Nerd Fuel: The Original Donut Shop – Vanilla Cream Puff

My last Nerd Fuel post saw the unseating of a champion. My long favorite coffee, “Donut Shop” was tossed from it’s top spot and replaced by Community Coffee’s Cafe’ Special.  Despite no longer being my personal favorite, Donut Shop is still an outstanding coffee. To date, I’ve discussed both the Original Flavor as well as their “Dark” variety. But there’s more Donut Shop out there to enjoy, so for this week’s purchase, I decided to go with one of their flavored offerings: Vanilla Cream Puff. Because, who doesn’t like vanilla?

To start, let me say that this coffee smelled absolutely delightful as it was brewing. It filled the kitchen with a delicious, creamy aroma. This carries over very well to the mug. But, as I feared, the flavor is very artificial. It can be improved with a little rich creamer,  but like many flavored coffees – it tastes fake and overdone. That being said, of all the “fake tasting” coffees out there, this is one of the more drinkable that I’ve come across. It’s not unpleasant, and in some ways it is actually enjoyable. But, the biggest gripe here is that the natural flavor of the coffee is drowned out by the over-sweet manufactured flavoring.

This is a good example of a coffee that works better over ice than in a mug. To me, most flavored coffees actually fall into this category, but there have been a few notable exceptions.  In a nutshell, this does not make a good everyday cup of joe. But, it’s not bad as a dessert coffee or if you’re making a shake/iced coffee. This is one for the kids.

Score: 2 out of 4

Would Purchase again?: Unlikely. While it’s not the worst flavored coffee I’ve come across, there are other options out there that do it much better.