When I get up in the morning, one of my first thoughts is usually along the lines of how good that alarm clock would look when smashed into a million pieces. Given this is the case, I tend to sleep as late as I can and still get to work on time. Doing this does not give me a lot of time in the morning for breakfast. I try to make up for this by eating a cup of yogurt as my first breakfast and then later in the morning I get a granola bar as second breakfast.
Additionally, I don’t like to waste money1 so I tend to buy whatever yogurt is on sale. When I did this Tuesday, the grocery store had Dannon yogurt on sale at 20 cups for $10 or 50¢ a cup. This makes them just barely cheaper than the store brand yogurt. I thought I’d give them a try and picked up 10 cups in a variety of flavors.
Yesterday, I cracked open my first cup of the Dannon yogurt and had selected 7 Benefits All Natural Coffee Yogurt. Once I had the foil cover off the cup of yogurt I knew this was not going to be good. The color of the yogurt reminded me of things I’d blown out of my nose, last time I had a bad sinus infection. For extra unpleasantness, there was a thing layer of oil or maybe water on top. I mixed the yogurt up with my spoon, starting by smashing it straight down into the yogurt. To my mind some of the yogurt should have stuck to the spoon when I lifted it out of the cup. Also, the yogurt should have moved together to fill in the holes where I’d stabbed down into it with my spoon. Alas, neither of these events transpired. Then I did a more traditional mixing2 and prepared to take my first bite.
*horrified shudder*
Imagine if you will the worst office coffee you’ve ever had. With extra creamer. Gone all cold and solidified. Now add in an unhealthy dollop of chalkiness and you’ll almost understand what it tasted like. Of course, that’s not the worst part of this story. The worst part is I have another cup of it in my fridge and I’ll be eating it in the next week or so. Yes I know I will hate it, but if I just throw it away then it’s wasting money. *sigh*
1 Some people would say I’m cheap.
2 Swirling the yogurt around in a circular fashion using my spoon.
29 Comments
You young hipsters with your new-fangled yogurts. Jebus Cripes, you don’t know good when you see it.
When I was young, we *loved* Dannon, and got unruly when our moms tried to feed us the pre-mixed generic stuff. Give me my Dannon with six extra teaspoons of sugar, or I’m skipping nap-time.
As we grew up, we rioted in the isles when Dannon prices rose, but stores offered Yoplait on sale. Too smooth by half. It had no grit, no soul.
I personally love mixing my own slowly-seperating plain yogurt into my blueberries-at-the-bottom. And the berry bits were still good and large, thank you, because they haven’t been through an industrial mixer.
That said, their yogurt may have gone to the dogs in the last ten years, who knows. Gimme a fruit cocktail in a viscous sugar syrup, and I’ll be smiling in the corner.
It couldn’t be worse than DQ’s moolatte. DQ knows how to make things sickly sweet, they don’t know a damn thing about coffee. I still have nightmares.
@Ken: When we “young hipsters” were young we ate cereal for breakfast because we had parents who would kick our butts out of bed in plenty of time for a proper breakfast. Of the yogurts at my local grocery store, the best yogurt is Yoplait hands-down, no contest. With the wide variety of flavours and types* anyone can find a Yoplait yogurt they would enjoy.
* They’ve got regular, diet, custard style, whipped and maybe a couple of others.
@Michael: *shudder* That does sound rather nasty but I’m not sure it’s worse. Dannon’s craptastic yogurt
advantagedisadvantage… err, I’m not quite sure what to call it but it’s texture and color were quite powerful in their awfulness.Dont eat yoplait—even though people and animal activists have begged them for years, they still refuse to reshape the containers that trap small animals heads after shoving and straining them in to get at the sweet on the bottom….
Or one can take responsibility into their own hands by either:
I agree with the original warning, the coffee flavored Dannon All Natural 7 Benefits tastes awful… unless you like the taste of slightly burnt wood. I do, however, like the vanilla flavor, texture and all. As for the separation on top, I assume it to be water, and I just pour it off because I like my yogurt thicker. My favorite thing about this yogurt is the short ingredient list. Only 4 items. Cultured reduced fat milk, sugar, natural vanilla flavor and pectin. (For all you vegetarians out there, no gelatin!!!) I suffer from horrible food allergies and a few of those are to common food additives. Even if I am not allergic to certain additives I now think twice about eating it, especially if it is an unneccessary ingredient being used to cut production costs.
The other Dannon Naturals that come in 4 packs have more than the 4 ingredients. If you consider high fructose corn syrup a natural ingredient, go for it. I’ll stick with the Vanilla flavored 7 benefits variety.
FYI, “flavors” and “flavorings” are not always derived from the original item and are often by-products of other items and their processes. For example, coffee flavoring generally is not made from coffee. Maybe this is the reason why this coffee flavored yogurt tastes like wood?
Myself, I choose the “All Natural” Stonyfield Farm brand….EXCELLENT!! No additives/preservatives, no synthetic growth hormones, no artificial sweeteners; just smooth & creamy SUPERB flavor. I buy the fat free plain version and add my own homemade strawberry syrup to it for a bit more flavor or I add granola or grape nut cereal to it for extra crunch and fiber! This can also be purchased in the “organic” variety. Hands down, the BEST YOGURT ON THE MARKET!!
I don’t think my local grocery store carries that brand, but I’ll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the tip!
I checked out the Stoneyfield Farm brand yogurt ingredients on the Peapod website. It looks like something I would like to try, thanks for the information Kaprina.
I want to add a correction from my previous post, The Dannon Naturals four pack doesn’t have the high fructose corn syrup, it’s the Dannon Friut on the Bottom varieties.
the “water” on top is whey–the most nutritious part of the yogurt. Separation is natural–stir it in, don’t pour it off.
(From Stonyfield):
Why is there liquid (sometimes) on the top of my yogurt?
This liquid, called whey is a natural component in cultured yogurt. Whey contains many of the most important vitamins and nutrients in yogurt. Simply stir it back in to take advantage of its nutritional benefits. It occurs whenever there has been any type of pressure on the curd, or also from temperature change. A little bit whey is normal. The appearance of whey is actually a good sign, indicating that the beneficial cultures are alive and active.
Good to know, I’ll keep it in mind for any other yogurts I eat.
I just had a cup of blueberry 7 benefits Dannon yogurt and it was fine. Almost delightful. It was gross looking but not to the extent that it had gone bad, but all fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt looks gross if you really want my opinion( I try to stir it up as fast as possible!) Try the mixed Dannon yogurt and see if you still have that yuck factor. Maybe you just got a bad batch, or maybe Dannon has gone down hill, you may want to experiment.
I’m like you, I buy what is on sale, but Yoplait really is my favorite despite all the sacrificed animals.
@Krissy: Dannon’s fruit-on-the-bottom has always been tasty when I’ve had it. In fact, the only one of their yogurts I can recall disliking is this All Natural Coffee. This particular yogurt was just so tremendously nasty that I felt the need to warn others away from it.
Dannon coffee yogurt is the only yogurt I eat. I love the flavor and the texture. The texture equals that of normal cultured yogurt. I admit I may be addicted to the 45 mg of caffeine it contains. If I skip the Dannon coffee yogurt and do not drink a cup of coffee, I will get a headache.
Dannon coffee yogurt is my favorite food. I can happily consume 4 to 5 six ounce cups a day. I buy it in bulk when it goes on sale. I was dismayed several years ago when Dannon discontinued the 16 ounce coffee yogurt containers.
I would like to find other Dannon coffee yogurt afficionados. Maybe after consuming several you may become addicted too.
@Betsy: I doubt I will ever get addicted to these as the one I tried was so entirely horrible I won’t ever be eating one of them again.
I agree with Mark, I will never get addicted to the coffee flavored yogurt either. The one I tried went in the trash after one spoonful. It tasted like a mouthful of burnt wood and sour milk puree to me. I’ll stick to the vanilla.
Here I am Betsy! I Love Dannon coffee yogurt!!! The flavor and texture to me are superb. I could eat it by the gallon. I drink black coffee all day too, I don’t know if that has something to do with it?
Does it really have 45 mg of caffeine?
Stacey, you are my yogurt soul mate. I am so happy I found you.
You must get a lot of caffeine. One web site said the caffeine content in 6 oz of Dannon coffee yogurt was 38 mg.
I guess we are lucky that there are people like Mark who do not like the product. I hate walking into a supermarket to find that all of the coffee yogurts have been sold.
Does anyone know if Dannon is discontinuing their “All Natural” yogurt line? I went into both of the Vons that I usually go to and they weren’t on the shelves anymore. When I asked one of the employees that was stocking the yogurt section what happened to it, he told me it was probably discontinued. That was the only brand that I bought since it doesn’t have the high fructose corn syrup in it! Boo hoo…….
Dannon still lists the All Natural yogurt line on their website in both blended and plain/flavored styles. So it doesn’t look like they discontinued it; maybe it wasn’t selling well enough at your grocery store.
@Stacey&Betsy - Dannon Coffee Yogurt is my favorite yogurt as well, and favorite food as well. Most of my friends have tried it and hated it, though a few liked it. I only found this blog entry because a friend who finds my addiction revolting pointed me to it.
Welcome to the club, Ben! Let’s all get together and have a yogurt.
I love Dannon Coffee Yogurt as well! But HyVee only had 3 last night, and I didn’t notice until I got home that they all expired last week! >:O
Wish I could buy direct.
I love Dannon Au Natural Coffee flavored yogurt. It is my favorite food in the world. I panicked when I could only find one carton at Target yesterday. My sister, mom, and I all love the flavor and consistency. Please keep it available!
Dannon Coffee Yogurt is absolutely my favorite food. Have been eating it 2x day since the late 1970’s. Now and then I get a odd blueberry-type taste which irks me, especially when I’ve bought about a dozen of them. Glad to see there are some other coffee yogurt lovers out there. I do at times think I’m addicted to it. Oh well, things could be worse.
Dannon Coffee Yogurt is what I live on. I will buy 36 at one time. I add chunky peanut butter, or nuts and mix it in. It makes me feel
so good. I eat it about 3 or 4 times a day. I am so sorry that they
discontinued the larger size. Also in my area, NY, the prices have gone way up. They are charging up to $1.19 for one 6 oz. cup. I am
still able to get it for 99 cents.
Dolores
Note to Meg: You are correct! That is a blueberry taste from some bad batches. You helped me characterize why some don’t taste quite right.
I agree with so many of the commenters … it’s the only yogurt I like. I absolutely love it! Whenever I find it, I stock up, but I do try to limit myself to one cup a day because of the sugar and caffeine content.
When I am not feeling full of energy (age 70) I know that
it is time for me to eat another Danon Coffee yogurt with
peanuts or chunky peanut butter. This, my favorite food,
makes me feel so good after eating it. I am a nationally
ranked senior tennis competitor and I travel all over the
U.S. I am about to leave for California next week and I
always make sure that I find the coffee yogurt where I
go.
Dolores