May 10, 2010
A while back, we announced that Green Mountain had introduced a new Donut House lineup of K-Cups but we never really got around to reviewing any of them. Now that we've finally gotten the chance to do so, we figured we'd start with something not many of us are accustomed to seeing in a decaf K-Cup... an extra bold version. Yep, we're kicking things off with Green Mountain's Donut House Decaf K-Cups and will eventually work our way through the entire lineup in coming months.
Now, we've got to admit, we don't usually grab decaf coffees when heading to donut houses (or as Coffee People would call them, donut shops). As a result, we don't really have much to compare this to other than some other decafs we've tried in the past. We figured the "extra bold" labeling on this K-Cup would mean a stronger flavor and while it does help prevent the coffee from becoming a totally bland mess, it can't be considered a true extra bold since there could have been a lot more room strength-wise for this K-Cup to expand.
Continue reading: "Review: Green Mountain Donut House Decaf K-Cups"
December 21, 2009
Van Houtte decided to follow-up their Pink Ribbon K-Cups with another unflavored variety, this time it's their Winter Blend K-Cups which were recently released last month. Billed as a "rich and flavorful blend, with intense woodsy notes and subtle acidity", we decided to give this flavor a try and purchased a box during a recent trip to Tweed & Hickory for the purposes of this review.
Upon brewing, we noticed typical earthy Arabica aromas common with a medium roast & a quick glance at the packaging confirmed this was indeed a medium roast. As noted earlier, this is not a flavored coffee nor is it considered a single origin. Flavor was more on the smoky/hickory side (maybe that's what they meant by "woodsy"?) and we couldn't help but imagine brewing a pot of this stuff over a campfire.
Continue reading: "Review: Van Houtte Winter Blend K-Cups for Keurig"
December 17, 2009
Van Houtte is back in the flavored K-Cup market with a rather unique entry for the Holidays... candy cane. Yes, you read that correctly. On a recent trip to a local Tweed & Hickory store, we decided to purchase a box of Van Houtte Candy Cane K-Cups for the purpose of this review (although we have to admit, our curiosity was the main reason of purchase)
Upon brewing, you get a scent of peppermint and oddly enough, hints of chocolate. Flavor is definitely "minty" & even lingers throughout the finish while hints of chocolate are again present in the taste. We won't exactly call this a bold blend, but rather more like a medium roast which was left in the roaster a bit too long. We found the experience rather surprising as the minty sensation made it feel like we had just munched on some candy canes after each sip. Some people might be put off by this, but we found it was a rather cool feature, literally. Bonus points to Van Houtte for making this coffee somewhat "feel" like you're eating actual candy canes.
Continue reading: "Review: Van Houtte Candy Cane K-Cups for Keurig"
November 23, 2009
Van Houtte recently decided to promote breast cancer research & awareness by releasing their new Pink Ribbon K-Cups. Billed as a medium roast "with good acidity, slight floral flavor & no bitterness", Van Houtte goes on to note that all funds raised through the purchase of these K-Cups will go towards their goal of donating $50,000 per year to breast cancer research. Logos in promotional material have even been redesigned to replace Van Houtte's white ribbon with a flowing pink ribbon design.
We decided to support the cause & purchase a box for the purpose of this review from a local Van Houtte supplier and although we're sure most coffee roasters have some sort of charity donation program in place, this is the first time in recent memory we've noticed a K-Cup dedicated solely for this purpose. Hats off to Van Houtte for taking this initiative.
Continue reading: "Review: Van Houtte Pink Ribbon K-Cups for Keurig"
November 11, 2009
We recently dug through our K-Cup stash and decided to revisit some Pumpkin Spice K-Cups we had left-over from a previous season, so we figured why not review another seasonal K-Cup which has been hiding in our ever-growing repertoire? This time around, it's Timothy's Winter Carnival K-Cups which grabbed our attention. We purchased these K-Cups for our own review purposes last season during a trip to Tweed & Hickory, and since Timothy's has yet to officially announce this flavor's re-launch this year, we decided to review what we had on-hand.
Upon brewing, you're greeted with a refreshing aroma of maple syrup and butter toffee which lingers in the room. Tasting notes yielded hints of caramel as well and had us wishing we hadn't ravaged our Spring supply of maple candies earlier this year. We can only imagine this coffee + a slice of maple butter pie would be nothing short of pure bliss. Please pardon us as our minds wander for a bit... mmm, maple butter pie (insert Homer Simpson drooling sound here). Timothy's also notes some "custard notes" in the flavoring, but we didn't really notice any during our tests.
Continue reading: "Review: Timothy's Winter Carnival K-Cups for Keurig"
October 12, 2009
A sector which had only casually been explored in the past by other manufacturers has now seen full-fledged acceptance in the single serve coffee scene with the introduction of Timothy's Kahlua Original K-Cups. The sector in question is of course liquor-flavored coffees and this marks the first time a brand-name liquor flavor is introduced on the K-Cup market (previous versions only alluded to the brand, but never had its logo displayed). Seeing as how Kahlua is coffee-flavored liquor, it only makes sense to add it to coffee itself. For those of you who are still wondering, no... there's no alcohol content in this product.
Timothy's was kind enough to send us these K-Cups for our review, but despite them describing this as a K-Cup that combines "delicious notes of rum, vanilla and caramel", we were hard pressed to find any presence of vanilla and only noticed faint traces of rum in the aroma. It reminded us somewhat of Kahlua's scent, but the one note which stuck out above all else was the strong & unexpected scent of toffee. It filled the room and was quite pleasant. The same could be said of the taste which once again, yielded strong toffee & caramel flavors rather than the namesake taste of Kahlua coffee liquor.
Continue reading: " Review: Timothy's Kahlua Original K-Cups for Keurig"
October 2, 2009
We've been going through quite a few flavors in Van Houtte's flavored K-Cup line-up the past few weeks and decided it was time to review their Macadamia Nut K-Cups. A quick look at the Wikipedia entry reveals that macadamias are native mostly to Eastern Australia, an area which is typically warm year-round. As a result, we figured we'd take one last shot at something which reminded us of warmer climates before Summer completely fades away & the cool chilly nights of Fall start to appear.
Upon brewing, an exotic scent of macadamias along with hints of coconut & hazelnut filled the room. Taste was on-par with aroma as we immediately noticed macadamia nut flavoring throughout although there were still notes of hazelnut lingering underneath. Come to think of it, the taste of macadamias & hazelnuts aren't too different to begin with, so perhaps it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to wonder if Van Houtte modified their basic hazelnut flavoring in order to create this more exotic variety. Regardless, they succeeded in achieving the namesake flavor and the results are rather good.
Continue reading: "Review: Van Houtte Macadamia Nut K-Cups for Keurig"
September 14, 2009
As was reported in the past, Tully’s was acquired by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and in the process, Green Mountain also obtained any other brands which were under Tully’s lineup. One of these brands was Bellaccino which Tully’s had introduced last year. Unfortunately, Green Mountain decided to discontinue the brand a few months ago in an effort to “replace slow sellers”. We’ve yet to see a decent selection of flavored extra-bolds from other manufacturers, so Green Mountain’s decision came as quite the disappointment. We can only hope more flavored extra-bolds are introduced in the future.
We realize that we’re reviewing something which our readers may not be able to easily purchase, however, there may still be some online coffee retailers that still have some back-stock available. As a matter of fact, we noticed Amazon was still selling 2-box packs of this flavor (48 K-Cups total) but at a rather steep price (more on that further below). May this review serve as a guide in your purchasing decision should you decide to go ahead with an order.
Continue reading: "Review: Bellaccino Blueberry Cobbler Extra Bold K-Cups from Tully's"
September 4, 2009
One of the things that always bugged us about Keurig brewers was the lack of selection when it came to hot chocolate/cocoa choices. We guess our gripes (and yours) have been heard by the powers that be since we recently saw the introduction of the Cafe Escapes hot beverage line-up on the K-Cup scene. A quick look around the Cafe Escapes K-Cups for Keurig website reveals that they've sourced their various ingredients from Europe (the companies/suppliers in question are not named), so this might reveal why these K-Cups appear creamier/richer than what's currently on the market.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is distributing this brand, so there shouldn't be any problems getting your hands on a box whenever you so desire. For the purpose of this review, we decided to try the 2 main flavors which are currently available: Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa. We also decided not to bother with our usual scoring system since these are hot cocoa drinks which don't have acidity or some of the other characteristics we base points on. Instead, we'll describe tasting notes and whether or not we recommend these selections or not.
Continue reading: "Review: Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa K-Cups"
August 20, 2009
Although we've reviewed it in the past, we decided to revisit what is normally a traditional flavor found around Thanksgiving and decided to try some leftover 2008 Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice K-Cups on a lazy Sunday afternoon while digging around our ever-growing coffee stash. We had second thoughts about drinking a decidedly non-Summer flavor but seeing as how there was nothing good on TV and nothing else to do around the Single Serve Coffee kitchens, we figured why the heck not? The fact that we noticed there was still a few months left before the expiry date also "helped" us in our decision.
Green Mountain will once again make these K-Cups available on September 1st of this year, so unless you've got a stockpile stash like we do, you'll have to wait until then to get some. As with the plethora of pumpkin-flavored coffees on the market each year, familiar scents of pumpkin pie started to emerge during brewing... all-spice, nutmeg & very faint hints of pumpkin were present. The body was medium with a usual brown/amber color.
Continue reading: "Review: Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice K-Cups for Keurig"
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