Homemade Mocha Drink Mix

I am a huge fan of coffee.  Generally, I just drink it regular (one cream, one sugar).  If I want to get really fancy, I'll use some of this:

Today, however, I found myself out of mocha mix.  Instead of going to the store and spending three bucks on another one, I thought I could make my own for much less money.  So, I checked out the ingredients list:

Okay:  Sugar, nondairy creamer, instant coffee, cocoa, and other flavoring.  I think I can do this:

I have a few different jars of instant coffee around, so I took the jar that was just under half full.  I filled it with sugar up to about an inch from the top.  Seem like a lot of sugar?  It's probably less than what you're drinking in your Starbucks every day, actually:

Visual representation of the sugar equivalent in a Starbucks Mocha, via Menshealth.com, totaling a whopping 660 calories, 22g fat, and 95g sugar for 20 oz.

 Next, I added about 4-5 tbsp of dark cocoa.  I decided to omit the nondairy creamer, because it's bad for you.

After adding the cocoa, I screwed the lid on tightly and shook until mixed well:

It's a little darker than the original store bought mix, but since I omitted the nondairy creamer, I expected that. 

To test it out, I put 12 oz hot water in a mug, and mixed 2 tbsp of my mocha mix into the water.  I added about 2 tbsp of 2% milk, and this is the result:

Compare your Starbucks to this drink mix.  Assuming you mixed 20 ounces of this Mocha mix, you would have 120 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 24 grams of sugar. That's assuming 4 scoops of mix for 20 ounces of liquid.  For one serving (2 scoops in a 12-ounce mug), you have about 60 calories, 1/2 gram of fat, and 12 grams of sugar.  Win!

When I add 2 tbsp of 2% milk, that brings it up to 74 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 14 grams of sugar, and all delicious!  (Nutrition facts calculated at Recipe Calculator.)  Isn't it amazing how much healthier something becomes when you take out the unnecessary junk?  This also makes my drink mix much healthier than the store bought mocha mix!  If you used 2tbsp of the store bought stuff, you would ingest 120 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 18 grams of sugar.  I win!  Not to mention the fact that my mix is a lot cheaper.  Enjoy!