The Good: Easy to prepare, Good scent
The Bad: Fairly expensive (especially in prepackaged tubes), Environmental impact of packaging, Tastes terrible.
The Basics: Anyone who likes coffee, peppermint, mocha or even the Nescafe brand will want to avoid the Peppermint Mocha instant coffee beverage, which is a tragic seasonal beverage.
My wife is an amazing woman. She knows of my love of all things mint and of coffee. So, as a little surprise for me, she picked up a box of Nescafe Peppermint Mocha flavored instant coffee beverage packets. I was so excited. I asked if she wanted me to save them so she could try them with me. She said no and sent me on my way. So, with so much eager anticipation in me, I sat down at work and opened a packet and made up a steaming mug of what I thought would be one of the best beverages of my life.
Seriously. I was that excited.
So, you might understand my thorough disappointment when I tried the first few packets and discovered that “awful” is nowhere near descriptive enough for how bad this drink is.
Basics
Nescafe Peppermint Mocha instant coffee is part of Nescafe's new premium instant coffee line and one suspects that the company is trying to compete with the flavors from the International blends instant coffee line. This mix is a seasonally available flavor and I suspect it won’t be on the market next year. I was provided with premeasured samples which each create a 6 oz. cup of coffee.
Ease Of Preparation
Nescafe Peppermint Mocha instant coffee mix is exceptionally simple to make. The single serving is the packet and six oz. of water. There is no measuring of the product involved. This is a very simple beverage to prepare.
The top of the single-serve packet has a perforated edge and one need simply tear open the top, which is quite easy, and pour the contents of the packet into a mug that is at least eight ounces large. Then, simply pour hot water - near boiling, but not actually boiling as boiling water cooks the ingredients as opposed to simply dissolving them - over the powder and stir. Stir the powder until there are no blobs of coffee granules visible in the water. The beverage will have a dark brown color to it and it will be fairly translucent.
Taste
The Peppermint Mocha flavored instant coffee smells like a cup of hot mint cocoa. There is a faint peppermint smell that rises above the strangely light coffee aroma that also comes from the mug.
Unfortunately, the moment the Peppermint Mocha coffee beverage touches the tongue, the illusion is shattered. There is a slightly minty taste to the drink that washes over the tongue and prepares the consumer for something delightful. Unfortunately, as the drink flows further over the tongue, a generic sweet flavor takes over and the consumer is left with a strangely bitter flavor of an artificial sweetener! The aftertaste lingers, killing the desire for a second sip. And the more one drinks, the more this just tastes like something like Sweet And Low.
Nutrition
Nescafe Peppermint Mocha instant coffee is a coffee mix and therefore is entirely lacking in nutritional value. There are probably calories in this drink, but I’ll be honest. I could not find the nutritional information after I got rid of the box of this stuff.
Storage/Cleanup
So long as one gets Nescafe Peppermint Mocha instant coffee mix in the packet, it ought to stay usable. Visiting my local supermarket, most of the packages of this instant coffee had an expiration date a year away. One assumes it will last quite a while and dissolve appropriately when one attempts to use it. The packets, for those of us who consider the environmental impact of such things, are terribly wasteful and expensive. The foil/plastic wrappers are not recyclable anywhere I've been.
Cleanup is very easy as well. If the product spills while dumping it into the mug, simply wipe it up or brush it up with a dry or damp cloth. If it has already been reconstituted with water into coffee, simply wipe it up. Light fabrics are likely to stain if this gets on them, in which case consult your fabric care guide to clean it up.
Overall
Nescafe has a complete failure with their Peppermint Mocha drink. It does not taste like coffee, it does not taste like mocha. The peppermint flavor is mostly in the aroma and it is completely destroyed by the artificial taste of sweetener that overwhelms the consumer when they try it. Ick.
For other mint beverages, please visit my reviews of:
Bigelow Mint Medley Tea
Land O' Lakes Chocolate & Mint Cocoa
Nestles Chocolate Mint Hot Cocoa
.5/10
For other food or drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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