Review: Dark Mayan Chocolate Latte, a General Foods International Coffee
Anyone who’s seen the movie Chocolat couldn’t help but be intrigued by the words “Dark Mayan Chocolate." In the film, Chocolatier Vianne seems to enchant others with the unusual chocolate recipes learned from her South American mother. She magically senses which chocolate is each person’s favorite and which chocolate will change his or her life. Her most special recipe is her hot chocolate, made with just a pinch of chili pepper stirred into each cup.
Unfortunately, General Foods seems to have missed seeing that movie because Dark Mayan Chocolate Latte contains no chili. It also contains almost no coffee at all, at least none that you can actually taste. It tastes pretty much like hot chocolate with cinnamon in it, not bad but not really good. The instructions say to use 1 and 1/3 tablespoons, (four teaspoons) and 8 fluid ounces of boiling water. This yields a weak and watery brew that while tasty has so little body it is almost like drinking chocolate water. Adding more mix just made it lumpy rather than improving texture, as did using less water.
However, it does make a good additive to a cup of drip-brewed coffee when used in the place of sweetener. Though it still lacks the chili kick of true Mayan hot chocolate, it does add a cinnamon and chocolate flavor to the coffee. When you mix the Dark Mayan Chocolate Latte mix to hot milk, it makes a pleasant drink by itself. The milk and powder mixture also makes a good whitener for brewed coffee, but it seems not worth the trouble.
Powdered coffee mixes in general do not make the best choice of beverages for real coffee drinkers. This one was only interesting because of what the name implied, which goes to show one thing. No matter what name a company gives a product, always check the entire ingredients list before you buy. Even though the ingredient list reads like a chemistry book, read the entire list. It is the only way to know you are getting the ingredients you want and not those you don’t.
brewed on Mar 9th, 2010
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