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July 16, 2008 8:39 AM

What's better for you? Coffee-Mate or half-and-half?

There has been a debate in my household about which one of these products is better for you. On one hand, you half-and-half which has a higher amount of calories and fat, but seems more natural. On the other hand, you have Coffee-Mate which is mostly corn syrup solids, hydrogenated soybean/cottonseed oil, and a long list of unpronounceable words. Which product is better in our coffee?

posted by bobber to food & drink (20 comments total)

In general, the more things you can recognize in the ingredients, the better off you are. As you said, CoffeeMate has corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and a bevy of sweetners, colors and flavorings all designed to trick you into thinking it's a dairy product.

None of those ingredients are marked as unfit for human consumption, so your skeptcism in regard to the FDA's expertise in these things is your real guidline.

Me? You're not putting a CUP of half and half in your coffee. It's probably around a tablespoon or less, so I'd gladly take the fat and spare myself the chemical concoction that is Coffee Mate. I'd rather drink it black, in fact. But mostly this is a matter of your comfortableness with heavily processed food stuffs.

Also, note that not all fats are made equal- Dairy fats are almost certainly more favorable than hydrogenated oil fats.
posted by GilloD at 8:53 AM on July 16, 2008

Half-and-half, hands down. The hydrogenated oils, corn syrup and chemicals will kill you long before the fat and calories will.
posted by Koko at 8:55 AM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Well, if those were my only choices, I'd certainly pick half-and-half. I've spent the last four days drinking hotel room coffee, which only comes with the dry, powdered creamer stuff, and that's vile.

Half-and-half ingredients should be milk & cream. Those are fine things to put into your coffee and your body (calories and fat, yeah - but are you adding a cup to each cup of coffee? No. Probably more like a couple of tablespoons, right?). Why put HFCS and soybean oil into your coffee? Why put them into your body if you have a choice?

At home, we use 1% milk. If I get coffee at Peet's, I often put whole milk in. Is that an option? Less fat, fewer calories, still yummy.
posted by rtha at 8:55 AM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

i'm not a nutritionist, but i would be very surprised if, in the long run, we find out that super-processed, franken-"food"-stuffs are somehow healthier than actual, naturally-occurring foods.

both parties in your debate should read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. for counterpoint, i guess you could read a book about why corn syrup and chemicals are good for you, if such a book exists.
posted by snofoam at 9:00 AM on July 16, 2008

You probably mean to be asking "what's worse for you?"

The half-and-half is, I think, doubtless better if the two, in the sense that it's a relatively unprocessed whole food with naturally occurring calcium and vitamin A. If there's anything redeeming about Coffee Mate, I don't know what it is. The American Heart Association would prefer that you use a nonfat nondairy creamer in lieu of the half-and-half, but as you, yourself note, Coffee Mate is made from some scary stuff, and those hydrogenated oils aren't exactly your pals, either.
posted by mumkin at 9:03 AM on July 16, 2008

One or two tablespoons of either isn't going to make much of a difference. Drink whatever you like more. If your diet is generally good and you exercise regularly, you shouldn't really concern yourself with this.
posted by electroboy at 9:05 AM on July 16, 2008

Ugh, the CoffeeMate label is like a handy checklist of everything that's really, really terribly bad for you. I'd go with the half and half, hands down. Or, better yet, full-on cream if you want that serious mouthfeel. (Try it in an iced espresso sometime!)
posted by bink at 9:08 AM on July 16, 2008

At least with half and half you know what you're getting.

A funny story: My friend's father asked his wife to get some half and half for him at the grocery store. He drinks his coffee black, so she thinks "Whatever" and puts it on the list. Later he asks her if she got it for him. "It's in the fridge" she tells him. He looks in the fridge, doesn't see it. "Where in the fridge?!" he asks, growing frustrated. "RIGHT HERE!" she says, picking it up and handing it to him. He bellows "What the hell is this? I WANTED PIPE TOBACCO!
posted by Daddy-O at 9:13 AM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Half-and-half is composed of simpler ingredients, but I agree with tiburon that the question really ought not to be which effluent is "better." Pick your poison!

Even local dairies that sell the cheapest milk/milk products have bare-minimum safety and quality controls on their product. If you are concerned about the quality of ingredients, I'd definitely go for the higher-end of the milky scale and avoid UDF milk products or their local equivalent.

I drink black coffee.
posted by vkxmai at 10:01 AM on July 16, 2008

[a few comments removed - question is really not "should I not drink either of these things?" or "how can I do pyrotechnichs with my coffeemate?"]
posted by jessamyn at 10:11 AM on July 16, 2008

If you decide on half-and-half, avoid fat free junk, as it appears to be non-dairy creamer mixed with nonfat milk. Maybe Silk creamer is less disgusting.
posted by mkb at 10:26 AM on July 16, 2008

If you are allergy to dairy or unable to digest it, the non-dairy creamer is better.

A tablespoon of half-and-half contains 16mg of Calcium, 20mg of Potassium, and 54IU of Vitamin A, and 0.44g of protein (according to USDA). Not exactly a bountiful source of anything, but a better nutritional value than the empty calories of non-dairy creamer.
posted by zennie at 10:27 AM on July 16, 2008

Half and half. AHA be damned, people have been eating foods like half and half for thousands upon thousands of years without a problem. I'm of the school that believes it's the sugar in coffee drinks that is bad, not the fat, though not all fats are created equal. Of course it's better if you get the half and half from a more natural source. Right now I'm drinking coffee with cream I got from local grass fed cows. Completely delicious.
posted by melissam at 10:41 AM on July 16, 2008

Which product is better in our coffee?

Just another data point. Coffeemate requires warm/hot coffee in order to fully dissolve. In summertime half and half is the clear winner because you can add it to iced/cool coffee drinks. Calories and fat are really only bad for you if you have a weight/cholesterol problem you are working on. There is nothing inherently wrong with them. Coffeemate is vegetarian though not vegan, though it's interesting to read what non-dairy really means. You can store Coffeemate without having refrigeration so if you're one of those people who a) travels a lot and b) likes consistency in your morning beverage, CM is the clear winner.

This is really one of those "on the one hand, on the other hand" debates. Generally speaking things lower on the food chain are better for you. That said, just because something is "better for you" in some loose way doesn't mean it's the best food choice for you or your family.
posted by jessamyn at 11:59 AM on July 16, 2008

half and half. As a rule the closer you stay to the food chain and the farther you stay from the factory the better it is for your body.

About 8 or 9 months ago I switched to plain black coffee because I wanted to cut down on useless calories. It takes about a month to get used to but after that it makes the whole coffee drinking experience a lot more interesting. Instead of every coffee you drink being a homogeneous blend of milk and sugar each cup has a different character almost like wine or scotch. You really develop a more refined palette and a good cup of coffee becomes a quest.
posted by any major dude at 12:38 PM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't believe that it makes a significant difference either way, unless you have some specific health reason (e.g. diabetes) that makes sugar much worse than fat or vice versa.
posted by winston at 12:57 PM on July 16, 2008

I always find Coffee-Mate tastes chemically. I actually use soymilk or rice milk in my coffee and find it works really well (no, I'm not a vegan).
posted by March Hare at 1:00 PM on July 16, 2008

Thanks for all the great answers. I was definitely rooting for the half-and-half, so I'll have to show the rest of my family that the hive-mind agrees with me.

As for me, I tried milk in my coffee today and it worked just as good as the half-and-half.

Thanks again for the answers!
posted by bobber at 3:35 PM on July 16, 2008

Check out the serving size as well- The serving size for coffee mate is one teaspoon, half and half is a tablespoon. Make sure you triple the numbers for coffee mate.

I use half and half.
posted by gjc at 4:51 PM on July 16, 2008

can I hear about these intriguing pyrotechnics now?
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:57 PM on July 20, 2008