If you can't or don't want to use the start/stop pattern of mock.patch, this might work for you too

minimal_patch_alternative.py

import mock

from couchbase.bucket import Bucket
from couchbase.n1ql import N1QLQuery


class DoInterestingStuff(object):
    def __init__(self, bucket, other_thing):
        self._bucket = bucket
        self._other_thing = other_thing
        
    def _get_blah_blah_doc_ids(self, some_value):
        """Demonstrate the mocked object.

        Imagine you had some logic that constructed a query
        and called `Bucket.n1ql_query`.
        """
        if some_value in VALID_VALUES:
            raise YouAreAnIdiot("I'm not doing that because you are an idiot")
        
        query = N1QLQuery('... a query that uses "some_value" ...')
        for row in bucket.n1ql_query(query):
            # ... imagine that interesting stuff happens...
            
        return useful_information

    def do_interesting_stuff(some_value):
        # ... imagine that interesting stuff happens...
        pass

    
def test_get_blah_blah_doc_ids():
    """Not realistic, just demonstrative.
    
    This is a dumb example becuase it is made up to demonstrate the one thing I want to remember; that is,
    how I constructed the mock object that could get called, like object instantiation, and return the
    interface I needed after being called - without using `mock.patch`.
    
    The key was to specify the `return_value` of the first mock as a new mock with the spec that I was
    expecting.  This is minimally, very minimally, imitating what mock.patch.object does.
    """
    MockCbBucket = mock.MagicMock(
        Bucket,
        name='Bucket',
        return_value=mock.NonCallableMagicMock(
            name='Bucket()',
            spec=Bucket,
        )
    )
    mock_bucket = MockCbBucket('couchbase://couch.example.com/default')
    mock_bucket.n1ql_query.return_value = [...]
    
    sut = DoInterestingStuff(mock_bucket)
    _ = sut._get_blah_blah_doc_ids(420)
    
    assert mock_bucket.called, "Something has gone terribly wrong"