This Coffee Creamer Brand Is A Total Waste Of Your Money

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With the proliferation of pre-made coffee products on grocery store shelves, it can be hard to make a decision. Well, there are certain retail products that you should definitely avoid in your quest for the perfect barista-inspired coffee at home. Just like how you need to keep Stok coffee out of your grocery cart, you don't want to buy Nutpods French Vanilla Almond & Coconut Creamer. It came in last place on Chowhound's list of coffee creamers ranked worst to best.

Alternatives to cow's milk as a coffee additive are pretty much de rigueur these days, even downright staid, but aside from the taste, the $6.49 price tag makes it even harder to digest this plant-based creamer (especially with the carton's tapered design, which our ranking posited could be the result of shrinkflation). Dairy-free creamers have been with us for decades, and they don't need to be something straight out of the 1950s — a thick, sugary liquid or powder that adds unnatural flavor — but they should give us something to appreciate. Nutpods prides itself on using primarily plant-based renewable packaging, which could contribute to its higher cost. But is it worth it? Probably not.

While it's an option for those looking for a non-dairy coffee additive, and the joining of coconut milk with almond milk may sound interesting, our ranking found that Nutpods French Vanilla Almond & Coconut Creamer basically lacks any taste or character whatsoever. Sure, other dairy-free creamers may have the opposite problem and be too flavorful — full of sugar and a powerful blast of vanilla — but our reviewer found that the product hardly makes a difference in taste when added to your cup of joe.

If you're looking for a solid vanilla option, the winner of the taste test was Chobani's dairy-based Vanilla Creamer. At $7.29, it's definitely not cheap, but the flavor was much more appealing and natural and simply blew Nutpods out of the water: creamy, rich, and sweet, but with a light vanilla flavor that won't overpower your coffee completely. For a top-tier non-dairy choice, Trader Joe's Non-Dairy Brown Sugar Oat Creamer came in a close second. And at $1.99, it's easy to keep stocked regardless of how many cups you drink per day. Of course, no matter which creamer you choose to sip with your coffee, it will last up to two weeks once the container has been opened.