I love writing and coffee shops. It is fun to go somewhere with the bustle of the occasional customer while working on my Compaq Pentium Dual-Core laptop. The white noise of people ordering their drinks and the whirring of blenders and the grinding of coffee beans makes the writing process flow easily from my fingertips.
Recently, my favorite coffee shop to work at has been Peet’s Coffee and Tea, next to the University of California at Irvine. I’ve been writing a Fantasy/Adventure novel that is inspired by the videogame Final Fantasy part I. Writing the book by hand has come very easily and I finished the story about two weeks ago at Peet’s.
Everything was going great. I had finished handwriting the 250 page book, and was preparing to type the book and edit it into chapters. But then I noticed something. I had started to gain weight and it really showed when I sat down. Retracing my diet over the course of the past month I realized that I had made a significant change. I had been drinking Caffé Mochas at Peet’s instead of drinking my standard China Green Tips hot tea from Starbuck’s.
So I took it upon myself to do a little research on exactly how many calories was in my Large Caffé Mocha with whipped cream. I usually ordered my mocha with whole milk instead of 2% because it is creamier. And I mean, if you are going to drink mocha, you might as well enjoy it to the fullest. This means having it served in a porcelain cup and letting the barista do his/her whipped cream swirling magic. One barista said the whipped cream and the chocolate in the mocha had a, “Symbiotic relationship of flavor.” After checking online at Peet’s Coffee & Tea, official website for nutrition information I was able to view the nutritional information on my mocha.
Mocha
It seemed that my Large Caffé Mocha with whole milk and whipped cream had a whopping 503 calories. What? 503 calories, in a drink that I would finish in about 2 minutes! That was a quarter of my supposed daily caloric intake in a cup. No wonder I was gaining weight. The barista said that the whipped cream added 118 calories to the beverage and I wasn’t surprised. That ivory cream goodness was good every time. Especially when it melted into the top of the Mocha and made that bubbly ring of fatty delectableness!
Well, after carefully weighing my options I decided to switch back to hot tea. The Peet’s Coffee & Tea nutritional website didn’t even display the amount of calories in hot tea so I assume it is negligible. What’s in tea anyway, hot water and leaf juice?
The sugar free Caffe Mochoa
So now I’m feeling a bit less weighed down. And I have a bit more energy for blogging now that I am not drinking the Mocha’s. Oh, and if you think your large mocha at Starbuck’s is any different, think again. A Venti ( large) Café Mocha with whole milk and whipped cream at Starbuck’s is 450 calories. It is about 50 calories less than at Peet’s. And I guess that 50 calorie difference is a big deal if you drink a big mocha every day. But overall mochas at Peet’s taste better. They use this Dutch chocolate that is so strong that you need to chase the Mocha with a glass of water. You might want to try the sugar free version of Peet’s Mocha if you are trying to save a few calories.
So the moral of the story is to avoid drinking your meals. That is, unless you are trying to gain weight. And try Peet’s loose leaf tea over a cup of steamed milk. I’m drinking the Jade Mist Organic tea right now…but that’s another story!