.
If the pilot is successful, plant-based milk options will be added to more machines. Van der Donck and his colleague Selma Bundavica expect this to be the case. Bundavica: “I see lots of students at Starbucks ordering their coffee with almond milk or oat milk, so I think these machines will be very popular.”
Better for the environment
The coffee machines with oat milk are suitable for people who follow a vegan, lactose-free or gluten-free diet, and the initiative also helps to create a more sustainable campus. That is important to student and JFR president Joshua Kruithof. “I researched what the best option is for the environment, and it turned out to be oat milk. I only drink oat milk instead of cow milk at home now as well, because I just think it’s delicious.”
Less monotonous
Not all students are aware of the plant-based coffee machines. Sebastian Henn, a Business Information Management student, only discovered them on Thursday afternoon. He normally buys his plant-based coffee at SPAR every day, but now he can get it in the Sanders Building, too. Oat milk, almond milk, soy milk: Sebastian drinks it all. “I think it’s fun to choose a different type of plant-based milk each day. It makes getting coffee less monotonous, especially if you drink it every day”, he says.
