Coffee creamer

If you read my blog, you may already know I'm not much of a flavored coffee or flavored creamer fan. Occasionally I get a craving for a vanilla latte but when I give into the craving I'm always disappointed. The flavor always tastes fake to me. The only time I actually liked something flavored was when I was served a latte made with vanilla flavored soy milk.

Anyhow, I like to research every day products that claim to be natural or more natural than other items within the same brand. While strolling Target with the boys, I noticed "natural bliss" from Nestle's Coffee-Mate line. The ingredients were decent as far as flavored creamer goes and it was about $2.00 so I figured I'd give it a try.

Here's the ingredients (Vanilla Flavor): Nonfat Milk, Heavy Cream, Sugar, Natural Flavor.

Maybe it's because I don't like flavored creamer but this stuff was yucky. Just as fake tasting as the rest of them. The ingredients are definitely better than the other creamers from Coffee-Mate. For example:

Coffee-Mate Original ingredients: WATER, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL**, AND LESS THAN 2% OF SUGAR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE)***, COLOR ADDED.

Coffee-Mate Fat Free French Vanilla ingredients: WATER, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL, AND LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE)**, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, CELLULOSE GEL, CELLULOSE GUM, COLOR ADDED, CARRAGEENAN.

So even though I used the word "yucky" to describe the natural bliss creamer from Nestle, if you like flavored creamer, it is the way to go (other than making your own). It doesn't seem to cost any more than the others and has way less ingredients.

Another way to save

I love coffee. Always have. As crazy as this may sound to some, I acquired a taste for coffee when I was in elementary school. Of course I preferred my coffee with cream and sugar back then but how else would a kid take their coffee? I remember so vividly my cousin and I walking to the Quick Stop around the corner from my aunt's apartment and getting a cup. We were only allowed to get decaf and remember actually abiding by that rule. What good kids we were.

My mom and dad were big coffee drinkers (mom drank hers black and dad took his with cream) and at our house, no matter the time of day, you would likely find the coffeemaker on. Now it's not that my parents were serving us kids coffee with our meals or anything but they would give us a sip now and then. And I know it was those occasional sips and the comforting aroma of fresh brewed coffee in the house that gave me the taste for java.

Fast forward almost 20 years and my love for coffee is still going strong. Providing a little (and necessary) pick up in the morning (and afternoon for that matter) is only part of why I drink it. A good cup of coffee is comforting and can truly turn my mood around. Coffee is very social for me too. Many of my friendships started with a cup of coffee - some of my best in fact.

As I've been addressing our budget, the reality of what I/we've been spending on coffee was definitely higher than I assumed it was. How much can once in a while during the week and on Saturday with the family be? Well add sometimes more than "once in a while" and Sunday as well as any stressful afternoon or evening any day of the week and the amount being spent can be $30 a week.  At first, I thought we'd just cut the cafe out entirely but I realized the pleasure of a good Americano or latte from a coffee shop is something the husband and I deserve, just can't have them everyday. So for the majority of the week, I've committed to home brew only.

To assist with that commitment, I've been dressing up my cups a bit. I have a decent "cute" coffee cup collection and always use my favorite ones. And although I usually just drink my coffee black, I do like lattes (hence the high cafe bill). I'm a 1% or soy milk gal. A couple of weeks back a friend of mine mentioned he was using one of those battery-operated wand frother things. I've seen them but had never given them a second thought - until then. I decided to give one a try. Upon looking for one, I found a variety of brands and prices. I was going to buy this one from Amazon but ended up finding one at Cost Plus for $2.99. I asked the cashier about it and he said they worked great and so much more affordable than the other one they sell (forgot the brand name) for $30. And he was right. It works really well and makes a nice mock latte. So for a bit less than the price of a latte, I have a nifty little gadget that makes it easy to keep out of the cafe. Gotta love that!

The power of advertising

I love advertising and marketing, a sucker for them actually. Guess that makes sense being that I've made a career out of both since 1999. But even long before that I loved package design, ad layouts, funky fonts and good campaigns. I have a particular style of things I prefer of course, we all do, but an attractive and well done display or marketing message even outside my normal style and interests can reel me in - even inspire me.

I happen to love coffee. I brew a pot for me and the hubby every morning and often brew a small pot in the afternoon or make a trip to the coffee shop. I prefer Peet's Coffee but usually end up at Starbucks because it's in a more convenient location. I go back and forth about how I feel about Starbucks. I actually worked there for a brief time in 2005. Working there gave me a little more perspective on the company and ultimately, I'm okay with them. Yes, they were sorta trying to take over the world (maybe still trying), running quite a few smaller cafes out of business and can be terribly inconsistent with the quality of their espresso drinks (a crappy latte can really piss me off). I think the declining quality and consistency at the espresso bar is due to expanding their menu to include things like sandwiches, salads, smoothies, etc. AND the fact that they've created a customer base of picky MF's (excuse my language) that put the barista under so much scrutiny that the result is a half ass drink for the rest of us. Anyway... what was this post about?

Oh yeah, the power of advertising. Starbucks is a great example of powerful branding and convincing marketing. They have nice looking displays, filled with cool looking, reasonably priced products and attractive, perfectly placed signage that brings it all together and inserts a level of trust with the consumer. Especially the coffee and food, they are a cafe after all. I do a decent job of avoiding the pastry case but do occasionally indulge. My son and I actually go there as a treat sometimes for a drink and a piece of banana or pumpkin bread.


While on one of those special trips the other day, I noticed a new design on the bags (pictured at the beginning of this post). On the front, the first statement is "REAL FOOD." Certainly caught my attention so I continued to read. In short, it goes on to say they've removed artificial ingredients from their food and they reiterate their statement on the back of the bag correspondence style using a handwritten font. Did reading the message make me feel better about our snacks? It did actually. And that's the magic of good marketing.

Now is the banana bread any different from the one they were serving prior to the new bags or is it just a new bag? I don't know. Not yet anyway. It certainly looks the same and tastes the same as it did when I worked there in 2005. Have their items always had a fairly clean ingredient list and it's just being highlighted now? Or did their items have a bunch of crap in them and now they don't? I guess if I still worked there, I'd be able to answer these questions. One thing I do know now that I didn't want to and intentionally avoided is the banana bread packs 490 calories! Oh well, everything in moderation.

Clever messages and healthy looking packaging is one of those genius but often deceptive things we have to contend with. I will take the time to uncover the truth behind health statements on packaging and the companies behind them but a lot of people don't. If you've ever read Michael Pollan, you'd know it's likely the more health claims a package lists, the less healthy and more processed it actually is. I still look beyond the box regardless but it is something to be aware of. So next time you see that kraft color, natural looking packet of sugar, package of cookies or dairy with cows grazing in a pasture on the container - examine it, compare it and make the better choice, even if it's not the healthiest looking package.

Coffee

To know me is to know I love coffee. So does my husband. And for that reason, I'm doing a post on coffee. Coffee is an item that varies in price quite a bit. Excluding the rarer coffees, the typical range is $3.99 to $14.99.

I'm a little picky about coffee but also concerned about price. My husband recently picked up a bag of coffee while at Whole Foods, Allegro French Roast and I must admit, it was a very delicious brew. I found myself craving it but it just isn't something we can buy weekly because at $11.99 a bag, it's about five bucks more than we budget for. What we usually buy is a can of Trader Joe's Whole Bean Sumatra or French Roast for $4.99. Sometimes, completely out of convenience, we buy a bag of Starbucks from Target. That usually costs $6.99 (on sale). And in a moment of weakness a few weeks back, I bought the Giada De Laurentiis branded coffee for $6.49. Bad choice. It lacked body and flavor, no matter how strong I tried to make it. I can only assume it's made by the company that makes Target's Market Pantry coffee? Haven't been able to confirm the source.

Trader Joe's also offers a ground french roast for $3.99. It was good the first time I bought it but after buying/brewing it two weeks in a row, it wasn't doing it for me. The fact is the coffee we love like Allegro or Peet's are items we can't buy regularly. Luckily, with the whole bean varieties at Trader Joe's we don't have to sacrifice taste for affordability.

Where do you buy your coffee? Any suggestions on affordable options?