Panera Caffe Mocha – What I’m Drinking

The Drink: Panera Caffe Mocha
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

I’ve been a long time fan of Panera, it’s usually a better quality alternative to a fast food meal. In the morning, I can’t get enough of their bacon, egg and cheese grilled breakfast sandwiches. At lunch, I dig in for their chicken noodle soup in a bread bowl. However, I’m not a fan of their Caffe Mocha.

From the moment I took off the lid, I knew I was in trouble. Unlike the photo above, my Caffe Mocha looked more like a hot chocolate than anything else.

Starting with the aroma, the drink was disappointing. I was only able to detect a weak chocolate syrup aroma. There was zero hints of it being an espresso based drink.

The taste wasn’t bad, if I had ordered a hot chocolate. The chocolate overwhelmed it and pushed any other flavor out of the way. There was nothing that I could taste that was espresso. If they were trying to pass it off as a hot chocolate, mission accomplished.

I expected better from Panera. It’s been a while since I ordered anything off their coffee menu, normally I stick to the orange juice in the morning and iced tea with lunch, now I remember why. Hopefully, this was just a fluke. Next week, when I’m back their for another meeting, I’m going to try something else.

Panera’s Caffe Mocha earns a lackluster two out of five rating. If I want a mocha in a hurry, I’m going to stop at Starbucks or even McDonald’s.

Have you had a Panera coffee drink that you like?

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Photo by ohdearbarb.

Category: Coffee Reviews