Fresh Coffee by the Cup--No Machine Needed

Take your brewer with you. With Dr. Drip Coffee, it's like your brewer is portable. Open the packet, place it on your cup or mug and and pour the hot water. Genius!


http://drdripcoffee.com/

Coffee in Your Pocket

Those slim packs of Starbuck's VIA Italian Roast and Colombia coffee are handy and tasty and it is pretty nice knowing you can make a good cup of  coffee right near your desk. Now there are four luscious new flavors: Caramel, Cinnamon Spice, Mocha, and Vanilla.

You don't have to give up smooth and serious coffee flavor just because you would like the added taste of caramel or Mocha. The arabica coffee is strong enough to blend with, but not be smothered by, the other natural flavors and a touch of added sweetness. Tasty enough to have as a dessert or pick-me-up instead of a pastry.

All of the Starbucks VIA Flavored Coffee flavors are available at all U.S. company-operated and licensed stores and online at StarbucksVIA.com, Amazon.com and Cooking.com.



. http://www.starbucks.com/coffee/via/flavored-coffee

Iced Perfection

This has been an exceptionally  hot summer for most of us. It is the perfect time for Iced Coffee but if you want your coffee with ice to be as strong and delicious as when it is served hot, and you have a Tassimo Single Serve Brewer,  you are in luck.  New this season are two stand-out selections, both from Gevalia: Black Iced Coffee and Sweet and Creamy Iced Coffee. At first we were skeptical when we received a complimentary sample of each but these brews stand up to ice. Both have a bold taste that won't be diluted by ice and since they are single-serve portions, every cup will be as fresh (and delightfully strong) as the first. Order online at http://www.tassimodirect.com/tassimo/index.aspx  and wake up to a refreshing iced coffee.

                                   

Coffee and Wildlife

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to make headlines. Whether or not the latest cap works, our hats are off to the National Wildlife Federation, on the front lines, helping assess the damage and providing valuable resources to restore vulnerable nesting and breeding grounds. We also tip our caps to Green Mountain Coffee^®    a company that believes in working together for  a common goal. Several of their coffees, including National Wildlife Blend and National Wildlife Blend Decaf, were developed to support a nonprofit partner with goals and values similar to our own.   You can find out more about NWF’s on-the-ground response to the wildlife emergency in the Gulf, or lend your support to NWF’s efforts by purchasing National Wildlife Blend today,  available in K-Cups or bags.

http://www.greenmountaincoffee.com

Tassimo is Terrific

Single serve beverage brewers ensure a fresh cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate every time. If you like your lattes and other hot milk drinks, there is only one brewer—Tassimo.  The newer Bosch single serve brewer is ready when you are and gets the most out of each T-Disc—the little pre-packages of coffee, tea, chocolate or milk creamer. Tassimo, from Kraft Foods, (who sent over a Bosch for us to test)  recently introduced new Starbuck’s Latte and Cappuccino.  (Tassimo uses innovative T DISCs and this technology enables the machine to read the barcode on each T DISC, ensuring that the brew temperature and amount of water are automatically adjusted for the perfect cup, every time.)

The Bosch brewer from Tassimo, is a welcome improvement on the already pleasing original Braun brewer Tassimo is the excusive seller of Starbuck’s coffee discs  Including the new Starbucks latte and cappuccino, and Milka Hot Chocolate (Milka’s lavender signs were highly visible on the slopes at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.)

People who loved the earlier (and still available) Braun brewer will really love the Bosch. According to one loyal T DISC user: " I love Tassimo and my Braun, but Bosch fixed all the things I didn’t like about the Braun. With the Bosch, the system is ready to brew the minute you turn it on. No waiting for the water to heat. And it is quieter than the Braun…altho it does have a smaller reservoir than the Braun..."(This can be a plus, though—you are forced to add fresh water more frequently!) The Bosch is ready to brew as soon as you turn it on in the morning without waiting. It is much quieter and has a better filtering system and it tells you when the water level is low, and when the machine needs to be descaled.

There are some 40 hot beverage varieties all using the patented T DISC technology-- Tassimo brews premium coffeehouse quality beverages, including four distinct coffee blends from Starbucks®. Hot beverage choices include coffee, real milk cappuccino and latte, espresso,  Chai Tea Latte, crema, tea and hot chocolate. The Gevalia Skinny Cappuccino—a delicate blend of the intense taste of Gevalia espresso and foamed fat free milk--and the Starbucks Lattes and Cappuccinos will enable you to enjoy these creations whenever you want. Tassimo uses T DISCs, which guarantee first-cup freshness every time. The energy-efficient flow-through water heater virtually eliminates pre-heat time, the sleek and space-saving Bosch design makes it very versatile and convenient. For instance, the cleaning T DISC is stored right in the back of the machine where any excess cord tucks out of the way as well. Another important point is that Tassimo's customer service is good. They do respond and help you resolve any issue that might arise.

For a closer look at all things Tassimo, go to http://www.tassimodirect.com/ to see the brewers and the beverages. While visiting this site you can find out more about the Direct Delivery option, a way to receive regular shipments of T DISCS delivered right to your door. You choose the T DISCS and how often you want them shipped. You can always change your product or delivery frequency online. So with the click of a mouse you will be able to have perfect coffee at the push of button, whenever you wish.

The Keurig Cafe--Open Anytime

 

                                                                         
There is nothing like always having the freshest coffee possible every time you fill your cup. Single serve coffee makers are a dream come true for anyone who loves coffee (and tea and hot chocolate) and enjoys drinking fresh cups throughout the day or night. Making a pot of coffee may make sense sometimes but the reality is a good portion of what’s in the carafe becomes undrinkable in a short time and has to be (or should be) dumped.

Keurig’s new Platinum Single Serve Brewer is quiet and quick (under one minute) and with five cup size options (including one for iced beverages) it brews a fresh streaming beverage equally ready for travel mug or delicate porcelain cup.   

There are other helpful features including Auto On/Off, Digital Clock, easily removable drip tray, Adjustable Temperature Control and the "Set Your Favorite Cup Size" option. The removable water reservoir holds up to 60 oz, enough for ten cups.

So yes, the machine is great but how about what you make in it? There are about 200 different varieties of K-cups and enough brands, Timothy’s, Green Mountain Coffee (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is Keurig’s parent company), Van Houtte, Gloria Jean’s, Coffee People, Newman’s Own, Caribou, Emeril and more with enough types (dark, bold, mild, medium, flavored, decaffeinated--good selection of dark and bold decaf types--we may not want the caffeine but some of us still want rich flavor--, half-caff, Kona, Seasonal, Fair Trade, Organic, etc) to please anyone. Brewing tea in the Keurig is also a pleasure. The tea comes out delicious and there are teas from Celestial Seasonings, Bigelow, Twining’s, and hot chocolates in white, milk or dark.

Another option we especially like is the My K-Cup. Sold separately, you can spoon your favorite loose coffee into the My K-Cup and brew just like you would the disposable K-Cups, only you can wash it and re-use it.

The Keurig Platinum lives up to expectations and more.

Suggested retail price: $169.95

If you are short on space you might consider the mini-Keurig—right at home in  vacation homes, cabins, college dorms, boats, RVs, or home office desktops. This machine is simpler than the larger models but the principle is the same. The mini-Keurig heats and brews an 8 ounce cup in under 3 minutes. (You add fresh water for every cup.) This very portable brewer is available in black, white and red.

Suggested retail price: $89.95

 www.Keurig.com

Making the Perfect Cup of...

... green tea, herbal tea or coffee requires starting with fresh water that has been heated to the right temperature for the type of brew you are about to make. If you are used to just boiling the water for your hot beverage, here’s a better option: The Chef’s Choice SmartKettle from EdgeCraft.

This is a cordless electric kettle that represents a new generation of electric kettles. You plug it in and then set the temperature that is best for your drink: 203°-212° for Herbal teas; 155° – 168° for delicate Green teas; 185° - 194° for Oolong teas; 167° – 185° for White teas; 185°- 196° for Coffee, and so on. (You can adjust the unit to show the temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius.)

There is also a Keep Warm setting that automatically keeps the water at a set temperature and the unit remembers the last programmed setting. So right from the start you know that this is no ordinary electric kettle. And in addition to the precise heating temperatures, the unit itself is nice to look at and easy to use. The lid opens with a touch of a button and the kettle fits snugly on a circular base that allows the kettle to be swiveled easily. Even filled to the maximum water level the kettle is light enough to handle.

You will use less energy than a stovetop and the kettle takes less time than a microwave. The advanced electronic controls are precise and easy to set. There is a low water level warning and an automatic water shut-off when the water boils and an electronic boil-dry shut off protection. The concealed heating element is never in contact with water, so there will never be mineral deposits and buildup.

The Chef’s Choice SmartKettle makes a very useful addition to any kitchen and a very thoughtful gift.

Sugg. Retail price is $99.99 and is currently available at select department stores, on-line retailers and major catalogs. For more information go to www.chefschoice.com.

Very Cool Coffee

Starbucks Instant coffee… Instant? What year is this? Have we been watching too many episodes of Mad Men? But this is not Don Draper’s instant brew (if he ever were to drink such a liquid) This is Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee that has been so finely microground that when the hot water hits the powder, the coffee that results will live up to your expectations. And since the small packs of natural roasted Arabica extra bold Italian Roast or medium Columbia are not much bigger than a stick of chewing gum, you can easily take a few with you so you can have Starbucks even where there is no Starbucks.

Another plus is that you can make instant iced coffee or milk shakes as well since the microgrinds dissolve in cold water or milk. You can buy the VIA Ready Brew Packs at Starbucks stores or online at www.starbucksvia.com or even on some airlines or in some retail stores. A pack of 3 servings costs about $2.95

Sometimes faster coffee can be very satisfying.

Pods of Perfection

You can add Breakfast Blend and 10% Kona coffee to the choices for your Senseo single serve coffee maker. The ground coffee packed in pods offer an easy and quick way to brew a fresh cup of coffee anytime.

The 10% Kona Blend gives you just enough of the precious Hawaiian Kona coffee to make a memorable dark but not too strong brew that just might help you start your day. Or try the new Breakfast Blend—bright and at the same time mild. Either way, you can have fresh coffee one cup at a time and the pods are usually available in grocery stores.

Have Your Coffee in the (Ice) Cream

Ice Cream-- always welcome and for a very cool treat try Starbucks new super-premium ice cream in some of consumers’ favorite Starbucks® beverages. This smooth coffee- on- another- plane is made with high-quality, all-natural ingredients, including milk and cream supplied by farmers who pledge not to treat their cows with rBGH.*

The taste is smooth and creamy with just the right amount of sweetness.

The new flavors:
Caramel Macchiato – swirled Coffee and Vanilla ice creams with ribbons of golden caramel

Mocha Frappuccino® – swirled Coffee and Chocolate ice creams

Java Chip Frappuccino® – Coffee ice cream with dark chocolaty chunks

Coffee – swirled Coffee and Espresso ice creams

Pints are available at grocers and mass retailers for a suggested retail price (SRP) of $3.99. Java Chip Frappuccino® is also offered in a 3.6 fl. oz. single-serve cup for $1.29 (SRP).

Individually packaged Mocha and Coffee novelty bars are available at convenience stores for $2.49 (SRP). Both flavors feature decadent ice cream inside a luscious coat of milk chocolate.

Starbucks® ice cream was first introduced in 1996 and the new line is manufactured, marketed and distributed through an exclusive licensing agreement between Starbucks and Unilever. Unilever also manufactures, markets and distributes Ben & Jerry’s®, Breyers®, Good Humor® and other ice cream brands--so they know what delicious ice cream is.

Enjoy!

Sensational Senseo

If you really enjoy drinking fresh coffee, every time, you may have considered buying a single-serve brewer. They do make sense. With this relatively new appliance, every time you make a cup of coffee you are getting a fresh, just-brewed cup, as opposed to a regular brewer that makes a pot or partial pot at a time and just sits there, festering, until you or the next person empties the container.

There are several choices out there so how can you find the one that best suits your needs, wants and desires?

Senseo (Say it slow…ly ) is one. The Senseo Supreme single serve coffee maker came on the market in Holland, 2001, and was introduced in the U.S. in 2004. Senseo was the first to offer a widely available, in-home single serve coffee appliance in the US.

It still is the single-serve coffee brewer of choice if you want to be able to easily find the coffee pods, as they are called—the little pouches filled with intoxicating ground coffee. You can also have them sent to you and the price for a subscription is less than for some other single-serve coffees.

Senseo is different from the other single-serve coffee makers in that it uses these pods--little compact (and non-messy) filter pouches that hold the coffee. Only Senseo offers coffee blends selected and roasted by Sara Lee’s Douwe Egberts brand, one of Europe’s premiere coffee brands for more than 250 years.

The elements of a perfect cup of coffee are all controlled within the Senseo system-- Water Temperature, Coffee dose, Amount of Water per coffee dosage, Optimal coffee extraction (primary extracts only) the time water is in contact with coffee grounds and Coffee grind size for optimal extraction.

The pod selections include the Sumatra Blend, an intense premium blend of Arabica beans selected from the mountainous regions of Sumatra; Brazil Blend, a subtle taste and soft finish provided by beans from Sul de Minas in Brazil, also known as “the coffee mecca”; Kenya Blend, composed primarily of slightly sweet beans with a soft finish and hints of fruit from the hills of Kenya; Espresso, a smooth and strong coffee with a fine crema layer; Cappuccino--a delicious cappuccino with a rich, creamy, frothy layer at home..to name just a few varieties.

There are two festive offerings for the holidays, in conjunction with Godiva: Godiva Chocolate Crème, a decadent pairing of rich Godiva chocolate with bold coffee taste, and Godiva Crème Brulee, a delicious marriage of sweet caramel and vanilla with the smooth taste of fine coffee. Both of these lavish coffees are perfectly delightful and add an exotic touch to the day.

The Senseo brewer has a slimmer, sleeker profile than some of the other single-serve brewers. And it is easier to clean, as well. In brief, it the single-serve coffee brewer of choice for the serious coffee drinker.

“For I have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;”

The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock http://people.virginia.edu/~sfr/enam312/prufrock.html

Have a little more optimism than Prufrock. Don’t measure out your life in coffee spoons. Measure out your days with Senseo pods and Senseo delicious coffees.

http://www.senseo.com/

Coffee: By the Cup or the Pot?

What is the best way to prepare coffee? It may depend on how many servings you need at a time. If two or more people are going to be having a cup or mug or two at the same time, then it make sense t make a full or partial pot with a counter-top coffee maker or other full-pot at a time appliance.

But if you find you are wasting more coffee because only a cup at a time is consumed, (reheating cold coffee is okay once in a while and saving the excess to make iced coffee is fine up to a point) then perhaps a single cup coffee maker makes sense for you.

Yes, the trade-off is that you will have to buy one kind of single serving coffee pod –the one that matches your brewing machine. Keurig, Tassimo and Senseo all have specific coffee pods that go with their appliance.

But once you make the commitment there will be no regret.

We will running a comparison of the three brands.

Kaffe, Café, Coffee

There is little else like that first waft of fresh coffee in the morning. There are many excellent coffee brands to choose from and many methods of preparation—drip, cone filter (Melitta) single-cup servers (Tassimo, Keurig, Senseo).

We will discuss the different methods of preparation later but first, there recently was some slightly jarring news from Colombia: Coffee consumption is starting to outpace coffee production.

What does that mean for consumers? Will we be paying more? Will there be fewer choices? Visit http://www.coffeeresearch.org/market/coffeemarket.htm for a bit of a primer on the coffee market:

"There are two markets for coffee: the cash market and the futures market. The cash market is the market today. It is the price you would pay for coffee today if you could receive it today. The futures market is used to help determine the price for future deliveries. It is used to purchase a contract today to guarantee a future shipment of coffee. More importantly, however, the futures market for commodities like coffee is used to help protect against the wild variations that occur due to coffee market speculation."

Now about the recent news, according to Bloomberg.com http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601013&sid=aXxEc.GuoUb4

"Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The world coffee market will swing to a deficit of as much as 10 million bags next year from a surplus as demand growth outstrips production, said a growers group in Colombia, the third-biggest producer.
Global coffee output will exceed demand by 6-7 million bags this year as Brazil, the largest producer, is in the more productive phase of a two-year cycle, said Juan Lucas Restrepo, commercial manager at the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. Lower Brazilian output and demand growth of 2 percent next year will cause the shortfall, he added. A bag weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds).
'Overall consumption is growing faster than production, and global inventories will decrease further next year,'' Restrepo said in an interview in Tokyo Oct. 17. ``Growth is not coming from mature markets but from emerging markets.'

When Colombia completes a tree replanting program, the amount of coffee hopefully will increase.