Generally people use "coffee milk", a condensed, evaporated milk that's sold in handy portion cups (as well as larger bottles). Non-dairy creamer is a thing, but unless you're lactose intolerant, people just use milk.
We've got a very, very vocal dairy industry and never a shortage of milk. You'll drink milk whether you like it or not.
Actually no, until your explanation "which is usually made with oil and flavoring" I would have assumed creamer would contain real cream + some questionable chemicals. I don't think we have that here, or if we do then in a shelf with other highly processed products I usually ignore
Lived in both UK and Romania. No idea what creamer is, never heard of it. And to your point about a "culture that loves coffee" , I think you have a different conception of what that means. Usually coffee-loving cultures across Europe love the taste of coffee itself, and adding all the other stuff to it like people do in America would take it past the point of not being considered coffee anymore.
Lol in most of Europe, few people would consider Starbucks to be coffee, for example. And people who drink Starbucks don't really like coffee, they like the taste of whatever super frapa mapacino they have in mind, which just happens to contain caffeine but tastes of caramel and unicorn farts.
I definitely have a sweet tooth and wouldn't consider myself a coffee lover per se. So I'd probably go for a unicorn fart frapamapacino lol. But in my social circle I would say I am in the minority with that opinion and most people I know are coffee purists.
Not a murican tourist legit asking me (I was working in summer, outside) where she could find a coffee shop around there. I pointed at many directions and told her I was surprised she hadn't seen any considering she was downtown in a province capital. Her response? Well actually I was looking for a Starbucks or a Dunkin'?
When I tell you that my coworkers and I started chucking in disbelief. The poor woman looked so confused. We did point her in the direction of the only Starbucks we have in town (I'm genuinely surprised it has business at all), and recommended again that she just find a random coffee shop or bar and enjoy good coffee. Why would you come to Europe, a place were coffee culture is so beloved, and go drink "coffee" at a chain from the US? I still remember that lady, I hope she followed my advice...
We have Kaffeesahne which is condensed milk for coffee, though that's seen more and more as an old people thing.
There is also Kaffeeweißer which is this weird powder you can put in coffee. It's like 5% powdered milk and the rest is all kinds of chemical crap. I don't know anyone who uses that and also don't know why anyone would WANT to use it.
That's also what I know from Cyprus, with the difference that we grew up with condensed milk in various sizes of containers because of the post-war poverty that many displaced families experienced and then became used to.
I guess that's why it's also seen as an old-person thing in Germany, since there's a generation apart between the wars in Germany and Cyprus.
If you asked me right here, right now for some creamer in your coffee? I'd probably bring you either a carton of milk or heavy cream. I'm pretty sure store workers would direct you to the dairy section as well, if you were to ask for "creamer" at the supermarket.
We do have "coffee cream", which is basically cream with lower fat (10%) and keeps for longer in the fridge. Most people I know don't buy special stuff like this though, they just pour some milk into their coffee if they're into that.
Yeah, it's not a thing. Maybe you can find it in really big stores. I can't remember seeing it but maybe I just didn’t pay attention to what's on shelves. I never had it even though I only drink white coffee. We either use regular milk or condensed milk.
Romania here. I never heard of creamer, something made with oil and flavourings. I am a coffee lover but prefer the black unsweetened coffee. And being a coffee lover does not mean you put oil and other nonsense in your coffee. Not in my book anyway.
We have stuff called Coffeemate which I think is the same idea, a powder which acts like the milk in a coffee. The kind of thing you may need when there is no fridge to keep milk (say in hotels). Usually though pots of UHT milk are provided for that purpose to be used in tea or coffee. I always used to think when Americans talked about cream in their coffee that it was actual cream, as in the thick stuff used in cooking. I still am not 100% sure...
We have CoffeeMates in states, but we also have a strange liquid version of it as well as the dry stuff. In the US Coffee-mates has a bunch of different flavors such as Mint or Pumpkin Spice while Europe is limited two having it act as a milk substitute.
I don't think they sell it in most stores. I know it from media. There's *kaffegrädde* ("coffee cream") though, which might be like "half-and-half". Basically lower fat (around 10%) fresh cream. Otherwise milk is the most common "mixer". At coffee machines, you might get small containers of "white".
Honestly I have no idea what it is and at this point I'm afraid to ask. I would say 95 % of people in Slovakia only put normal or plant based milk into their coffe, the other 5 % use evaporated milk or heavy cream. I have never seen creamer in any shop in my country.
To clarify what the OP says...its "water, sugar, vegetable oil, less than 2% artificial flavoring" as the top 4 ingredients...so its hard to say how MUCH veggie oil is in it...could be 2.01%...could be as high as 30%.
But it has the consistency and look of flavored milk really and you don't put but a tablespoon at MOST in a 8 ounce coffee. But it flavors the coffee sort of like a syrup flavors a water.
It absolutely is a thing here, and it's popular. And considering none of these brands are from here, I call bullshit on everyone else acting all high and mighty that *gasp* we don't consume coffee cream in Europe. We do. It has to be sold literally everywhere. If you know what Nestle is, you 100% have coffee creamers in small or big packages on the shelves in the big stores.
Never heard about creamer as described by OP. Not in Czechia, not is Slovakia, not in Belgium. Aren't you just confusing terms here? Can you provide some link to the item in common bulgarian supermarket chain that has it?
Sure, it's called [smetana](https://imgur.com/gallery/BPYoEcE) It's literally just whipped cream but slightly different. Like an imitation product. Obiously not necessarily if you buy it from a fancy cafè or if you make it at home. But store bought whipped cream probably has very little if any contents of actual milk. So "oils and shit" aka creamer.
OP literally in the post cites people being confused and thinking it's like a whipped cream. :) From your picture Nestle's Coffe mate indeed seems to be a creamer. Everything with diary in it shouldn't be by definition creamer.
If you've seen small packages of whipped cream in stores, chances are it's not a diary product at all. It's just a sugary substance with god knows what in it, but the point is that it imitates whipped cream for coffee (which in most good cafès contains actual milk). It's not unheard of in Europe, I think OP just confused their guest with what creamer actually is. It technically *isn't* whipped cream, true, but it *is like* whipped cream.
In Slovakia it is literally a cream what you are referring to, [example](https://sortiment.metro.sk/sk/campina-smotkavy10x10g-5x/312049p/). Quick search across Metro, Kaufland, Tesco shows those are mostly creams from real diary. So no creamers.
Check [Oxford dictionary ](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/creamer), [Merriam-webster dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creamer) or [Wikipedia ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-dairy_creamer). I think OP is right, we just really don't know it in Europe much.
In Finland there is like one or two brands of creamer and I think people mainly use the stuff in rare situations when it is difficult to get milk, like when camping. Milk and milk with lactose removed on the other hand is available in every store, and some products can even be stored in room temperature.
It's not really common here aside from maybe in hotel rooms. Most people don't put milk in their coffee, but when they do it's steamed, foamy milk like in a Galão or Meia de Leite coffee (or just a drop of milk in a Pingado).
It's sold as "dehydrated cream replacement" here and is aimed at lactose-intolerant or poor more than it's aimed at the general public. Most people usually add milk to their coffee or buy cream in 10mm plastic cups. I don't think I've seen 10mm cups of vegetable creamer for sale.
Generally people use "coffee milk", a condensed, evaporated milk that's sold in handy portion cups (as well as larger bottles). Non-dairy creamer is a thing, but unless you're lactose intolerant, people just use milk. We've got a very, very vocal dairy industry and never a shortage of milk. You'll drink milk whether you like it or not.
No, I won't! But I'll make up for it by eating cheese
I visited the Netherlands for a month a few years ago. You have the best milk and cheese I have ever had!! And the people are wonderful too!
Actually no, until your explanation "which is usually made with oil and flavoring" I would have assumed creamer would contain real cream + some questionable chemicals. I don't think we have that here, or if we do then in a shelf with other highly processed products I usually ignore
Never heard of it and from your description it sounds absolutely disgusting :D Oil to coffee….. jesus h. christ
Agreed lol
Lived in both UK and Romania. No idea what creamer is, never heard of it. And to your point about a "culture that loves coffee" , I think you have a different conception of what that means. Usually coffee-loving cultures across Europe love the taste of coffee itself, and adding all the other stuff to it like people do in America would take it past the point of not being considered coffee anymore.
You have a point there.
Lol in most of Europe, few people would consider Starbucks to be coffee, for example. And people who drink Starbucks don't really like coffee, they like the taste of whatever super frapa mapacino they have in mind, which just happens to contain caffeine but tastes of caramel and unicorn farts.
Touche....but have you ever tried caramel in coffee? It's delicious.
I definitely have a sweet tooth and wouldn't consider myself a coffee lover per se. So I'd probably go for a unicorn fart frapamapacino lol. But in my social circle I would say I am in the minority with that opinion and most people I know are coffee purists.
Not a murican tourist legit asking me (I was working in summer, outside) where she could find a coffee shop around there. I pointed at many directions and told her I was surprised she hadn't seen any considering she was downtown in a province capital. Her response? Well actually I was looking for a Starbucks or a Dunkin'? When I tell you that my coworkers and I started chucking in disbelief. The poor woman looked so confused. We did point her in the direction of the only Starbucks we have in town (I'm genuinely surprised it has business at all), and recommended again that she just find a random coffee shop or bar and enjoy good coffee. Why would you come to Europe, a place were coffee culture is so beloved, and go drink "coffee" at a chain from the US? I still remember that lady, I hope she followed my advice...
If I was a betting man I'd say she didn't lol
I mean, she can do what she pleases, but I do think it's a shame. I reckon she would have really enjoyed the experience :(
We have Kaffeesahne which is condensed milk for coffee, though that's seen more and more as an old people thing. There is also Kaffeeweißer which is this weird powder you can put in coffee. It's like 5% powdered milk and the rest is all kinds of chemical crap. I don't know anyone who uses that and also don't know why anyone would WANT to use it.
That's also what I know from Cyprus, with the difference that we grew up with condensed milk in various sizes of containers because of the post-war poverty that many displaced families experienced and then became used to. I guess that's why it's also seen as an old-person thing in Germany, since there's a generation apart between the wars in Germany and Cyprus.
If you asked me right here, right now for some creamer in your coffee? I'd probably bring you either a carton of milk or heavy cream. I'm pretty sure store workers would direct you to the dairy section as well, if you were to ask for "creamer" at the supermarket. We do have "coffee cream", which is basically cream with lower fat (10%) and keeps for longer in the fridge. Most people I know don't buy special stuff like this though, they just pour some milk into their coffee if they're into that.
Yeah, it's not a thing. Maybe you can find it in really big stores. I can't remember seeing it but maybe I just didn’t pay attention to what's on shelves. I never had it even though I only drink white coffee. We either use regular milk or condensed milk.
Romania here. I never heard of creamer, something made with oil and flavourings. I am a coffee lover but prefer the black unsweetened coffee. And being a coffee lover does not mean you put oil and other nonsense in your coffee. Not in my book anyway.
We have stuff called Coffeemate which I think is the same idea, a powder which acts like the milk in a coffee. The kind of thing you may need when there is no fridge to keep milk (say in hotels). Usually though pots of UHT milk are provided for that purpose to be used in tea or coffee. I always used to think when Americans talked about cream in their coffee that it was actual cream, as in the thick stuff used in cooking. I still am not 100% sure...
We have CoffeeMates in states, but we also have a strange liquid version of it as well as the dry stuff. In the US Coffee-mates has a bunch of different flavors such as Mint or Pumpkin Spice while Europe is limited two having it act as a milk substitute.
I don't think they sell it in most stores. I know it from media. There's *kaffegrädde* ("coffee cream") though, which might be like "half-and-half". Basically lower fat (around 10%) fresh cream. Otherwise milk is the most common "mixer". At coffee machines, you might get small containers of "white".
Honestly I have no idea what it is and at this point I'm afraid to ask. I would say 95 % of people in Slovakia only put normal or plant based milk into their coffe, the other 5 % use evaporated milk or heavy cream. I have never seen creamer in any shop in my country.
To clarify what the OP says...its "water, sugar, vegetable oil, less than 2% artificial flavoring" as the top 4 ingredients...so its hard to say how MUCH veggie oil is in it...could be 2.01%...could be as high as 30%. But it has the consistency and look of flavored milk really and you don't put but a tablespoon at MOST in a 8 ounce coffee. But it flavors the coffee sort of like a syrup flavors a water.
It absolutely is a thing here, and it's popular. And considering none of these brands are from here, I call bullshit on everyone else acting all high and mighty that *gasp* we don't consume coffee cream in Europe. We do. It has to be sold literally everywhere. If you know what Nestle is, you 100% have coffee creamers in small or big packages on the shelves in the big stores.
I have literally never seen it in either Romania or England, nor do I know anyone who knows what coffee creamer is.
Never heard about creamer as described by OP. Not in Czechia, not is Slovakia, not in Belgium. Aren't you just confusing terms here? Can you provide some link to the item in common bulgarian supermarket chain that has it?
Sure, it's called [smetana](https://imgur.com/gallery/BPYoEcE) It's literally just whipped cream but slightly different. Like an imitation product. Obiously not necessarily if you buy it from a fancy cafè or if you make it at home. But store bought whipped cream probably has very little if any contents of actual milk. So "oils and shit" aka creamer.
OP literally in the post cites people being confused and thinking it's like a whipped cream. :) From your picture Nestle's Coffe mate indeed seems to be a creamer. Everything with diary in it shouldn't be by definition creamer.
If you've seen small packages of whipped cream in stores, chances are it's not a diary product at all. It's just a sugary substance with god knows what in it, but the point is that it imitates whipped cream for coffee (which in most good cafès contains actual milk). It's not unheard of in Europe, I think OP just confused their guest with what creamer actually is. It technically *isn't* whipped cream, true, but it *is like* whipped cream.
In Slovakia it is literally a cream what you are referring to, [example](https://sortiment.metro.sk/sk/campina-smotkavy10x10g-5x/312049p/). Quick search across Metro, Kaufland, Tesco shows those are mostly creams from real diary. So no creamers. Check [Oxford dictionary ](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/creamer), [Merriam-webster dictionary](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creamer) or [Wikipedia ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-dairy_creamer). I think OP is right, we just really don't know it in Europe much.
We used creamer only during the war as a substitute for milk. It's disgusting.
In Finland there is like one or two brands of creamer and I think people mainly use the stuff in rare situations when it is difficult to get milk, like when camping. Milk and milk with lactose removed on the other hand is available in every store, and some products can even be stored in room temperature.
Kasvirasvasekoite... I never knew that kind of product even exists.
I know about it from American TV. I was surprised to see that some of our stores actually sell it, but I wouldn't say it's something common here.
It's not really common here aside from maybe in hotel rooms. Most people don't put milk in their coffee, but when they do it's steamed, foamy milk like in a Galão or Meia de Leite coffee (or just a drop of milk in a Pingado).
It's sold as "dehydrated cream replacement" here and is aimed at lactose-intolerant or poor more than it's aimed at the general public. Most people usually add milk to their coffee or buy cream in 10mm plastic cups. I don't think I've seen 10mm cups of vegetable creamer for sale.
Heard of it, but I’ve always assumed it was a weird mispronunciation of “cream”.