The Good: Tastes wonderful, Healthy
The Bad: Expensive, Not as nutritionally beneficial as other Bolthouse Farms beverages.
The Basics: Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha is worth the price and satisfies those who love mint flavored coffee . . . while it is available.
Despite reviewing hundreds of beverages and having a real affinity for mint, I have not encountered a truly perfect mint coffee beverage. There are some amazing mint cocoas, most notably the Land O’ Lakes Mint & Chocolate Cocoa (reviewed here!), but coffee and mint seldom manage to be blended in a way that does justice to both of them. Truth be told, Bolthouse Farms’s new limited edition Peppermint Mocha coffee beverage suffers from the same problem; it is essentially a glorified chocolate milk . . . but it tastes so incredible on the mint and chocolate front that it is virtually impossible to care about how it might not please coffee drinkers (as a coffee beverage). I know that I did not care at all that the coffee flavor was muted until I had to consider the drink for review.
In fact, the bigger strike against the Peppermint Mocha is its price. The Peppermint Mocha is only available (at least locally) in the 52 fl. oz. bottle and that runs $5.99 here. It would have been nice if Bolthouse Farms had released the beverage with a festive reduced price for those of us on a budget!
Basics
Bolthouse Farms is a healthy coffee drink, which is like an energy drink except that is designed for more of a full-health solution (as opposed to being a liquid vitamin supplement) and they tend to taste better. And it differs from being a coffee beverage by minimizing the bitter taste of actual coffee in favor of milk and flavoring that pretty much drowns out the coffee flavor. This is like a chocolate milk that is enhanced with nutrients and, in this case, mint. Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha comes in a 52 fl. oz. plastic bottle that is smooth and not very portable at all. The #1 recyclable bottle is filled with the opaque brown liquid, reminiscent of chocolate milk, which is Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha. Bolthouse Farms products are one of the leading manufacturers of healthy prepared beverages and one that has the widest (and most consistently delicious) portfolio.
The 52 fl. oz. bottle is intended to give consumers six and a half servings, which continues the company’s regrettable tradition of not providing full, even servings in a bottle.
Ease Of Preparation
Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha is a liquid in the 52 fl. oz. bottle and is a ready-to-drink beverage. So, preparation is as easy as opening a plastic bottle. Bolthouse Farms beverages have a plastic cap that easily twists off and can be put back on in order to reseal it. It is important to note that this is supposed to be refrigerated, so quality of the beverage may degrade if it is left out at room temperature before or after the bottle is open. This has a pretty standard security seal ring around the lower half of the cap and informs the consumer as to whether the product has been opened by cracking off when the top is twisted.
Taste
Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha smells delightfully of peppermint. The cool, clean scent of peppermint wafts out of whatever vessel one pours the beverage into and invites the consumer to consume it.
On the tongue, what one might expect to be milky (from its color and viscosity) is instead thoroughly minty. The drink is cool and finishes with a dry, chocolate flavor that defines the mocha experience. The mint and chocolate flavor of the Peppermint Mocha is like drinking a really good candy bar, or a peppermint stick that was melted into a cup of hot chocolate and cooled. There is no recognizable coffee flavor to this coffee beverage.
For a drink that finishes dry on the tongue, it is pretty astounding that there is no dry aftertaste. Instead, the peppermint flavor comes back after the chocolate to leave one’s tongue feeling cold, fresh and minty! While this might not make it an ideal winter drink, it certainly makes the Peppermint Mocha a festive minty beverage well worth trying!
Nutrition
As a healthy dairy beverage, Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha Coffee Beverage is designed to fill in some of the nutritional gaps one might have in their diet, while tasting awesome! Nutritionally, Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha is a good option for those who are dieting or are trying to improve their health. Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha is primarily composed of low-fat milk, coffee and filtered water. It contains nothing bad, but does have additional vitamins pumped into it. While it is gluten free, it contains milk and whey, so it is in no way Vegan compliant. On the plus side, though, there are no preservatives nor artificial flavors.
This drink is also very healthy for you. One serving of Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha has only 2.5 g fat and 130 calories, 25 of which come from the fat. While there are 18 grams of sugars (20 total grams of carbohydrates), the beverage has only 15 mg of cholesterol and a whopping 7 grams of protein! Surprisingly, there are 95 mg (4% RDA) of sodium in each serving. A single serving is a sufficient source of Vitamin C. The Peppermint Mocha has more than your daily needs for Vitamins B6 and Vitamin B12, so this truly is a healthy beverage (ironically, more healthy than many fruit juices I have reviewed!).
Storage/Clean-up
Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha comes in a plastic bottle and it keeps for only a few months. The bottle my wife and I bought in mid-November had an expiration date of December 14, 2013. This beverage must be refrigerated!
This drink is a dairy product and dark because of the cocoa powder and coffee in it. If this gets on clothes, it will certainly stain them. Consult a care guide for your clothes, though I suspect light clothes would need bleach to get this out. Still, the drink wipes off surfaces easily with a cloth, assuming they are impermeable.
Overall
There are few seasonal beverages that I enthusiastically recommend consumers hunt down: Bolthouse Farms Limited Edition Peppermint Mocha might well be the best prepared beverage worth the time and attention of consumers I have experienced in years!
For other limited edition beverages, please check out my reviews of:
Twinings Pumpkin Spice Chai tea
Stash Christmas Eve tea
Celestial Seasonings Sugar Plum Spice tea
8.5/10
For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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