Have you seen coffee creamer on sale recently? Are you wondering what is coffee creamer and should you be adding it to your coffee? Let me answer that question for you as well as a few other questions related to coffee creamer. Ready?
Coffee creamer is made with ingredients that give it a similar consistency to half-and-half. It is normally going to be a blend of oils, various thickening agents, and is made with a lot of sugar.
Coffee creamer is available either as a powder or in a liquid format with the former being a lot less expensive.
Why Add Creamer to Coffee?
Coffee creamer put in coffee to make it sweeter and to weaken the strong taste of black coffee. It is a dairy free powder or liquid alternative and comes in different varieties such as sugar free, fat free as well as flavored
If you want to add a bit of sweetness to your drip, pour over coffee or even espresso, then creamer is the way to go. You only need a dash of creamer and it will cut through the bitterness of coffee that is less expensive or poorly roasted.
Coffee creamer will also lighten up the coffee . So, it is ideal for those people that do not enjoy their coffee black and are lactose intolerant.
Of course, creamer is also going to be ideal for those people that are vegan and enjoy a bit of sweetness and lightening of their coffee but do no want to use milk or a milk type substitute.
What Varieties of Coffee Creamer Are There?
Now, this is where things really start to get exciting, and it proves that coffee creamers are not just there for those that are vegan.
One of the major benefits of coffee creamer in comparison to other ways of adding sweetening and lightness to your coffee is the way in which they are made. They can be made to taste like certain flavors. This means that you can make your coffee taste completely different by adding a dash of coffee creamer to it.
Since there are dozens and dozens of potential flavors for coffee creamer, we cannot possibly list them all on this page. However, we want to give you a small example of some of the tastes that you can enjoy if you venture outside of your normal coffee creamer:
- Almond
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Peppermint
- Vanilla
- Cinnamon
- Hazlenut
- Cream Latte
- Chocolate Mocha
- Chocolate
- Raspberry
If you head to your local store, then you will no doubt see a ton of different coffee creamers that you can experiment with. Obviously, they will completely shake up the taste of your coffee, but some people do enjoy that.
It means that you can get really experimental with your tastes. There are some people out there that absolutely loathe coffee, but once they added a bit of creamer into the mix, everything tasted amazing.
What is the Difference Between Half and Half and Creamer?
As I mentioned earlier, creamer has a very similar consistency to half-and-half. However, they are not that similar in terms of what they actually are. Although, of course, both can be used in coffee.
As I also said before, coffee creamer is going to be dairy-free. On the other hand, half and half is not. Half-and-half actually gets its name from the fact that half it is cream and half of it is milk and can be used to make a coffee drink called a breve
There are a few extra preservatives added to help ensure that it lasts as long as possible, but it is going to be mostly dairy-based.
Because half-and-half is a completely dairy-based product, it can be used in any dish where you would normally add milk. You can drink it, or you can even cook with it. The same can’t be said for creamer.
The only way that you can use creamer is in your drinks. It probably wouldn’t taste if you were to drink it straight, and you almost certainly wouldn’t want to be cooking with it.
Is It Better to Use Milk or Creamer in Coffee?
To be honest, this is going to be somewhat of a personal choice.
Milk will do a better job than creamer when it comes to a flavor level. Milk will be high in fat and protein. This means that the coffee will taste nice and smooth, with a dash of sweetness added to it.
The more fat in the milk, the smoother that coffee will taste. The proteins in milk will really help to cut out the bitterness of the coffee (by ensuring that the tannins do not taste as strong).
Creamer, on the other hand, isn’t going to hide the taste of the coffee as much. it will still make it less bitter, but it won’t be to the same level that milk does. For this reason, creamer is often used in drinks where you really want that coffee taste to come through e.g. espresso-based drinks.
You may want to experiment with milk and creamer to see which flavor you prefer. Of course, if you are vegan, you only really have one option available to you anyway (unless you go down the route of oat milk, but that is a whole other story)
What is the Best Way to Store Coffee Creamer
Luckily, storing your coffee creamer shouldn’t be that difficult.
Most people purchase their coffee creamer in powdered form. If you buy it like that, then the coffee creamer can be kept for years in your cupboard. Just make sure it is in a cool and dry place, out the of the way of the sun and heat. You will want to be sure that the coffee creamer is stored in an airtight container.
If you buy liquid coffee creamer, then this is a different story. While you can buy it straight from a shelf, the second that you open it up, it needs to be kept inside the fridge. it will only last for a short amount of time once it has been opened
This will be dependent on the brand that you buy, so make sure that you check the bottle and the use by date to know exactly how long it is going to last you. Once it expires, the ingredients will start to separate, and it won’t be a pleasant-tasting thing in the slightest.
