Since 2013, Morgan Maw, has dedicated herself to oats; developing a super delicious NZ made oat milk has been high on her agenda. We’re honored to have played a helping hand in the creation of Boring Oat Milk, whether it be lending our palates, machinery or of course, coffee. The end product is amazing and we’re proud to have it on our online store.
Made in New Zealand from locally grown oats, Boring is the only alternative milk you'll find in our fridge. Boring is free of added sugar, thickeners and gums, there’s no dairy or soy and it's vegan. And, because Boring is made right here in NZ it has a lower carbon footprint than alternatives made overseas, plus the bottle and cap are recyclable too.
So, we sat down with Morgan to hear what all of the excitement about this Boring milk is. Put on the kettle, this one's a goodie.
Q. Hey Morgan, tell us about Boring. What is it?
Boring is a New Zealand oat milk company making oat milk in New Zealand with New Zealand oats. We’ve just launched after three years perfecting our formulation and finding somewhere in New Zealand to make it. It’s been a much bigger and harder project than I ever imagined and am chuffed to finally share it with the world. Coffee Supreme have been a massive help along the way (thank you, team!) and are looking after distribution in cafes.
Q. What led you to starting Boring?
As the unofficial oat ambassador of Aotearoa, I’ve been working with oats for the past seven years, first with my whole foods bakery Bonnie (RIP my beloved oatcakes) and for the last three years, Boring.
I was first drawn to oats because they’re good for you and also a really sustainable grain that grows perfectly in Aotearoa. They require little to no irrigation and soak up nitrates which our soils are guilty of leaching due to the over intensification of dairy. I wanted to create an oat milk because it’s an everyday product and the scale we can achieve from it being a pantry staple in turn leads to a greater positive impact on land.
TL;DR: Oats are sustainable. I love oats.
Q. Talk us through the name.
Morgan’s Milk raised too many eyebrows. But seriously, milk is important but who gets excited about it? It’s the supporting actor but never the star. It’s what you do with it that’s exciting. Cereal’s exciting, coffee’s exciting, smoothies are exciting, but milk? Not so much.
I’m not sure my mum loves the name but that’s ok, if everyone liked it then I think we’d be doing something wrong.
Q. Who’s behind the refined brand?
Kelvin Soh from DDMMYY. My husband Nic and I first met Kelvin to discuss the project two and half years ago. We wanted to engage a designer early on as we are brand nerds and really believe in the importance of a good brand as a way to stand out, especially in FMCG, a notoriously competitive and crowded space dominated by big players and their big marketing budgets. And with food and beverage brands so often falling over themselves to tell consumers how great and shiny and different their products are, we knew we had to go another route.
We had a long list of great design studios to reach out to but after that first meeting we knew Kelvin was the guy who was going to create our oat milk brand. Boring was first shown to us 18 months ago, so it’s nice to be able to finally have it out there! Big thanks too to the rest of the DDMMYYYY team – in particular Sam Weick – they’ve been a dream to work with.
Q. What’s your top 3 favourite ways to enjoy Boring?
1. Oat milk flat whites
2. Smoothies
3. Porridge aka oats² or oats on oats
Q. What’s your coffee setup at home?
I’m still dreaming of a Moccamaster but during the week I use a trusty 1-cup Swiss Gold filter. It’s fuss-free and makes a nice brew. On the weekend Nic and I make a bit more of a ritual out of it and dust off the Chemex.
Got a favourite Supreme coffee?
Can’t go past the Ethiopia Guji, but more and more I’ve been embracing decaf and the Colombian Huila Decaf is my go-to.
Q. Smooth or crunchy?
We’re ride or die Fix & Fogg Super Crunchy peanut butter fans in our household (Hi Roman and Andrea!). This may be sacrilege but our dog Hemingway even gets it in his Kong sometimes for a treat.
Q. What’ve you been doing (read: eating) during lockdown? And what're you looking forward to tucking into?
We’re currently in Level 4 here in Auckland. I am dreaming of a change in levels so we can get takeaways again. As much as I love cooking, I pine for a meal that I had nothing to do with or didn’t have to do the washing up for. Come Level 3 I’ll be straight up the road to see the guys at Wise Boys burgers.
Nic and I are total fanboy/fangirls of British cook Anna Jones (or AJ as she’s affectionately known in our house) and cook an ‘AJ’ meal 4-5 nights a week. She has such an unfussy and innovative approach to vegetarian cooking. Lockdown faves include her white bean, walnut and roasted pepper burgers, proper chilli w/ avo and corn tortillas, roasted kumara dahl, and broccoli orecchiette.
Q. We know you’ve just launched, but what’s next on the cards for Boring?
No rest for the wicked! Now that we’ve launched, I want to get out on the road travelling up and down the motu to introduce ourselves to the good people of New Zealand (lockdown permitting of course). Apart from that, there’s a few Boring collabs and new products in the works, which is exciting.
Stay up to date with Boring over here and learn more about them here. You'll find Boring on our online store by the case, or by the bottle at Moore Wilson's and Farro.
