I don't drink a lot of coffee. But when I do drink it, I like it sweet, creamy, and flavorful. No battery-acid black coffee for me! But I also don't want to add a lot of fat and calories, nor do I want to add sugar. One product that I enjoy is Nestle's Coffee-Mate Sugar-Free French Vanilla Creamer. This is a powdered product that adds a nice flavor, without any sugar.

A tablespoon of this product contains 30 calories and 2.5g of fat. That's a little higher in fat than I would prefer, but then again, I use less than a tablespoon at a time, so I'm actually getting less than that. Incidentally, the regular version of the Vanilla powder contains 60 calories, 7g of sugar, and the same 2.5g of fat. So in this case, removing the sugar lowers the calories but not the fat.

How do you use it? There's a pour-spout at the top of the can. The spout has a snap-on plastic lid. I like the fact that the lid snaps really tight, it helps keep the product fresh. Plus, the powder won't spill if you tip the can.

When it comes to coffee products, the important things are the aroma and the taste. In this case, the smell is wonderful, but if I didn't know the flavor, I wouldn't guess it was vanilla. I would probably guess it was chocolate. In either case, I like the smell.

The taste is also nice, but just like the aroma, I would never be able to identify it as vanilla. It's definitely sweet - I don't need to add any other sweetener when I use this product. But as far as a flavor goes, it's kind of like an unidentifiable sweetness. It tastes good, but I certainly don't recognize it as vanilla.

If you're wondering what this stuff is made of, I can tell you the first three ingredients are vegetable oil, corn syrup solids and sodium caseinate. Then there are natural and artificial flavors and a bunch of chemicals. After that comes two artificial sweeteners - sucralose and acesulfame potassium.

Is this a dairy product? As it turns out, that's a controversial question that doesn't have a simple answer. The bottle tells you it's a non-dairy product. But the Kosher designation is D, telling you that it is considered a dairy product. How can that be? Well, notice that the third ingredient is sodium caseinate, which is a milk derivative. The federal government does not consider this ingredient to be a dairy product, even though it originates as such. They believe that the processing alters it enough to no longer consider it dairy. The Union of Orthodox Rabbis disagrees. Hence, the Kosher certification declares it a dairy product, the US government does not. You can feel free to make up your own mind.

Personally, I don't care if it's dairy or not, I just know that it makes my coffee taste good. For just a few cents a serving, it enhances my coffee experience, without clobbering my diet.

My grocery store sells the 10.2 oz bottles individually, but they are also available in a 6-pack at the big club stores.

See www.coffee-mate.com for additional information.



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