The Costco Food Court Coffee Item That's Simply Too Sweet To Truly Enjoy

Hot take: Not every Costco food court item is worth trying. One such offering can be found on the wholesaler's drinks menu: Costco's Cold Brew Mocha Freeze. This caffeinated beverage is simply too sweet to enjoy. In fact, when we ranked all of Costco's food court items, our tasters placed it "at the top of the bottom of our list." Imagine a thick Icee or slushy with an overwhelming sweetness thanks to the copious amount of chocolate syrup included. While the Freeze includes a cold brew made from Costco's Kirkland Signature coffee beans, as Tasting Table writers Joshua Carlucci and Dora Nuss-Warren stated, "[The coffee] is strong and robust in flavor at the back of the palate, but it comes after a sickly saccharine wave at the front."

We're not the only ones who feel that this drink is a tad too sweet as a coffee. Over on Reddit, comments like "my teeth melted from all the sugar," "sickeningly sweet," and "WAY too sweet for me" are common. If you're looking for an icy dessert, Costco's Cold Brew Mocha Freeze might satisfy your sweet tooth. But if you're after a good coffee fix, this drink probably isn't the one to order. Try the Cold Brew Latte Freeze instead, which is likely the same as the Mocha Freeze but without the sweet chocolate syrup added. Just note that even the Cold Brew Latte Freeze at Costco is still quite sweet. 

Luckily, there are a few ways to hack Costco's super sweet Cold Brew Mocha Freeze to make it more palatable. Here's one idea: Split the drink with a friend and enjoy it as a dessert. If you can make yourself wait to enjoy it, bring the Freeze home. Then, add ice to a tall glass, pour in the Cold Brew Mocha Freeze, and cut it with some home-brewed coffee and a little milk. Give it a taste and see if the sweetness level is now more to your liking. Others have also transferred the drink to popsicle molds to freeze into icy sweet treats. 

Another idea to rework this too-sweet drink from Costco is to add a little booze to it and spike away the sweetness. If you're like us and prefer your coffee drinks more robust and less dessert-like, we recommend checking out our wonderful coffee recipes to craft at home, including this delicious homemade café latte recipe by Tasting Table's recipe developer, Miriam Hahn. It's always better to be able to control the amount of sugar in one's drink, don't you agree?