October 5th, 2009

I enjoy me some mocha. And as my work schedule has begun to skew more towards mornings instead of afternoons/evenings, it’s been necessary for me to get some caffeine into the bloodstream in order to function. I had been achieving this by having a Pepsi with breakfast. But I wasn’t really happy with that. It always seemed like the boost provided by the soda never lasted long enough. Plus, there’s a lot of calories in that sugar water. So I started wondering about coffee as an alternative morning pick-up beverage. Thing is, I’m not much of a coffee drinker. But I do enjoy the mocha, a drink that takes all of the sophistication out of coffee and turns it into a kid’s drink. I began to think up a way that I could get my morning mocha fix without visiting a coffee shop.

Considering that it’s (usually) just me around here in the mornings, brewing an entire pot of coffee (even in our small coffee pot) would definitely be overkill. And then, like a coffee-bean angel from heaven, Starbucks announced its new line of VIA instant coffees. Jen and I stopped in at a local ‘Bucks over the weekend as the company was offering a taste-test challenge of this new product. After comparing the VIA instant against Starbucks traditionally brewed black coffee, I found that I actually liked the VIA better. (I thought it was less bitter and smoother than the *real* coffee.) So we picked up a few packets of the Colombia Medium instant coffee. And today, I attempted to make my own mocha at home. Or as I like to call it: The ghetto mocha.

Considering my extensive experience as a barista (i.e. none), I knew I’d need some coffee, water, milk and chocolate. I wanted to try and keep my ghetto mocha tasty, but I also wanted to try and keep the calorie count down. I knew that using say, dairy milk and chocolate syrup would be expensive in terms of calories. So I decided to go the dirty hippie route and got me some chocolate soy milk from the Traders Joe.

Using the Deductive Powers of Science (TM), I decided to fill the cup halfway with chocolate soy milk.

I topped that off with water, straight from the tap.

I then microwaved the solution for three and a half minutes. While waiting out the heating process, I located the package of VIA coffee packets.

I removed one packet.

I was discouraged to find that the individual VIA packets are kinda hard to open. I had to use scissors to cut the top off the packet. Once I did, I was greeted by a fresh and pleasant-smelling coffee aroma. Once the water/soy milk formula had finished nuking, I returned it to the counter and stirred in the VIA coffee.

I remembered that the dude at Starbucks who sold us the VIA had said that the instant coffee would dissolve well in either hot or cold liquids. And I will say it blended rather nicely with my water/soy milk mixture. And the taste was great! Surprisingly close to a real Starbucks-grade mocha. Next time, I might use a little less water and a little more soy milk. But I can’t complain about this first attempt at a ghetto mocha. Especially considering that this beverage has less than half the calories of a can of Pepsi. I do have to wonder if the same outcome could be reached using an instant coffee other than VIA. I mean, VIA is good, but it’s a bit pricey compared to other brands. Guess the only way to know would be to try one of the others and see. But tomorrow, I’ll enjoy another ghetto mocha made with VIA for breakfast.

Tags: Flickr, food, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, VIA
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