5 International Delight Coffee Creamers, Ranked

If you're a coffee drinker, then you know how much fun it can be to venture to one of your favorite coffee shops to order a special coffee beverage you can't make at home. Unfortunately, that's an expensive habit to keep up every day, which is why it's nice to have the ingredients you need to make flavorful coffee at home. And if you're not the kind of person who likes black coffee, that generally means having some store-bought coffee creamer on hand (if you're not making your own creamer, that is).

There are so many different coffee creamer brands out there these days, but International Delight was one of the first on the market. I selected five International Delight flavors from the grocery store and taste-tested them before ranking them from worst to best. The criteria I used for this ranking include both flavor and balance, particularly focusing on sweetness and whether the creamer actually tastes like what it's advertised as. Take a closer look, and you might just find a new creamer you want to try for yourself.

I'll be honest — none of International Delight's coffee creamers really did it for me, as they are all cloyingly sweet. I only used a single serving of creamer in each of these coffees, and I found them to be absolutely overpowering, turning my morning coffee into a drink that tastes sweeter than your average soda. But the Hazelnut flavor is arguably the worst. Take a whiff of this creamer, and you do, in fact, get a slight nutty aroma that smells like it would taste good. However, I find that it doesn't exactly translate to the flavor of the creamer. It tastes overly sweet, of course, but it also has a strange, artificial funkiness to it. The nutty complexity that you might expect is flat and forced, which does nothing to counteract that intense sweetness.

If you're looking for a hint of hazelnut flavor in your coffee, this is not the product you should buy. On the other hand, if you crave intensely sweet coffee and don't care about that artificial note (and tend to like hazelnut-flavored coffee), then this might be a product worth seeking out.

Caramel macchiatos may have gotten their start at Starbucks, but it's now a popular flavor combo at coffee shops around the country — and maybe at your own coffee station at home. A true caramel macchiato requires that delicious caramel drizzle, but you're not going to get that when you choose International Delight's Caramel Macchiato creamer. Rather, you're just getting a hint of, again, artificial-tasting caramel in the company's signature creamy base. It's not terrible, per se, but it definitely doesn't produce a coffee that stands up to the real thing.

The major problem with this creamer is its sweetness. To get enough of that caramel flavor you're craving, you have to use so much creamer that your coffee will be cloyingly sweet. As someone who's used to more of a salted caramel situation, I found the flavor balance to be really off here, considering that there's nothing to counteract all that sugar.

When I can't figure out which flavor I want when it comes to something sweet, vanilla always seems like a safe bet. It's almost never groundbreaking or super interesting, but I know I'm generally not going to be disappointed with vanilla. It's fitting, then, that International Delight's French Vanilla flavor falls in the very middle of this ranking. Let me be clear: Just like all of the other creamers in this lineup, this one is far too sweet. Just a tiny pour into your coffee, and it'll taste like you added several massive heaps of sugar. But apart from that, the plain vanilla flavor is fine.

This creamer tastes vaguely dessert-like, but honestly, the vanilla flavor isn't all that strong. Rather, you just get a hint of it. If you're picky about coffee flavors but you can usually appreciate a vanilla latte, this isn't a bad choice. However, there are definitely more interesting flavors from International Delight to explore.

I'm not really sure what Sweet and Creamy International Delight coffee creamer is supposed to taste like other than, well, cream. But the company pulls that off pretty well. This creamer sets itself apart from something like half-and-half, mostly because of all the sugar. Again, this creamer is far too sweet for my preference, but the fact that I can't taste any glaringly obvious artificial flavors here is a good start. One thing that also sets this flavor apart from most of the others listed here is its slight saltiness. It's definitely not super pronounced — don't think this is going to taste like a salted caramel latte or anything — but there's just enough saltiness there to offer some balance to the otherwise overpowering sweetness.

For those who are just trying to make their coffee creamier and sweeter, this flavor is the way to go. It's simple, it's easy, and it's a quick way to elevate a standard cup of drip coffee.

I was more than a little surprised that the Almond Joy flavor of International Delight was my favorite of the bunch, considering that it seems like a strange flavor for a coffee drink. Admittedly, I love the candy Almond Joy, though, and if you do too, then there's a good chance that you'll like this creamer. The main flavor I picked up here is coconut, which is quite pronounced. Ostensibly, there's also a bit of almond flavoring there, although I read it as a general nuttiness. Unfortunately, I didn't really taste any chocolate notes, but perhaps that would make for too decadent a drink anyway.

Just like all of International Delight's other coffee creamers I reviewed for this article, this one was way, way too sweet. But that lovely coconut note is unique and, apart from the sugar, pretty well-balanced, so it easily earns the top spot on this ranking.

I tried all of these creamers with coffee made in a Nespresso. I added 1 tablespoon of each creamer to the coffee, and finished the drink off with ice. The flavors selected here were chosen based on availability at my local grocery store. The criteria for this ranking were both flavor and flavor balance, with the varieties that tasted more balanced ranking higher than those that didn't have much to counteract all that sugar.