Back in April, we heard from local coffee shops that they were having trouble keeping Oatly stocked because demand was so high. We reached out to Mike Messersmith, general manager of Oatly US , to find out why he thought the product had become so popular so quickly. "The coffee community is so connected and wired. It’s not even just about trends...when they see a product that allows them to either elevate the coffee experience or that they think solves a challenge that they face in a better way, they're so vocal and enthusiastic and passionate about it that it really expands." Perhaps unsurprisingly, when baristas encourage customers to try something, it's directly reflected in a coffee shop's sales data. According to McLaughlin, Intelligentsia Coffee's CEO and president, "Intelligentsia serves oat, soy, and almond milk in their coffee bars; however, it is oat milk that customers and baristas alike continue to choose as their favored alternative milk, as 13% of Intelligentsia’s beverages are made with oat milk." Since most of us tend to stick to our usual coffee orders, a product like this needs word of mouth to gain momentum.