About Silk
Silk traces back to WhiteWave Foods, a soy and tofu business Steve Demos founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1977. Silk launched in 1996 as the first refrigerated soymilk sold nationally in the U.S., and its arrival in the dairy case next to milk and creamer, rather than tucked into a shelf-stable aisle, is widely credited with helping plant-based milk become a mainstream grocery category rather than a health-food niche. WhiteWave spun off from Dean Foods in 2013, and Danone acquired the company in 2017; Silk now operates as part of Danone North America, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado.
The lineup we drew from for this list spans soymilk, almondmilk, oatmilk, cashewmilk, and coconutmilk, in both drinking and creamer formats, alongside plant-based yogurt alternatives. The Original Soymilk we tested carries 8 g of protein per serving, the highest of any product on our non-dairy creamer roundup, because soy protein holds together under heat and acid far better than a nut-based emulsion does. That is the same structural reason soy became the default plant milk behind cafe espresso bars for two decades before oat milk's more recent rise.
Brand website: silk.com
What Silk makes
Silk's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Original and Unsweetened Soymilk
shelf-stable and refrigerated soymilk carrying 8 g of protein per serving -- our tested pick for the highest-protein, most heat-stable creamer on this list — featured on Brew Gazette
Almondmilk
original, vanilla, and unsweetened refrigerated almond milk and creamer lines
Oatmilk
oat milk and oat-based creamers, including a barista-formulated line
Nextmilk
a blended plant-milk formula marketed for a dairy-like taste and texture
Coconutmilk and Cashewmilk
refrigerated drinking milks in the brand's broader plant-based lineup
Yogurt alternatives
soy- and almond-based cultured yogurt alternatives
Why we recognized Silk
The Brew Gazette Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Silk earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, brewed with daily, and judged on what lands in the cup.
Silk products we rated highly
Silk Plant Based Shelf-Stable Soy Milk, Original, 32 Fl Oz (6 Count)
8 g of protein per serving is the highest figure on this page in our testing, and that protein is what lets it hold up in a hot cup better than the nut milks we tested alongside it: soy protein resists breaking far better than a nut emulsion, which is why soy has been a cafe staple for two decades. The aseptic cartons keep for months unopened, so a six-pack sits in a cupboard rather than the fridge, and it's certified gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO and carrageenan-free with no dairy anywhere on the panel. It carries 1,946 ratings at a 4.6 average in our review of the category, and we noted plainly that it is soy milk doing creamer duty rather than a purpose-built creamer, so it pours thinner than a dedicated one.
Read the 9 Best Non-Dairy Coffee Creamers of 2026 guide →What earned Silk the recognition
- A top pick in Brew Gazette's non-dairy coffee creamer testing, drawn from nine tested products for the highest protein content on the page and a formulation that holds up best under heat.
- 8 g of protein per serving, sourced from soy, which resists breaking down in hot, acidic coffee far better than nut-based emulsions -- a structural reason soy became a cafe default well before oat milk's rise.
- Certified gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO and carrageenan-free, with a clean panel and no dairy-derived ingredients, on a page built around checking labels for hidden dairy.
- A genuine plant-based pioneer: Silk launched the first nationally distributed refrigerated soymilk in 1996, a launch widely credited with moving plant-based milk into the mainstream dairy case.
- Backed by Danone North America's scale and food-safety infrastructure since the 2017 acquisition of parent company WhiteWave Foods, while still operating under its original Silk branding.