Our Canadian correspondent S.H. has a another insightful review of Canadian T-Discs for Tassimo...
Nabob has 3 different espresso-based T-Disc flavors on the Canadian market... Espresso, Latte & Cappuccino. The 2 latter varieties both use the same espresso disc I'm reviewing here today with the only difference being the milk discs they include in their packaging. I'll have a review of the Nabob Latte T-Disc soon, but for now I wanted to start off with the most basic of the 3 selections.
One thing which seems to be consistent with Nabob's coffee has been to "expect the unexpected" (maybe they should use that as their new slogan?). Their Café Crema T-Disc surprised me with its mellow taste and bittersweet finish, so much so that I thought it compared well with their 100% Columbian in these regards. I figured to expect the same from their Espresso but once again, I had a unique experience awaiting me.
Bottomless Coffee Table - Get Vertigo While Drinking Coffee
The Bottomless Coffee Table will either produce vertigo in most single serve coffee drinkers, or a sense their cup of coffee goes on forever and ever. Swedish design firm Offecct has created this illusion by using two-way"spy glass" as well as an additional pane of mirrored glass on a lower shelf. With these two pieces of old school technology perfectly aligned the table offers an illusion of bottomless depth. And you know that vertigo we were talking about, it also happens to be the name of the coffee table.
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June 26, 2008
Review: Keurig Mini B30 K-Cup Single Serve Coffee Maker
The Keurig Mini B30 will come in white, black, and red.
Keurig recently introduced the Keurig B130 commercial hotel and office coffee brewer, and we were disappointed it would not be available for consumers to purchase. We are disappointed no longer, as Keurig has revealed the Keurig Mini B30 designed for home and commercial use. The Keurig Mini B30 is very much like the Keurig B130, but it comes in red, black, and white colored casings, and also is My K Cup compatible.
We received a red Keurig Mini B30 - can you say hot!
Besides having the smallest footprint of all the Keurig brewers, the Keurig Mini B30 single serve coffee maker is also very quiet. And yes - it's compatible with all K Cup coffees, teas, and other hot beverages including hot cocoa. So are there any issues? Is this brewer priced at $79 for everyone, or should one purchase a larger Keurig brewer?
Is soy coffee any good? Right now we have no idea, but just came upon it the other day, and found the proposition interesting. Apparently the "coffee" produced is both mild and of course organic - that's if you're looking for a coffee alternative. We're gong to try and track some down in the next few weeks, and get a cup or two brewing in the Keurig and Bunn My Cafe.
Have you tried soy coffee? Is it any good? Sound off in the comments and let us know. Also is soy coffee supposed to be soycoffee or soyfee? And what's so different about their french press in the video below? It's all so confusing.
Godiva Crème Brulee Coffee - Single Serve Coffee Pods
The Godiva Crème Brulee Coffee Single Serve Coffee Pods for Senseo and other single serve coffee pod brewers are available now for preorder and will ship by August 15th. They are packed in 3 - 16 count coffee pod bags. We expect these coffee pods to weigh in per pod at 7 grams each.
So how hot is the brew temperature exactly? With a K Cup in the brewer you get a coffee exit temperature from the brew head of 187 F, and with no K Cup in the Keurig Mini B30 brewer you get a solid 192 F to 193.5 F.
We'll have a full review soon of the Keurig Mini B30, but we thought we'd clear up this misconception before we post our final review.
Internet-connected Single Serve Coffee Maker has Security Issues
The Jura F90 Super-automatic espresso and coffee maker
can be hacked because the espresso machine can be accessed via the internet
for diagnostics and setting up the espresso machine.
We truly live in modern times when your single serve coffee maker can be connected online and hacked to make weak coffee. We've reviewed other models that didn't have the ability to be connected, but think it's pretty wild this $2,000 Jura F90 coffee maker can be connected to the Internet for remote control of the settings and be hacked. This can open up your PC to remote attacks, a security expert says. Once connected to the Internet the Jura F90 lets you set the strength of your espresso or coffee and get remote diagnostic info over the internet that would be used to send to the company if there's a problem.
"I don't know if many people would target this particular vulnerability because there probably are not a lot of coffee makers at the moment that are Internet-connected, and in my case it's behind a firewall," the owner who found the issue said.
With internet enabled kitchen devices becoming more widely available, expect more security issues in the future. We think having someone hack your single serve coffee maker isn't the end of the world, but perhaps we'll keep our larger appliance like the oven disconnected.
Top 10 Best Selling Single Serve Coffee Makers - June 2008
It's the middle of June, and time to sound off the 10 best selling single serve coffee makers here at Single Serve Coffee. You can see the Aeropress with all it's manual pressing is still a big seller, followed by Keurig,taking over the 2-4 spots this month. Tassimo is up a notch from May over Senseo.
We wanted to let you know of a machine that's more espresso than single serve coffee - the new Capresso 302.01 Mini-S 4-Cup Safety Espresso/Cappuccino Machine. Single Serve Espresso recently did a review of the little wonder and really liked it, and it's starting to sell out all over the internet.
Do you think these coffee makers represent the best selling or the best? What single serve coffee makers do you think should make a best of list regardless of sales? Sound off in the comments and let us know.
Cuisinart Single Cup Coffee Pods Arrive for Review
We've just received a sampler pack of the Cuisinart Single Cup Coffee Pods in both regular and decaf. These coffee pods are from a European dark roast coffee, and each pre-portioned coffee pod weighs in at 9 grams.
That's right folks - wake up and just smell the single serve coffee, because you don't even need to drink it to get the effects of what it has to offer. An international group of scientists (we're hoping single serve coffee scientists) reports inhaling the rich, warm aroma of a hot cup of coffee alters the activity of genes in the brain, reducing the effects of sleep deprivation with no drinking required.
We like drinking our single serve coffee, but we do always notice how much the aroma of an extra bold or extra dark cup of coffee picks us up sans drinking. Perhaps coffee snuff is not too far off?
Green Mountain Fair Trade Organic Summer Symphony K-Cups
We've been looking for a K-Cup to sound off our summer mornings, and Fair Trade Organic Summer Symphony Blend has just the right notes. It has a crisp acidity and overall balance. The aroma is slightly nutty with a citrus twist, while its flavors offer dark chocolate with a touch of tropical fruit. Yum!
Though not available yet in the US, this ingenious coffee carrier comes from Germany. It helps you get a handle on two cups in a much more stable way. Some would say this a waste, but for someone who has kids or other things to grab, it would seem like this would be a big help in the shuffle.
Keurig Single Serve Coffee Maker - Pictures of the World Headquarters
How's that for a display?
We recently visited Keurig World Headquarters here in Massachusetts, and thought we'd share a number of the very cool pictures we took. Keurig's lobby is filled with K Cups, Keurig Brewers, and the smell of great coffee. We did a bunch of single serve coffee K Cup sampling, and really enjoyed the coffee shop atmosphere combined with touches of a fine boutique mixed in.
Feeling a bit lazy this morning? Maybe too lazy to stir your own cup of single serve coffee? We have a solution - the Gevalia Self Stirring Single Serve Coffee Mug. This mug gently stirs your single serve coffee at the push of a button, and it can keep your coffee hot for hours. With snap-on, see-through sipper lid, this 12-oz. capacity coffee mug is made of insulated stainless steel, and it even includes 2 AAA batteries for $19.
Keurig Mini B30 K Cup Coffee Brewer Arrives for Review
We've received a pre-release Keurig Mini B30 to review here at Single Serve Coffee, and it's in RED! We'll be running this new Keurig Mini B30 single serve coffee maker through the single serve coffee test kitchen with all the K Cups we can throw at it. Remember - it's only June, and the Keurig Mini B30 won't be available until August, so we hope to have the oohs and aahs worked out for you ahead of time, so you'll know what single serve k cup coffee brewer is right for you or that special coffee drinker you'd like to impress.
Keurig Mini B30 Features:
Cup Sensors - they won't work with glass mugs
My K Cup Compatible
Heats and brews in under 3 minutes
Brews and 8 oz cup
Add fresh water for each cup you make
Update:Brew temperature is nearly the same as the larger B40, B50, B60 or B70 brewers. We'll have final temps after testing.
Comes in Red, Black, and White - Red online only at Keurig.com
Available in August for $79
Travel Bag will be made available and will hold the brewer and some K Cups
Certified for home and office use - BIG BONUS
Very Quiet - doesn't feature Quiet Brew Technology, but uses a quieter method than the current set of brewers to make your cup of single serve coffee
10 K Cups included with purchase
Want a K Cup coffee brewer now? The current list of available models include:
Review: Fair Trade Organic French Coffee Pods from Baronet Coffee
We received a sleeve of the Baronet's latest coffee pod - Fair Trade Organic French, and we've been drinking this coffee over the past "hot" weekend, both iced and hot. This blend of specialty Fair Trade Organic coffees is dark roasted, and has a smoky flavor with a rich finish. It's also Fair Trade which makes this coffee both sustainable and environmentally friendly.
We fired up our Bunn My Cafe, and found the coffee produced from these coffee pods surprisingly good.
On June 2, 2008, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (the "Company") entered into an agreement to buy property in Knoxville, Tennessee (the "Property") for a purchase price of $10,500,000.00. The Property consists of an approximately 334,000 square foot facility on approximately thirty-one acres of land. The Company anticipates that the Property will be used as a new plant with packaging lines for K-Cup portion packs installed in the months after closing and then roasting and other packaging lines in the future.
It's nice to see in this "down economy" single serve coffee on the rise, and Green Mountain providing more jobs and futures for American single serve coffee workers and drinkers everywhere.
The Bosch designed Tassimo in the wilds of a British kitchen.
My god...it's full of espresso drinks...
Most days we wish we lived in Europe just to sample the single serve coffee makers like the Bosch Tassimo that debut there instead of launching in the US first. If we were British, we'd take lots of cool pictures of our new Bosch Tassimo, and then post them on Flicker all while watching reruns of Doctor Who.
Check out the full set of pictures here, and US launch details can be found here.
Thanks to SH for pointing this out and for Flickr user HappyCheeseCake for letting us use the picture.
The Single Serve "Cup" Computer - Compute with Caffeine
Integrating your computing experience with your caffeine intake might seem like science fiction, but in fact we live in a time where this could be easily done. This concept of a computing single serve coffee cup is indeed what could be pouring forth from Apple or some other computer maker someday soon.
The designers of the "cup" envision a cup that literally pours information in waves of holographic images for your daily consumption. Have a big creative meeting? Then spill your thoughts onto the conference table. Whatever brew you decide to share, this idea could be in the single serve coffee cup of your future.
Keurig Mini B30 Brewer Details Confirmed - Red is the New Black
On our recent trip to Keurig we were able to get a sneak preview of the new Keurig Mini B30, and confirm the features on the single serve coffee maker. From brewing your cup of coffee in just under 3 minutes, to being My K Cup Compatible, the Keurig Mini B30 has a few features it's cousin the Keurig B130 doesn't have, and some they share.
Keurig Mini B30 Features:
Cup Sensors - Placing your cup on the stand activates the brewer. Note: they won't work with glass mugs,. only opaque mugs
My K Cup Compatible
Heats and brews in under 3 minutes
Brews and 8 oz cup
Add fresh water for each cup you make
Slightly Lower Temperature ~10 degrees F than the larger B40, B50, B60 or B70 brewers
Comes in Red, Black, and White - Red online only at Keurig.com
Available in August for $79
Travel Bag will be made available and will hold the brewer and some K Cups
Certified for home and office use - BIG BONUS
Very Quiet - doesn't feature Quiet Brew Technology, but uses a quieter method than the current set of brewers to make your cup of single serve coffee
10 K Cups included with purchase
Who doesn't want a Ferrari Red single serve coffee maker?
Wowser.
May was an amazing month of news here at Single Serve Coffee. We've gotten news of the new Keurig B30 Mini single serve coffee brewers, and updates to the Keurig Platinum B70. We'll have the full details on our visit to Keurig tomorrow, and on the Keurig B30 minis as well. Stay tuned for more k cup, coffee pod, and T Disc reviews in the coming Summer weeks and months ahead.