About Coffee mate
Coffee mate launched in 1961 as Carnation's original non-dairy powdered creamer, the first product of its kind on the US market. It was built to solve a specific problem: dairy creamer needed refrigeration and could curdle in a hot, acidic cup, while a spray-dried powder could sit in a cupboard for months and disperse cleanly every time. Nestlé acquired Carnation, and Coffee mate along with it, in the 1980s, and the brand has been part of Nestlé's portfolio ever since. It remains America's top-selling coffee creamer by dollar sales, according to Nestlé's own brand figures.
The lineup has grown well past the original powder: liquid bottles, individually sealed single-serve tubs and packets built for offices and travel, a newer cold foam line, and a ready-to-drink iced coffee range launched in 2023. Coffee mate also sells more than 25 flavors across its powder and liquid formats, from the reference French Vanilla to zero-sugar and seasonal varieties, and in 2017 it extended into plant-based creamers under its Natural Bliss sub-brand. In our own testing across two roundups, Coffee mate products consistently carried the deepest review records of anything on the page, in the tens of thousands of ratings.
Brand website: goodnes.com/coffeemate
What Coffee mate makes
Coffee mate's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Powder Creamer
the original 1961 formula, sold in resealable canisters across Original and 25+ flavors -- our featured picks are drawn from this line — featured on Brew Gazette
Liquid Creamer
shelf-stable bottles that emulsify instantly into hot or iced coffee -- our featured French Vanilla pick is from this line — featured on Brew Gazette
Single-Serve Tubs & Packets
individually sealed portions built for offices, hotels and travel, sold in counts up to 180 -- our featured singles pick is from this line — featured on Brew Gazette
Cold Foam Creamer
a newer frothy topping line for iced drinks
Iced Coffee
ready-to-drink bottled iced coffee, launched 2023
Natural Bliss
a separate Nestlé sub-brand covering real-dairy and plant-based (almond, oat, coconut) creamers
Why we recognized Coffee mate
The Brew Gazette Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Coffee mate earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, brewed with daily, and judged on what lands in the cup.
Coffee mate products we rated highly
Coffee Mate Original Powder Creamer, 35.3 Oz
The deepest verified track record of any creamer we tested: over 26,500 owner ratings at a 4.8 average, with 88 percent five stars. Because it's spray-dried powder rather than an intact dairy emulsion, it physically cannot curdle in a hot or acidic cup, it keeps for months in a cupboard rather than a fridge, and it doses by the teaspoon so you control exactly how creamy a cup gets.
Read the Best Coffee Creamers of 2026 guide →
Nestle Coffee mate Original Non-Dairy Creamer Singles, 180-Pack
Carries the largest review base of any single product across our two creamer roundups, over 36,000 ratings at a 4.7 average. Each tub is individually sealed and shelf-stable before and after opening, which is exactly what a break room, a hotel room, or a desk drawer without a fridge actually needs.
Read the Best Coffee Creamers of 2026 guide →
Coffee Mate French Vanilla Liquid Creamer, 16 Fl Oz, 6 Pack
A fully emulsified liquid that blends into cold or iced coffee as readily as hot, which is what let it win the iced-coffee use case in our testing outright while every powder needed pre-dissolving first. It holds a 4.6 average across nearly 4,700 ratings, with the flavor built as the reference version of French vanilla most people picture when they say flavored creamer.
Read the Best Coffee Creamers of 2026 guide →
Coffee Mate Chocolate Creme Zero Sugar Powder Creamer, 10.2 Oz
Zero added sugar with an actual flavor behind it, a genuinely hard combination in this category. Alkali-processed cocoa gives it real chocolate character rather than just a sweetener note, and it carries a 4.5 average across more than 15,000 ratings, the second-deepest review record we found in our powdered-creamer testing.
Read the Best Powdered Coffee Creamer of 2026 guide →
Coffee Mate French Vanilla Powder Creamer, 15 Oz, 6 Pack
The reference version of the flavor most people mean when they say flavored creamer, and it carries a 4.8 average across 4,500-plus ratings, tied for the highest rating of any flavored powder we tested. It dissolves cleanly into hot coffee, where several specialty plant powders on the same page did not.
Read the Best Powdered Coffee Creamer of 2026 guide →
Nestle Coffee mate Coffee Creamer, Original, Non Dairy Powder Creamer, 56 oz Bulk Pack (Pack of 2)
Seven pounds of creamer across two canisters, built for a break room that can't run out mid-week. It ties the highest average rating we recorded in the category, 4.8 across more than 6,200 ratings, which is unusual for a bulk format where handling and staleness usually drag the number down.
Read the Best Powdered Coffee Creamer of 2026 guide →What earned Coffee mate the recognition
- Coffee mate Original Powder is a top pick in our coffee creamer testing, backed by the deepest review record of any product we found in the category: over 26,500 owner ratings at a 4.8 average.
- The brand effectively created this category in 1961 as Carnation's first non-dairy powdered creamer, the original shelf-stable alternative to refrigerated milk and cream.
- A genuinely wide format lineup -- powder canisters, liquid bottles, and individually sealed singles up to 180 count -- lets the same brand solve creamer for a home kitchen, an office break room, or a hotel room with no refrigeration required.
- Its 180-count singles carry the single deepest review base of any product across both of our creamer roundups, real evidence of consistent performance at scale rather than a one-off good batch.
- Flavor engineering that holds up under scrutiny: its zero-sugar Chocolate Creme powder delivers genuine cocoa character rather than a sweetener note standing in for it, a combination most of the category doesn't pull off.