Gotta be nuts to drink this
Rest easy, Swiss Miss. Peanut Hottie, a new hot peanut butter flavored beverage, is unlikely to be anyone’s first choice to warm up this winter.
The mix, available at Walmart stores nationwide ($4.78), works just like hot cocoa powder — just add hot water.
It was invented by Lisa Gawthorne, a fitness enthusiast in the United Kingdom who ate a spoonful of peanut butter and washed it down with some hot tea. After her eureka moment, she called business partner Karl Morris and the duo decided to create the drink. It’s been a hit in the U.K., where about $1.5 million worth of mix is sold each week, according to Wales Online.
The drink recently arrived here in the U.S., where it’s made from American peanuts in Atlanta.
The Daily News Taste Kitchen put the mix to the test, trying out both the original peanut butter flavor and the peanut butter and chocolate.
Tasters were immediately turned off by the color, the most diplomatic among them describing it as the “color and consistency of the Amazon River.” The majority found the two varieties, which both have only 83 calories per cup, palatable once they started drinking it, but lacking a flavor oomph. “It was very sweet, but somehow not rich,” said one tester, noting that it might taste more full bodied if it was made with milk instead of water.
Others were more appalled.
“It smells like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups but tastes like stale peanuts,” said one disappointed taster. “It was a great idea, but not a substitute for hot chocolate.”
The watery consistency reminded one writer of a diet drink.
“This is like a Nutter Butter Slim Fast,” said the Daily Newser. “No, it’s more like Ovaltine’s ugly stepchild.”
For those with a nutty craving, the drink just didn’t hit the spot. “Give me a spoon and the jar instead any day,” a taster said.
One tester, however, had an innovative use for the mix.
“I put three spoonfuls of the chocolate version into my coffee,” he said, “and it was nice: Like eating a peanut-butter cookie with a cup of joe.”