Thursday, November 18, 2010

Creamer for My Morning Cuppa Joe

I'm one of those people who has had a morning cuppa joe (or two) for most of my adult life.  I think I was 18 when I first started drinking coffee and I'm sure I didn't care for it all that much, but acquired a taste for it.  I drink my coffee with creamer, no sugar. I've had my morning cuppa joe the same way always.  I can't remember drinking it any other way, although I may have put sugar in it when I first started drinking it, but I really don't think so.  Sugar in regular coffee tastes absolutely horrible to me.  I can't drink the coffee.  However, I do put sugar or a sweetener in flavored coffee.  I have one called Cinnamon Pastry by Timothy's, and it's delightful with some creamer and a sprinkling of sweetener.
I stopped brewing "pots" of coffee a couple of years ago when the Keurig coffee pot came onto the scene.  I started buying K-Cups, but I stopped buying them because they are not recyclable.  (The ones you see in the picture are some I bought previously and am just now trying to use up.)  Now, I use either an EZ Cup (it's brown and next to the filters), which requires a little filter, or the Solofill Cup (it's red and to the right), which has a wire mesh filter.  I like the coffee slightly better with the EZ Cup, but the filters are expensive, whereas the Solofill doesn't require any additional equipment but leaves a small amount of sediment (not grounds, but sediment) in the cup.  I included a link for the Solofill Cup.  The EZ Cup can be purchased at a variety of online vendors and now, Sam's Club apparently.  The filters are about $5 for 50, which makes the EZ Cup slightly less desirable because it has an ongoing cost associated with it.
All of that aside, one of my biggest challenges when adopting a vegan diet was my coffee creamer.  I tried drinking coffee black, but it just didn't have the same taste for me.  Creamer adds, well, a certain creaminess to coffee.  Basically, it softens the edge of coffee. 

I tried soy creamers and did not care for them.  I tried regular almond milk, soy milk, and coconut milk. Nope! Didn't work. Then, Noelle from An Opera Singer in the Kitchen suggested I try SO Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer.  VOILA!  I found what I'd been looking for.  It tastes remarkably like the dairy creamer I had been using.  I have been hooked on SO Delicious ever since.  I cannot be without it.  

SO Delicious is 10 calories per serving for the original flavor, which is the only one I buy.  A serving is 3 teaspoons.  See the little measuring cup next to it?  I actually use that to measure my SO Delicious for each cup.  I know that sounds funny, but I found I was using more than 3 teaspoons and it really didn't change the flavor more, so I decided to just use the cup to measure it.  (It's one of those cups from children's pain relievers, and I have MANY of those cups from when my sons were growing up.)

SO Delicious is a little pricier when compared to soy creamer.  It's $2.39 a carton at Whole Foods and as high as $3.39 a carton at my local health food store (what a racket!).  I usually buy two to three cartons when I hit Whole Foods as the expiration date is a good month away from the date I purchase it.  BUT, if I run out, I will purchase it from the health food store as Whole Foods is 30 miles away by my job and I'm not driving 30 miles to save $1.  I just make sure to pick some more up the next day I work.

So, my tip for today is a GREAT vegan coffee creamer for anyone who is trying to become vegan or just wants to cut out dairy products.  This is definitely one product I cannot do without.

4 comments:

  1. I love So Delicious coconut milk coffee creamer. My favorite is the French Vanilla, and it makes the most amazing cup of chai tea. You can download some coupons from their website, too! (Every little bit helps!) http://turtlemountain.com/products/coupon.html

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  2. Yay! I am so glad you have made this your fav go-to creamer. I am having some in my late night coffee with French Vanilla! :D

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  3. Thanks, Noelle. I'm so glad you recommended it to me. It's always in my house now!

    Thanks, Vegiegail for the coupons. That's GREAT! :)

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  4. There's another creamer called MimicCream that's the closest I've found. It's made from almonds and cashews. It's a business local to upstate NY so I don't know whether the distribution is regional or national. But it's excellent if you can find it. They do sell it on Amazon.

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