Mexican Mocha Coffee Sugar

Mocha coffee sugar with a hint of heat is perfect for cold winter mornings!

I like food, and I cook, so I am often gifted not just cooking tools, but also gourmet food gifts. Things that are nice to have, but I wouldn’t buy myself. Mostly because they are expensive.

One of those gifts was a basket of coffee sugars. Sweetened, flavored sugars that you can put in your coffee in place of regular sugar for an easy pick me up.

I don’t typically put sugar in my coffee, but I do love an occasional mocha.  One of the sugars was a Mexican Mocha blend, and it was delish. But when I looked to repurchase, it was almost $10 for 4 ounces. Now, I know that for as often I use it, it’s a small amount. But it’s made of mostly sugar. About a half cup of sugar to be exact.

Disclaimer: I do not mind paying good money for products that are unique, delicious, or hard to make/source. I like supporting small businesses, and I know it’s rough out there. But this product in particular seems pretty easy to make. I like challenges in the kitchen. I have attempted things like this in the past and realized I was wrong, and happily bought the product again.

So here we go. First up — sugar. I use a mix of equal parts turbinado and granulated sugar in this mix. Six tablespoons in a jar.

Next up — cocoa. Any old cocoa powder will do here I think. But as far as proportions, I wasn’t really sure, so started with 1/3 of the sugar. Two tablespoons in the jar and taste. Pretty chocolatey but seems good.

Now for the spice. A teaspoon of cinnamon seems like a good idea, so that goes in the jar. Cayenne. I started with 1/8 teaspoon and way too spicy. So more sugar and chocolate. Taste again. Pinch of coarse salt? That’s it. A dash of fresh grated nutmeg. A vanilla bean.

And now for the test. I added a nice round teaspoon to a mug of hot coffee and topped with steamed milk. Is it as good as a coffee shop mocha? No, but it’s a fraction of the price, and it is as good as the expensive version.