Review: President's Choice Gourmet Medium Roast T-Discs

We continue our review of President's Choice Tassimo products today with their Gourmet Medium Roast T-Discs. Unlike their Great Canadian T-Discs, these aren't supposed to be clones or knock-offs of anything, but rather just a regular everyday store-brand coffee.

Brewing these T-Discs resulted in a mix of chocolate & smoky aromas with some faint raisin notes hiding underneath. Flavor was substantially better than their Great Canadian as this time we got stronger notes of smoke & dark chocolate which gave way to stronger sour notes in the acidity while things finished off with some oily notes and hints of mild smoke buried at the bottom end of the cup. Acidity was as we just mentioned, notably stronger with more pronounced sour notes at first sip which lingered around for a while before giving way to the spicier notes in the finish. We're starting to think that President's Choice should have named this roast as their Great Canadian since things were turning out considerably better this time around.

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Review: President’s Choice Great Canadian T-Discs

President’s Choice is an in-store brand created by Loblaws grocery stores in Canada and they regularly release seasonal products which they’ve developed via their test kitchens, market research/focus groups as well as their team of chefs who travel the world to find source ingredients. They most recently rose to national fame when they introduced a new TV series/content via Food Network Canada called “Recipe To Riches” (currently within its 2^nd season) where contestants from anywhere in Canada can submit their recipe to a panel of judges and compete to have their recipe/product featured on store shelves each week.

We expected President’s Choice to come out with a new kind of marinade sauce or snack product but they completely shocked the Canadian single serve world and took us by surprise this past Summer when they announced a partnership with Kraft’s Tassimo system and agreed to release their line of in-house coffees in T-Disc format. This would mark the beginning of Kraft branching-out more often and licensing T-Discs with many outside companies since their split with Starbucks. Unfortunately, Loblaws don’t have any stores in USA, so these T-Discs are uniquely a Canada-only product.

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Review: Club Coffee Venetian Reserve Single Cup Capsules

We finish off our review series of Club Coffee Single Cup Capsules today with their Club Coffee Venetian Reserve Single Cup Capsules.

Brewing these Single Cup Capsules resulted in mild oily notes with hints of chocolate underneath. We also detected faint woodsy characteristics as well. Not as strong or complex as we were hoping for but better than nothing. Body was very dark brown in color with deep shades of red when held in front of a light source. Acidity had a good balance and hit us with mild sour bite at first which leveled out afterwards.

Billed as a dark roast, flavor was made up mostly of bittersweet dark chocolate with very faint hickory notes in the background & a strong oily taste underneath if we let things sit too long. Mouth feel took on more of an oily feel but wasn't too overbearing. Aftertaste was sharp & slightly bitter at first with predominant notes of dark chocolate throughout and more oily notes on the finish.

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Review: Tully’s Hawaiian Blend Vue Packs for the Keurig Vue

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Hawaiian coffee appear in K-Cup, let alone Vue Pack format. So we were a bit surprised to see Tully’s taking a stab at making such a product. As you’ve obviously noticed, they didn’t call this a Kona Blend likely because there’s no Kona coffee in it. We tried finding the exact blend used and the best we can guess is that Kauai coffee is what’s included here. Most companies decided to start selling Kauai coffee as a cheaper alternative to Kona once they realized how badly decimated Kona crops were after the borer beetle infestation a few years ago.

As farms struggle to recover crops and plant new ones, Kauai remains the only island with enough crops to sustain demand for Hawaiian coffee production. Similar in nature to Kona, Kauai coffee is slightly more acidic in nature yet still maintains the characteristic smoothness of Kona to a certain degree. We’ve never seen it blended with other varietals before, so it’ll be interesting to see the final results. Today we check out Tully’s Hawaiian Blend Vue Packs.

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Review: Green Mountain Island Coconut Vue Packs

When we first started reviewing Vue Packs and noticed how the strong button could affect (both positively and negatively) the flavor of a coffee, the first flavor we wish GMCR would have released was Island Coconut. Out of all the seasonal flavors, it's our #1 favorite and when we first tasted it, we immediately wanted MORE coconuttiness (is that even a word?) in our cup. The intoxicating tropical coconut aromas paired with the intense coconut flavor had us... well... going nuts. We just couldn't help but wonder how the strong button would affect such a superb coffee. Would it blow the dial past 11 in coconut flavor or would it turn things so bitter & sour that we'd be rushing to rebuild the S.S. Minnow and get the heck off Gilligan's Island?

We called it during our GMCR Caramel Vanilla Cream Vue Pack review as we suspected back then that this flavor wouldn't be too far behind on the Vue Pack line-up's release schedule, so let's see if these new seasonal Vue Packs can recreate the same euphoric sensation as their K-Cup counterparts and possibly improve upon it. Today we check out the long awaited & highly anticipated Green Mountain Island Coconut Vue Packs.

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Review: Corner Coffeehouse Sweet Caramel Latte T-Discs

Today we take a look at the 2nd flavor in the Corner Coffeehouse series with their Corner Coffeehouse Sweet Caramel Latte T-Discs.

Brewing these T-Discs resulted in mild caramel notes during brewing along with some of the usual buttermilk notes from the creamer. Again, we were hoping for a stronger aroma, but since it was being concentrated into a 2oz espresso shot, we suppose we were probably expecting for too much. Flavor was a bit better as we detected light notes of caramel up top quickly followed by some of the espresso flavors, then a bit more tinges of caramel followed by sweet buttermilk flavors of the creamer at the bottom. As we neared the end of the cup, the buttermilk flavors & overall sweetness of the drink became more pronounced.

If something has SWEET in its name, you can damn well bet the final results will taste sweet and that is once more the case with these T-Discs. Unlike what we've been seeing lately, we didn't detect any chemical notes in the sweetness and things just seemed like natural sugar overall. At least that's something that Kraft took the time get right. Acidity was pretty much washed-out by the creamer but did yield some bite from the espresso at various points throughout the drink. It helped let the mild caramel flavors come through & would have just washed them out had it been any stronger.

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Review: Gevalia 15% Kona Blend T-Discs

We decided to review something today which is somewhat cloaked in mystery much like the Caribou Obsidian K-Cups or the President’s Choice T-Discs. Today we review the Gevalia 15% Kona Blend T-Discs. These T-Discs were not widely advertised and the only place we’ve been able to find them lately was our local Bed Bath & Beyond retail store and the Tassimo Direct website.

It would appear you can also order from the Bed Bath & Beyond website if you don’t have a retail location near you. As far as we can tell, Gevalia 15% Kona Blend T-Discs are only available in USA. Seems a bit odd for Gevalia to be releasing a Kona coffee blend since there are still issues with the recovering Kona crops in Hawaii at the moment which have forced Keurig & others to stop selling Kona blends due to shortages or insufficient supply. Despite this, we appreciate the fact that they chose to incorporate a 15% blend since most blends a few years back were only 10%. It’s not much more, but hey, we’ll take what we can get.

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Review: ECS Coffee Single Cup Fresh Seals

With Keurig's K-Cup patent having expired, a multitude of soft-bottomed One Cup flavors have been released within the past year. When the first One Cup company (Rogers Family Coffee) started releasing their products, they came packaged within a non-resealable plastic bag inside a cardboard box for outer packaging. The main problem that quickly arose once you'd open the bag would be two-fold... the coffee aromas were so strong, that they'd permeate through the box and into whatever surrounding items you had nearby + you'd quickly lose freshness in the ground coffee since the filter provided no oxygen barrier whatsoever and left the grinds exposed to the elements.

Other companies (Club Coffee, Melitta) tried resolving this issue with some success by creating cookie bag style foil packaging that had bendable tabs near the top of the bag which allowed you to roll the bag up and secure the tabs in order to prevent the bag from opening again. This still resulted in another problem since it meant you had to keep the entire bag nearby if you wanted to use that particular brand/flavor. Not an ideal solution if you aren't a frequent coffee drinker or like to drink a different flavor on a regular basis.

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Review: GMCR Special Reserve Colombia Geisha K-Cups

Once Marley Coffee decided to release a rare single-origin coffee with their Jamaican Blue Mountain Real Cups, Green Mountain realized they had missed their chance at being the first company/brand to release a rare single-origin coffee in Keurig K-Cup compatible format. It didn't take them long to fix that oversight as they decided to start releasing their Special Reserve series in K-Cup format soon afterwards. The first flavor in the series is what we're reviewing today... GMCR Special Reserve Colombia Geisha K-Cups.

Hailing from the Cerro Azul region in Valle del Cauca, Colombia Geisha coffee is considered to be amongst the rarest varietals in the World due to it being difficult to grow which makes it produced in specially crafted small batches. It is renowned for its complex flavors which have been described as changing with every sip and it's such a highly-regarded crop that pickers must endure 4 to 12 months of training just to be certified to pick Geisha cherries as such requires a fine touch to preserve all the flavor's subtle notes during the cultivation process. This varietal is also considered to be one of the most sought-after coffees as was evidenced last year by Starbucks when they decided to start selling it in limited runs at an astronomical price of $7 per cup. Thankfully, if you calculate the price per serving of these K-Cups, it works out to a much more reasonable $1.77 instead.

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Review: Starbucks Tribute Blend K-Cups

Each year, one of the fan favorite coffees from Starbucks which most people look forward to would have to be Starbucks Tribute Blend. It was originally released as a limited edition but there was so much demand that Starbucks decided to add it as a regular yearly seasonal coffee much to everyone's delight. Culled from a blend of coffees from several different growing regions, Tribute Blend is a blend of Ethiopian, Sumatran, Colombian & Papua New Guinea coffees which come together to form a balance of fruity, spicy, nutty & herbal notes paired with Starbucks signature smoky taste & aroma. 

Unlike previous seasonal K-Cup flavors, Starbucks decided to move away from flashy foil designs and have gone back to plain painted designs instead. We get the usual silver Starbucks logo paired with this year's angular abstract background design. As with some of their recent seasonal K-Cups, they've also decided to include the "vintage year" of 2013 on the packaging & lid. Something which sort of ads collectability if you're someone who prefers to stockpile your K-Cup stash vs. blowing through them all at once. To be honest, we didn't even think we'd see Tribute Blend K-Cups this year since our local shop only had small half-pound bags of whole beans available for the first week of March and these K-Cups only appeared within the past few days. Needless to say we're glad Starbucks decided to continue releasing their seasonal coffees in K-Cup format and look forward to more releases over the coming month.

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Review: Martinson House Blend Real Cups

We forge ahead in our Martinson Real Cup review series today with a flavor that most coffee companies refer to as their staple flavor, so it’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out. Today we take a look at the Martinson House Blend Real Cups.

Brewing these Real Cups resulted in mild aromas of smoke with a faint earthiness touched by hints of chocolate and the very faintest tinges of molasses underneath. Flavor was a mix of dark chocolate with smoky notes throughout followed by hints of molasses and a bit of an oily taste near the end. Acidity was definitely present as we got some sour notes near the middle of each sip and while it was leaning on the stronger side, it wasn’t off the charts like some of the other flavors we’ve tried in the line-up so far. It wasn’t enough to wash-out the flavors but it could have been slightly toned-down a bit for our liking.

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Review: Solofill Cup V1 Gold Vue Pack Filter

After the first Keurig Vue brewer was released, the first thing most people kept wondering was whether or not Keurig would manufacturer a My Vue Pack re-usable filter for it. We heard rumors that Keurig were in fact working on just such an item, but we could never confirm if this was actually the case and we have yet to see anything materialize on Keurig's website nor anywhere on the market. When Solofill realized there was a demand for a re-usable filter, they decided to make the boffins in their R&D department design the first Solofill filter for Vue brewers and hence the item we're reviewing today... the Solofill Cup V1 Gold Vue Pack Filter.

The filter is the size of a travel mug Vue Pack and is made up of 2 components... the outer plastic shell and an inner filter basket which is completely removable. The plastic shell has a hole in the center of the lid for the intake needle and a hole near the bottom of the shell's spout for the output needle. The design/shape of the Vue system's brew chamber ensures that the filter will be inserted properly each time and again, there's no need to disassemble anything... just fill the filter with coffee, pop it in the brewer like any other Vue Pack and you're good to go. The one major difference is obviously the customization factor of the Vue brewer. You will need to experiment to see which settings on the machine produce the best results.

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Review: Solofill Cup K3 Chrome K-Cup Filter

Back when Keurig first introduced their K-Cup brewers, one of the first accessories to get introduced was the My K-Cup filter. It consisted of a steel mesh filter housed inside a plastic assembly that fit inside the brew chamber once you had removed the lower assembly that contained the bottom piercing needle and was created with the sole purpose of letting users use their own ground coffee instead of having to buy pre-packaged K-Cups should their favorite flavor not be available in K-Cup format. There were many issues that most users encountered with the first generation models which ranged from poor extraction to clogged filters and leaking coffee grinds being dumped into the bottom of their mugs.

We're not sure if the latest generation of My K-Cup filters have solved those issues since we were among the majority who decided to wait things out and see what the competition had to offer. Many 3^rd-party companies tried various attempts and creating their own filters over the years but the one which stood out as being the best designed with best overall performance was the Solofill K-Cup filter. It was an all-in-one filter that had a rubber gasket around the lid which solved the coffee grind overflow problem (or so we thought) and the mesh filter was molded right into the outer plastic. The size was similar to a K-Cup which meant you didn't need to go through the extra hassle of taking apart your brewer's brew chamber... just fill the Solofill and pop it in like any other K-Cup. We've included a photo of this 1^st-generation model for comparison.

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Review: Martinson Hazelnut Real Cups

We continue our Martinson Real Cup review series today with their first flavored variety... Martinson Hazelnut Real Cups. It would appear that hazelnut is a staple flavor in the single serve coffee world as just about every company that gets into the market usually goes with either that particular flavor or vanilla as one of their initial flavored coffee varieties. It remains to be seen if this will be like most hazelnut coffees or if anything in particular will set it apart from the masses.

Brewing these Real Cups resulted in light hazelnut aromas with hints of vanilla floating around underneath. We also detected very faint smoky notes buried below as well. They were barely noticeable, but still present nonetheless. Flavor was a bit on the sour side as you first notice the acidity's sour bite then a mild blend of hazelnut & vanilla appears underneath. The main flavor was a lot weaker than what we were expecting. We also noticed some smoky notes that appeared near the finish, while you'd think smoky hazelnut would be a unique flavor, we didn't really care for it all that much.

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