The Aldi Coffee That's So Bad Customers Can't Finish A Can

When I heard Aldi had dairy-free canned lattes on its shelves, I dropped everything and ran to the store. Sure enough, there was a whole line of coffee crafted with oat milk in cans from the company Pop & Bottle with adorable packaging and mix-ins like ashwaganda and collagen. Visions of a healthier, more energetic version of myself danced in my head. I cracked open a can of Vanilla Cold Brew when I got into my car and was unpleasantly surprised. It tasted chalky and stale, like someone tried to make a latte out of watered down Pepto-Bismol –- and I'm not the only one with that reaction. Customers have taken to the internet to express their opinions about Pop & Bottle's line of healthy canned coffee and matcha drinks.

Some customers said the canned coffee is sweet and creamy, but that was about the extent of the praise Pop & Bottle got for these drinks. Gentler reviews said they were okay, if you can make it past the first few sips and get used to the taste, or that they're too watery and bitter.

Redditors on a thread ominously titled "These ..." summed up the online chatter about Pop & Bottle's canned coffee in one word: disappointing. "First sip and your hit with a weird taste even after shaking. All in all, cute packaging," the original Redditor posted. Customers piled on, too. One person threw the matcha flavor away after the first sip, another said the mocha one was too grainy, and a third summed up the experience by saying it "tastes like toe cheese."

Canned coffee has a few things bagged coffee doesn't; it's convenient, usually sweet and strong, and it doesn't oxidize as quickly. Companies have certainly picked up on the trend. You can even find canned coffee at the dollar store if you're looking to save a little money. Pop & Bottle took the concept a step further and decided to make a healthy version of a canned latte that would combine convenience, caffeine, and wellness. The drinks are made without dairy or refined sugar and use organic coffee, functional mushrooms, adaptogens, and collagen –- all packaged in adorable pastel cans and marketed with the catchphrase: "Your Daily Latte With Benefits."

Pop & Bottle's attempt to bridge the gap between sweet treat coffees and bottled, store-bought cold brews just didn't work. The situation wasn't helped with all those adaptogens and mushrooms, which are known for having a strong, earthy, and bitter flavor that's hard to mask especially with oat milk, which is less creamy than traditional cow's milk. Without any added sugar, those bitter, earthy flavors really shine through — and not in a good way if you're looking for something that tastes like a creamy, sweet vanilla latte.