If you're into trendy, colourful lattes, our vegan ube latte is a definitely must-try. It's a zero-caffeine alternative to the classic caffè latte, prepared with wonderfully purple yams — and it's as cute as it is tasty!
After our delicious pink latte with beetroots, we decided to make another delightful no-coffee latte recipe, this time using ube root. Purple yam, known as ube in the Philippines, is a tuber with a vibrant violet flesh and a mildly sweet, nutty flavour.
Although ube and purple sweet potatoes are boot roots and look similar, ube belongs to the family of yams. Compared to sweet potatoes, purple yam has a drier flesh and a bark-like skin. It's a staple food in the Philippines, where it's used to prepare ube halaya spread and colourful desserts.
When you use ube in recipes, you know you'll get a wonderful purple hue that's just too cute. And this ube latte is no exception! So, in the recipe below, we'll show you how to use the fresh root to make a wonderfully purply latte, bursting with lots of healthy antioxidants.
And if you can't get hold of fresh yams, no worries — we'll tell you how to swap it with ube extract or ube halaya. Then, simply choose your favourite vegan milk or follow our recipe and use chilled coconut milk drink. It adds a lovely coconut flavour to the latte but with a fraction of the calories compared to canned coconut milk.
And to finish off in style, top up your ube latte with a super frothy foam — it's so easy to do, even without a frother! So, get ready to slurp it up in your cutest mug!
Ingredients
| Purple Yam (Ube) | 200 g |
| Chilled Coconut Drink (or any other plant-based milk) | 500 mL |
Step 1
Peel purple yams and dice them into large chunks.
If you can't find fresh purple yams, check our tips below for substitutions.
Step 2
Then, add them to a pot, followed by plant-based milk. At this point, you can also add a sweetener if you like, like maple syrup or coconut sugar.
Bring the milk to a boil and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes until the ube releases its purple juices.
Then, remove the chunks from the pot. You can use leftover purple yams to whizz up a quick ube smoothie or prepare a sweet ube spread.
If you notice some foam on the surface of the latte, you can skim it off with a spoon.
Step 3
Your vegan ube latte is now ready.
If you want to top it with a foam layer, reserve a little bit of the purple latte and pour it into a jar.
If you have a hand frother, dip it just underneath the surface and foam the latte for a minute (1). Alternatively, seal the jar and shake it vigorously until the latte is frothy (careful as the jar will be hot).
Divide the ube latter among mugs, pour the prepared foam, and enjoy (2).
Tips
You can replace fresh purple yams with ube extract. You should be able to find it at your local Asian food store or online, where McCormick is one of the most popular manufacturers. Heat the milk with 4 drops of extract per person, adding more if you like a deeper violet hue.
Alternatively, replace fresh yams with half the amount of ube butter (ube halaya) which is available online. Whisk the butter with hot milk until it's completely dissolved.