Why Turmeric Lattes Owe Everything to India

The turmeric latte trend is booming in America’s wellness circles — but when did an ancient Indian remedy become a Western invention?

Photo Courtesy: Sweet Potato Soul

In the cafés of Brooklyn and the minimalist counters of Starbucks, there’s a new staple on the menu. It’s called a turmeric latte. Some know it as a “golden milk.” Priced at $6 and served with almond foam, it’s fancy, calming, and supposedly healing. What’s less well known — deliberately so, perhaps — is that this wellness darling was born thousands of years ago in Indian kitchens.

Yes, turmeric lattes owe everything to India. And yet, how many people sipping them today know the origins of this golden potion?

Before turmeric got its latte, it had a lineage. In India, “haldi doodh” (turmeric milk) has been passed down like an heirloom recipe. It wasn’t invented by a wellness guru or curated by a barista. It was your grandmother’s go-to when you had a cold, or when your skin broke out, or when you simply needed strength. In Ayurvedic medicine, turmeric has been prescribed for over 5,000 years — for immunity, digestion, inflammation, sleep, and even spiritual balance.

The recipe was never fancy. A pinch of turmeric in hot milk, sometimes with black pepper or ghee, and occasionally a clove. It wasn’t branded or bottled. It was quietly powerful and it worked.

So how did this humble Indian home remedy get rebranded into a global superfood?

The timeline follows a familiar pattern: the West discovers a non-Western ritual, strips it of its cultural context, adds packaging, and resells it as innovation. By the early 2010s, turmeric started showing up in Whole Foods aisles and wellness blogs. American actress Gwyneth Paltrow endorsed it, and her company Goop named it. Starbucks eventually caught on. The “turmeric latte” was born — minus the word India.

Ironically, the same Western media that had once mocked the smell or taste of Indian cooking began touting turmeric as “the next kale.” Indian immigrants who had been teased for their “yellow fingers” from turmeric-stained meals now saw the spice glamorized in glossy health magazines.

This change opens up a larger conversation: when does cultural exchange become cultural erasure?

The wellness industry in the U.S. has repeatedly capitalized on Indian practices — yoga, Ayurveda, oil pulling, ashwagandha; while distancing them from their roots. The turmeric latte is not a crime in itself, but it becomes problematic when its cultural origin is erased or tokenized.

This is not just about credit — it’s about control. Western turmeric wellness markets, led by North America — have grown to several hundred million dollars annually, and global turmeric supplement revenues exceed $3.27 billion (according to Market Research Future). Meanwhile India, the world’s largest producer of turmeric, sees little benefit from this surge in global demand — partly because most of the branding and profit stays with foreign supplement brands and “organic” lifestyle companies abroad.

In 1995, an American institution (University of Mississippi Medical Center) even attempted to patent turmeric’s healing properties. India had to legally challenge it — successfully — by proving that turmeric use was ancestral knowledge. That’s how far the disconnect has gone.

In India, turmeric is more than a spice; it is sacred. Used in weddings, religious ceremonies, and even childbirth rituals, it symbolizes purity and healing. It is smeared on walls to keep away negativity and applied on the skin to bring out inner glow. It is not just added to food; it is part of identity.

When the turmeric latte is served in a hip café without acknowledging its origins, it becomes a caricature of itself — drained of its cultural soul.

The Way Forward

This is not a call to ban turmeric lattes. It’s a call to give credit where it’s due, and context where it’s erased.

We need food labels, cafés, and wellness brands that don’t just mention turmeric, but trace its lineage. We need Indian entrepreneurs and brands telling their own stories — on their terms. We need mainstream platforms to acknowledge the cultures they profit from, and not just when it’s convenient or marketable.

Turmeric lattes may be a Western trend. But turmeric, in every fiber of its golden glory, belongs to India.

And no amount of almond milk can change that.