What Is Forager Project's Kefir Style Drink?
Forager Project has spent years building a reputation on cashew-based dairy alternatives, and its drinkable Kefir Style Drink (originally launched as "Drinkable Cashewgurt") is the pourable version of the same cultured cashew base the brand uses in its cup yogurts. Instead of a spoonable tub, it comes in a 28-ounce bottle meant to be poured — into a glass to drink straight, into a smoothie, or over cereal as a tangy, probiotic-rich milk substitute. It's marketed explicitly as a kefir-style product because of how it's made: cultured with a wide blend of live bacterial strains rather than the narrower culture set typically used for yogurt.
Traditional kefir is a fermented dairy drink, thinner and tangier than yogurt, prized mostly for its probiotic diversity. Forager's version chases that same profile without a drop of dairy, using cashews and coconut cream as the base instead of cow's milk.
Why Cashews and Coconut Instead of Almond or Oat?
Forager Project built its entire product line around cashews specifically because of how they behave when cultured. Cashews are naturally creamy and low in fiber compared to other nuts, which means they blend into a smooth base without the gritty mouthfeel almond-based products sometimes struggle with, and they don't need much added starch or gum to hold together once fermented. Coconut cream gets added on top of that for extra richness and a bit of natural fat, which helps the live cultures do their job — bacterial fermentation generally performs better in a fat-and-protein-rich medium than in something thin like oat or rice milk, which is part of why you don't see many oat-based kefir products on the market yet. It's a deliberate formulation choice, not just a flavor preference, and it's a big part of why this particular product ferments into something with real tang instead of just tasting like soured nut milk.
Ingredients
The ingredient list is short, which is part of the brand's whole pitch: Filtered Water, Organic Cashews, Organic Coconut Cream, Organic Tapioca Starch, and Live Active Cultures (Streptococcus Thermophilus, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Bifidobacterium Bifidum, Bifidobacterium Lactis, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Paracasei, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus, and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus).
That's nine distinct probiotic strains, delivering more than 1 billion CFUs (colony-forming units) per serving, which is a genuinely high culture count for a shelf product in this category — most conventional dairy kefirs advertise somewhere in a similar range, but plant-based competitors often cut corners here by using fewer strains or lower CFU counts to save on cost. There are no gums, stabilizers, or added oils in the ingredient list, which is unusual for a drinkable plant-based product — most competitors need at least a gum or two to keep a thin liquid from separating.
Allergen note: the product contains both cashews and coconut, so it's not an option for anyone with a tree nut allergy, despite being entirely dairy-free.
Is Forager Project's Kefir Style Drink Vegan?
Yes. This product is 100% vegan. Every ingredient is plant-derived — cashews, coconut cream, tapioca starch, filtered water, and bacterial cultures grown without any animal-derived media — and Forager Project certifies the product as vegan, organic, and kosher. There's no ambiguity here the way there sometimes is with "may contain dairy" cross-contamination warnings on other cultured products; this one is formulated and marketed as plant-based from the ground up. If you want to double-check any specific batch or flavor before buying, run the label through the spvegan.com ingredient checker, but this is one of the more straightforward "yes" answers in the dairy-alternative aisle.
Price and Availability
The Kefir Style Drink typically runs around $5.99 for a 28-ounce bottle, which works out to roughly a serving and a half per dollar depending on how you portion it — not the cheapest item in the dairy-alternative case, but in line with what other small-batch, organic, high-CFU probiotic drinks tend to cost. It's distributed mainly through natural and specialty grocers like Whole Foods, along with a growing number of regional chains and delivery platforms, rather than being a product you'll reliably find at every big-box grocery store. If your local store doesn't carry it, checking a delivery platform like Instacart or a specialty retailer's website is usually more reliable than hoping a mainstream supermarket has picked it up.
Nutrition
Forager doesn't publish a single universal nutrition panel across every SKU in this line, since the drinkable format is thinned differently than the cup yogurt version, but the base recipe gives a reasonable idea of what to expect per serving: modest calories, a small amount of fat (mostly from the cashew and coconut base), very low sodium, minimal sugar in the unsweetened plain version, and a light amount of protein — closer to what you'd expect from a nut-based product than the double-digit protein counts found in dairy or soy-based options. If hitting a specific protein target matters to you, this isn't the product to lean on; it's better positioned as a gut-health and flavor addition than a protein source.
| Forager Kefir Style Drink (Unsweetened Plain) | Typical Dairy Kefir (Plain, Low-Fat) | Typical Soy-Based Kefir Alternative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vegan | Yes | No | Usually yes |
| Protein per serving | Low (nut-based) | High (8-11g typical) | Moderate-high (soy-based) |
| Probiotic strain count | 9 strains, 1B+ CFU | Varies, often 10-12 strains | Varies by brand |
| Allergen profile | Tree nuts (cashew), coconut | Dairy | Soy |
| Added stabilizers/gums | None listed | None typically | Often includes gums |
Taste and Texture
This is where Forager's version tends to win people over. The combination of cashew and coconut cream gives it a genuinely rich, almost creamy mouthfeel for a pourable drink, and the fermentation brings real tang rather than a flat, one-note sourness. It's noticeably thicker than a typical plant milk but thinner than a spoonable yogurt, landing right in the drinkable-kefir zone it's aiming for. The unsweetened plain version leans tart, closer to a good dairy kefir than to a sweetened yogurt drink, which is either exactly what you want or a genuine adjustment if you're used to sweeter plant-based "yogurt drinks." The flavored versions — strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and mango — mellow that tartness with real fruit sweetness rather than masking it entirely.
Where it can fall short: separation. Because there are no added gums or stabilizers, a bottle that's been sitting can settle and needs a real shake, not just a swirl, before pouring. That's a reasonable tradeoff for a cleaner ingredient list, but it's worth knowing going in so you don't assume something's wrong with the product.
Forager vs. Other Ways to Get Probiotics on a Vegan Diet
| Forager Kefir Style Drink | Vegan Yogurt (Cup) | Kombucha | Probiotic Supplement Capsule | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Format | Drinkable, 28oz bottle | Spoonable, single-serve cups | Carbonated drink | Pill/capsule |
| Strain diversity | High (9 strains) | Moderate (2-6 strains typical) | Varies, often lower | Varies by brand |
| Also delivers nutrition | Some fat, minimal protein | Fat, some protein | Minimal | None (delivery only) |
| Best for | Smoothies, drinking straight, buttermilk swap | Breakfast, snacking | Refreshment, on-the-go | Convenience, precise dosing |
How to Use It
The unsweetened plain version is the most versatile of the lineup — it works as a one-to-one swap for buttermilk in pancake, waffle, and biscuit recipes, since the acidity reacts with baking soda the same way real buttermilk does. It also works as a smoothie base in place of plant milk when you want extra tang and probiotics rather than a neutral flavor, and it can be poured over granola or muesli the same way you'd use a runny yogurt. The flavored versions are better suited to drinking straight or blending into a smoothie where the fruit flavor is welcome, rather than using them in savory cooking. Because the bottle has no added stabilizers, expect roughly a week to ten days of good quality once opened and refrigerated, similar to an opened carton of fresh dairy kefir.
Who Should Buy This
This is a strong pick for anyone who used to rely on dairy kefir or buttermilk for cooking and baking and hasn't found a plant-based replacement that actually tastes tangy enough to do the job — the fermentation here is real, not just a flavoring added after the fact. It's also a reasonable choice for anyone looking to diversify their gut-health routine beyond a single yogurt cup or a kombucha habit, since the strain count is genuinely competitive with dedicated probiotic products. It's a weaker fit if you're specifically shopping for a high-protein plant-based option, or if a tree nut allergy is a concern, since both the cashew and coconut content rule it out for that group entirely.
Final Verdict
Forager Project's Kefir Style Drink does what a lot of "kefir-style" plant products only claim to do: it's actually cultured with a wide, high-count blend of live strains, it's genuinely tangy rather than just sour, and it manages a clean ingredient list without needing gums to hold itself together. It's not a protein play, and the separation issue means it needs an actual shake before use, but as a dairy-free stand-in for kefir or buttermilk, it's one of the more convincing options on the shelf.
Rating: 8/10 — strong marks for ingredient transparency, real fermentation, and probiotic diversity; docked slightly for the low protein content and the fact that it requires more attention (shaking, refrigeration, shorter shelf stability once opened) than a shelf-stable plant milk.
