Like I've been saying, I'm cutting down on sugars and carbs. So I have to ditch my usual 3-in-1 Blendy Coffee Stick (which I should have taken photos of! whoops!), which is just oh too sweet, I think. I could go for the "half-and-half" 3-in-1's with those sweeteners that might have less calories, but they are still carbs. Anyway, I get my 3-in-1 Blendy's for around 498 yen for a 30-pack, which means 16.6 yen per "stick," or around 20 US cents or 8 Philippine pesos. A little bit more expensive than in the Philippines, but it's not that bad. It's not enough caffeine though, so I usually take 2 sticks each morning. That's a lot of sugars and carbs.
So, I go to the supermarket, hoping to find an alternative, saw this thing with a 398 yen price tag that looked much more than what I was paying for the Blendy's, and well it became a no-brainer. Of course, Nescafe is a familiar brand the world over, but Matinal? Equilibrado? Sounds like (Brazilian) Portuguese to me. Well, I gave it a try anyway, and it turned out great! Per my understanding on the back, you can mix a tablespoon(?) directly with 150mL of milk -- I've never done that before, and boy did that taste really great. Almost like a latte. Almost no need for sugar. :D Anyways, it's strong enough (or you can control the strength of the coffee anyway by adding more), I only had one cup of coffee this morning and it was all it took to get me going for the day. Mission accomplished!
P.S. I didn't use a tablespoon - that feels too much. I used two teaspoons instead. The other option, per my understanding, is to make an espresso-like concoction with just 50mL of water and one teaspoon of this thing. I'm not a fan of espresso itself so I'll probably stick to the latte-like option.
yay!
ReplyDelete