Shops / milk
Environmentally friendly plant-based milk being made in St Philip’s
What started as an experiment in creating plastic-free, local, plant-based milks has grown into a business delivering 300 bottles each week to Bristol homes.
Tiger and Float, which launched as Tigermylk in 2018, began in the kitchen of Joshua Coppersmith-Heaven, before moving to a production site in St Philip’s.
Joshua launched Tigermylk, which tastes akin to a cross between almond and oat milk and made used tigernuts, is a sustainable milk with low impact on the environment.
In February 2021, Tiger and Float launched its second plant-based milk, FlOat. The milk is made using a unique variety of oats grown by John Turner, a Lincolnshire farmer supplying crops through Hodmedods.
“The oats come from John, and we have gotten know him,” says Joshua, who lives in Easton. “He is even considering making his own plant-based milk, changing from having a dairy farm. The cows will be allowed to graze instead.”
The farm where the oat’s used to make FlOat are grown. Photo: John Turner
Joshua adds that, despite the current success pf delivering hundreds of bottles across the city each week, creating Tigermylk and FlOat took “hundreds of cups of curdled grey tea and sinking milk” to create the products sold today.
As well as delivering to doorstops from Fishponds to Totterdown, Tiger and Float milks are also sold in Easton at the Bristol Sweet Mart and Greenbank Spar, in St Werburgh’s at Sonni’s, at Harvest in Stokes Croft, and at Smaller Footprints and Scoop Wholefoods in Clifton.
The milk is also served in coffee at Thali Easton, St Werburgh’s City Farm cafe and Bakers & Co on Gloucester Road.
Tiger and Float is stocked at stores across the city. Photo: Tiger and Float
Joshua and his assistant, Beatrice Rose Lee, have been approached from businesses such as the Canteen and No1 Harbourside but the business is almost at capacity.
“We’re likely to reach capacity at 450 bottles a week,” says Joshua. “A microbrewery of something similar will actually be needed to increase production, as the process is very similar to creating beer.”
For the time being, Joshua and Beatrice will carry on delivering across the city and reduce the impact of plant-based milks on the environment, one glass bottle at a time.
Main photo: Tiger and Float
Read more: Bristol gets its first milk vending machine
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