A Nice Cuppa

There was a time, not too long ago, where my route to work included a pit stop at the Starbucks on my way to the office. Being that it was right around the corner, more often than not there was a second drop-in later in the day too. I love my coffee, and really love it when it’s blended with the right mix of skim milk and caramel. YUM.  Unfortunately, I can no longer afford my twice-a-day habit (kids will do that to you), but I do still drop in whenever I can.

When I received a bottle of Starbucks new Sugar-Free Syrup (Mocha flavor) to try out at home, I was pretty darn excited. I love Starbucks, but don’t love the calories I expend on a cup of their delicious (and addictive) coffee drinks. So, if there’s a way to cut on calories without sacrificing taste, I am all for it.

Now, Mocha isn’t really my taste of choice. That’s more up my husband’s alley, but if it could taste as good as a real full calorie Mocha Latte, then I would be sold (and move on to flavors I do love — like caramel).

So, in short, I really wanted to like this syrup.

Unfortunately, I didn’t. At all. It was too sweet in that faux sweetener sort of way. Worse yet, I could taste the artificial sweetness. It outweighed the taste of the good coffee I used to make my drink. And then there was the aftertaste … all in all, this was just a blech for me.

But I wanted to be sure that it wasn’t just a problem with my home brewing skills. So, I dropped by a local Starbucks and ordered a Skinny Tall Caramel Latte. Plat, pluck, plat! It was the blandest coffee I have ever had. The syrup barely gave a hint of caramel goodness and then there was that darned aftertaste again.

For me, it’s going to be regular syrups from now on — I am just not into these new sugar-free varieties. Talk about ruining an experience.