Like all the coffee I’ve reviewed thus far, my sample of Green Mountain French Vanilla was delivered to my office on a Monday morning by a less than enthusiastic man with a handtruck and a questionable attitude. Not one to let a little bit of surliness interfere with my morning coffee, I decided it was high time I tried what is hands down, in my office anyway, the most popular of the Green Mountain flavored varieties.

Full Description

Just try to resist the enticing aromas of our new French Vanilla coffee! Lusciously rich and smooth with the flavors of sweet vanilla cream.

What It Says On the Box

Lusciously rich and smooth with the flavors of sweet vanilla cream.

The Aroma

Wow…yeah, it smells like Vanilla, probably more specifically French Vanilla. Any scent of coffee was pretty much lost is the steaming vanilla cloud that formed over the top of my cup. It’s not the most aromatic of the K-Cups I’ve sampled thus far, but it’s pretty high on the list.

For my own curiosity, have the French cornered the market on vanilla? When was the last time you heard about any other kind of vanilla. With chocolate you’ve got the Germans, the Swiss, and the Belgians. Where’s all the vanilla competition. Ok…clearly I’m giving this too much thought. Moving on…

Drinking It Black

For all of the vanilla aroma, the actual vanilla flavor is somewhat muted. You really have to slurp it in deep to tease the vanilla into showing some dominance. Word of warning; it’s probably best not to do any deep slurping in public. I’ve found people start to look at you funny after the 2nd or 3rd spoon full.

As it says on the box, Green Mountain French Vanilla is a light blend, with a light caramel color. It’s less sweet than one might expect from a vanilla flavored coffee, which might be a positive since it allows more of what I’ll call the natural coffee flavor to stand out.

With Cream & Sugar (Splenda)

While it has a native sweetness to it, adding a bit of cream and sugar to Green Mountain French Vanilla definitely improves the flavor. Once you’ve opted in for a flavored coffee, you might as well go ahead and sweeten it up a bit.

Final Thoughts

I’m not overwhelmed by Green Mountain French Vanilla, although I may be in the minority. It’s not uncommon here to the women in my office digging through the cabinets hoping to find a forgotten box of the stuff. Now I’m not one to label any thing “coffee for girls”, but I’m not going to be drinking it every day. It is a naturally sweet coffee that can make for a near perfect afternoon pick-me-up (for those who like French Vanilla flavoring).  I’d definitely recommend not trying to brew a cup any larger than the medium size on your Keurig Brewer.  Although I haven’t yet tried it myself, my hunch is that if I set my Keurig to it’s smallest cups size, and poured it over ice I’d be in sweet girly coffee heaven (in a manly way of course).

So as it turns out, the French aren’t the only ones making vanilla. Why not try some Mexican Vanilla from Green Mountain. This pure vanilla is coumarin-free and has been awarded the prestigious Diploma of Honor, Gold Medal, First prize, Mexico. Why settle for less?

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