Caribou Coffee's New Chocolate Mocha Chewy Granola Bars, Product Review

I don't even drink coffee, so it's a little odd that I find myself reviewing a coffee-flavored granola bar. Or, perhaps it's not so odd. After all, my favorite flavor of ice cream is Jamocha Almond Fudge so it makes perfect sense that I might enjoy a coffee taste in a granola bar, right?

Company Information
I didn't know anything about the company that produced the granola bar, so I referred to the company's website, www.cariboucoffee.com. Apparently Caribou Coffee® operates a popular chain of coffee shops. Their website has a fascinating mountaintop story about the founding of the company. There is not a Caribou Coffee® shop within fifty miles of my location, so that explains why I've never heard of it

This article isn't about the Caribou Coffee® coffee shops, however, but the Caribou Coffee® granola bars. Information about the granola bars can also be found at the Caribou Coffee website. The granola bars are in local grocery stores, or you can buy them online here.

General Mills distributes these coffee snack bars and they come in two flavors: Vanilla Latte and Chocolate Mocha. I reviewed the Chocolate Mocha Flavor.

Nutritional Information
Each bar packs 140 calories, 35 of which come from fat. Fat content and number of calories compared favorably to another popular granola bar product in my pantry, which has 160 calories, 60 of which come from fat.

The granola bar also contains 8 grams of whole grain. Current USDA dietary requirements do suggest that Americans need to eat a diet that contains more grain products for a wide variety of reasons including reduced risks for many diseases. (Read more about eating grain products here.

According to packaging, the granola bar contains ten percent of an adult's suggested daily value for calcium. I guess that means that if you ate ten of the Caribou Coffee® granola bars your daily calcium requirement would be satisfied. I can't imagine eating ten of these granola bars, or any type of granola bar, each day. Calcium is needed not only to strengthen bones and teeth, but also to support other bodily functions.

Taste and Texture
As I bit into the granola bar, I could definitely taste a strong coffee flavor. The strength of the coffee taste surprised me. Other coffee-flavored products have not had this strong of a coffee flavor. There was definitely also a sweet taste, also. I could not, however, taste the chocolate in the chocolate in the Chocolate Mocha variety of this granola bar.

Conclusion : An Adult Granola Bar?
Overall, I enjoyed my taste of the Caribou Coffee® granola bar and I would buy this product again. However, the coffee flavoring gives this bar somewhat of a bitter taste. It's not a taste that bothers me, but my children (who eat granola bars like there's no tomorrow) didn't like these bars. Many other children may feel the same way about the coffee taste. Personally, I think that's just fine. Isn't it about time that we adults had our own granola bar?