Torani Syrups - Sweet Creations at Home

OK, so you want to add a little flavor to those Cappuccinos or Lattes? Well, just like a lot of those corner cafes, you can get Torani flavored syrups to make all those great tasting concoctions. Don’t want to add calories; well some of the most popular selling Torani Syrups are the Sugar Free versions. Check out the selection:

Torani Sugar Free Vanilla

Torani Sugar Free Chocolate

Torani Sugar Free Caramel

Torani Sugar Free Raspberry

Torani Almond

Torani Melon

Torani Coconut

Don’t forget the Torani Pump!

Some Basic Recipes after the jump!

Continue reading: "Torani Syrups - Sweet Creations at Home"

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Nuova Point Classic Brown Espresso Cups

Time for some espresso demitasse cups again. The video from the NYTimes the other day showed off some excellent little brown espresso cups at either Gimme! Coffee or Ninth Street Ninth St Espresso. The cups are classics that will look great showing off that crèma that you are going to crank out with your new pump driven espresso machine. So go check these Nuova Point Espresso Cups out.

New: Starbucks DoubleShot Light and Iced Coffee

So you must know about Starbucks DoubleShots; those little power shots of espresso in the little black cans? Well the Starbucks DoubleShots got some stable mates this year that if you haven’t tried them, you should. Starbucks launched a DoubleShot light that drops the calories significantly without killing the buzz. The same strong flavor is there, just a lot less sugar and a bit less fat. The sweetness is still there with a little sucralose (same ingredient in Splenda) and Ace-K, another artificial sweetener. Anway, the calories are dropped in half; not bad. How many calories in Starbucks DoubleShot Light, you ask? Only 70 calories.

The other addition to the line comes in the form of a larger can – 11 oz to be exact, Starbucks Iced Coffee and Starbucks Iced Coffee Light. The regular has a nice creamy taste and is loaded with 200mg of caffeine, more than the 130 mg of caffeine in the espresso based Starbucks DoubleShot. So, power up and enjoy the nice taste of iced coffee away from the café. How many calories here? The Starbucks Iced Coffee has 100 calories and the Starbucks Iced Coffee Light has a miniscule 35 calories, which is achieved through the same yank sugar and add ace-k sweetener.

I’d recommend trying them out; available at the local grocery store.

Gimme! Coffee Leftist Review

We are big fans of Gimme! Coffee here at SingleServeEspresso.com, as their attention to detail and their passion for espresso and coffee pay off. We knew exactly what coffee we wanted to use when we got the Jura Capresso Impressa E8 in for review (Read it) and we wanted a Leftist; not any leftist, but the Gimme! Coffee Leftist whole bean that is a rock solid espresso blend. Gimme! Coffee is a small operation with only a handful of stores in Ithaca NY, with one in NYC too. They were recently featured as part of a video story in the NY Times where they talked about the new wave of espresso excellence sweeping the nation’s coffee shops. It’s not a surprise to us that we enjoyed the Leftist blend in the Impressa E8, but what was surprising was how truly good it was.

Continue reading: "Gimme! Coffee Leftist Review"

BlogPire Podcast - Fall Product News and Guest Russell Neufeld from ShavingStuff.com 09.25.06

Special guest Russell Neufeld visits from ShavingStuff.com and tells us about the latest shaving products. And of course, we have the latest news and views from around the 'pire including details on the new TiVo Series 3 and where to get great deals on the latest GPS devices. We also answer your questions from the past couple of weeks so keep sending them in to podcast at blogpire dot com.

[iTunes]Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
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[LISTEN] Listen to the show in your browser.

With Hosts: Russell Miner and Jay Brewer and guest Russell Neufeld

Program Details:

00:00:58 Introductions and Welcome to Russell Neufeld from ShavingStuff.com
00:02:10 Excalibur Wine on Cheap Fun Wines
00:02:45 TVSnob.com
00:03:00 HD Tivo series 3
00:05:30 WeakKnees.com Upgrades for the Tivo Series 3
00:09:09 CBS shows in advance on all Tivos
00:11:00 ShavingStuff.com with Russell Neufeld
00:13:00 Zirh Preshave Products
00:15:22 Zirh Scrub
00:17:05 Zirh Clean
00:18:50 LiquorSnob.com
00:19:17 Drink Liquor make more Money
00:22:48 The BeerClip
00:26:14 ShavingStuff.com with Russell Neufeld
00:26:35 Shaving with Zirh Profucts
00:28:53 Zirh Prepare
00:30:57 Zirh Shave Gel
00:34:17 Zirh Defend
00:34:50 SingleServeCoffee.com
00:36:19 All about Keurig Including the B70
00:41:26 ShavingStuff.com with Russell Neufeld
00:41:31 Menscience
00:43:03 Daily Face Wash with Brush
00:44:48 Menscience Shaving Cream
00:47:11 Menscience Post Shave Repair
00:48:52 Menscience Advanced Face Lotion
00:49:50 ReallyNatural.com
00:49:56 Spinach and You
00:52:28 Bamboo Dinner Plates
00:54:06 Edible Handmade Bracelets
00:55:12 Questions
00:55:21 Good Prices on GPSs
00:57:28 Non Shaving Products on Shavingstuff.com
00:57:50 BY142 scar remover
01:02:20 Closing

Readers Review: Stomping Grounds Espresso Concentrate

So, if you missed our review of Stomping Grounds Concentrate; click here. Stomping Grounds Espresso Concentrates come in 4 varieties and are sold a retailers across the country - Amazon, Cost Plus Markets, and some select Whole Foods stores as well as their own Stomping Grounds website. Well, as we posted our review, the Marketing Chief offered our readers a free sample if they would post a review. A review came in from a reader Greg who said:

I just recieved (9/23) the Espresso flavor. Mixed it up according to the directions (I used skim milk) popped it in the the microwave... it was great. Very, very nice flavor, smoky, smooth not harsh or bitter. My wife and I loved it and I guess we have a new addiction. :-)

Not bad! Stay tuned there should be more coming.

Review: Jura Capresso Impressa E8 Review

The Jura Capresso E8 Super Automatic Espresso Machine is one of those dream come true espresso makers that captivates its audience and delivers on the promise of great espresso. The machine's complex design makes for an eventual simplistic usage - Press a button, stand back and watch. I did this time and time again with my charge of espresso coffee and still it didn't get old. The espresso was great and the machine was a die-hard that delivered consistently good coffee day in and day out. I credit the machine for that, but I also credit the coffee. For this review I used Gimme! Coffee's "Leftist" which was so fresh when I got it in Ithaca, we were able to watch it mature over the first week of this review period.

Continue reading: "Review: Jura Capresso Impressa E8 Review"

Search the Couch Cushions for Spare Change

Your espresso habit is about to cost a bit more, but not by much. Citing rising green coffee costs and also the rising cost of healthcare, Starbucks is raising the prices on beverages by 5 cents at stores starting in October. A pound of coffee is expected to go up by about 50 cents. But, hey, apparently that's the first price increase on whole bean coffee in nine years.

Text your Coffee Order; Skip the Line - GoMobo.com

Tired of waiting in line for coffee? Well a simple text to GoMobo.com can help you skip the line and still get your favorite coffee. The idea is this: Set up an account, text a code and a pick-up time to GoMobo, and they relay the order to your favorite shop. You show up at the pick-up time and your order is waiting. The code is so that you don’t have to text “Grande Skinny Soy Latte, extra hot” while driving down the road…. Partners are limited and you’ll be waiting a while to get one in your area unless you live in the Northeast.

Capresso 121 Ultima Espresso Machine Arrives for Review at SingleServeEspresso.com

We are pretty happy to have the Capresso Ultima arrive for review here at SingleServeEspresso.com. The Capresso Ultima is not your usual espresso machine. In fact its a bit of a revolution. The Ultima allows you to easily use ground espresso in a machine that fills and tamps the coffee for you. After you are done, it ejects the puck into a waste bin.... all with the turn of a crank. This eliminates a lot of dirty steps that many users have confided in me that they actually hate. For some, filling, tamping and then dumping the spent grounds is a total pain. The Ultima can take anywhere between 7 g and 15 grams of coffee, which should be plenty for most potent espressos. So, you add your ground espresso, rotate the crank half way, brew your espresso, then rotate the crank to the original position to eject the spent grounds and get it ready for the next espresso. Not bad.

Continue reading: "Capresso 121 Ultima Espresso Machine Arrives for Review at SingleServeEspresso.com"

The I-Roast 2 Home Coffee Roaster arrives for Review at SingleServeEspresso.com

We recently received our I-Roast 2 home roaster and I am looking forward to roasting up some coffee to try out in the Jura Capresso E8 Super Automatic Espresso Machine that we have in for review also. (I’ll be writing up a review of the Impressa E8 in the coming days, but will be keeping it on to try out our home roasted coffee.)

A lot of people are fanatics about fresh coffee, and go to great lengths to make sure that their coffee is fresh. When properly stored, green coffee is good for a long time, and with a home roaster, we’re hoping that it’s easy to whip up a few batches of coffee to use in our espresso machine. So while you can get espresso coffee in whole bean or ground at many coffee shops, and stores, you may wonder, where to get green coffee. It’s not hard. We strolled over to Sweet Maria’s and there is lot’s of variety and lot’s of pre-blended options, even some for espresso. (I already have some on the way.) So it’s not an issue. I have also seen some available at some local cafes and Whole Foods stores.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be learning a bit more about home roasting and I’ll see what I can do in the way of creativeness and excellence in fresh coffee. I know from my experience already that coffee changes for the first few days after roasting, and there is nothing like freshly roasted coffee. Used over the first few days, you can see flavors develop and wonderful flavors change. The I-Roast 2 has built in programs that allow you to start out with training wheels at first. You can then alter how you roast the beans based on your taste and own experiments. Sweet Maria’s has recommendations and extensive reading on how to roast; I’ll be studying up before roasting.

The i-Roast 2 is available at the i-Roast Home page. They are offering a special through the end of November: Buy an i-Roast 2 for $169 and get 2 pounds of Organic Bolivian green coffee for Free.

Caribou Coffee Granola Bars Available Online

So, we stumbled onto these delicious Caribou Coffee Granola Bars a while ago, and there are still pretty hard to find in the stores. They come in Mocha and Vanilla Latte flavors. I originally had the Mocha flavored ones, and though that they tasted great. They have one of the best coffee flavors in something like this I have ever had. A lot of readers have been asking about where to buy them, and we recently found out that the Caribou Coffee Granola Bars are available at the Caribou Coffee website store. Now the store is offering them individually, but I am hoping to get them in teh original 6-pack box that I got them at the local supermarket.

Getting Started: Decaf ESE Espresso Pod Sampler

So, you just bought an ESE Pod capable espresso machine but you aren't really sure what you like for coffee? I thought I would highlight this little sampler that might open up the possibilities to a few espresso pods that you haven't heard of but might thouroughly enjoy. This Decaf ESE Espresso Pod Sampler has 26 total pods - 2 each of 13 different pods. Go ahead, go nuts and experiment, it won't keep you up all night.

These ESE Espresso pods are made to be used in popular makers like the Breville Café Roma, the Krups XP4050and the Hamilton Beach 40729 espresso machines; all have the ability to use ESE Espresso pods.

Melitta ME1MSB SmartBrew Coffee Maker with Weather Display

No, this isn’t an Espresso Machine, but it is what I want in my Espresso Machine. I saw this, and thought I would pass it along, it is a Melitta ME1MSB Smart Brew Coffeemaker With MSN Direct built right in. So, the thing can tell you what the weather forecast is as you pour your cup of coffee.






It’s a 10-cup programmable grind and brew coffee maker that has an animated LCD display that shows you up to the minute regional specific weather that it gets via a free (NO Subscription required!) FM radio signal. It requires no set-up or internet connection – just plug in and go. The appliance displays the current temperature and conditions, high and low temperatures, and chance of precipitation, as well as four-day weather forecasts.

The coffeemaker also displays scrolling weather information; visibility; sunrise/sunset time; the UV index; and national weather-service warnings and alerts (the display flashes when a warning alert is issued).

Available now for Pre-order at Amazon; Ships in Mid-November.

Features after the Jump.

Continue reading: "Melitta ME1MSB SmartBrew Coffee Maker with Weather Display"

Caribou Coffee – Free Wi-Fi

So this past weekend, we went to North Carolina, and stopped into a Caribou Coffee shop for a very nice Iced Americano; in fact I went back a few times it was so good. I was also happy to see that they offered free Wi-Fi access in their store. The program was announced late last month as they are rolling it out nationally. The program is not an invitation to hang out and SPAM people all day on Caribou’s dime. Instead offer the first hour free, then asks you to at least buy a $1.50’s worth of goods, or roughly a cup of coffee, for the next hour’s surfing time. Not bad; my Iced Americano would have bought me at least 3 hours of surfing time, but I hardly used it, I had other stuff to do.

Getting Started: ESE Espresso Pod Super Sampler

So, you just bought an ESE Pod capable espresso machine but you aren't really sure what you like for coffee? I thought I would highlight this little sampler that might open up the possibilities to a few espresso pods that you haven't heard of but might thoroughly enjoy. This ESE Espresso Pod Super Sampler has 64 total pods - 2 each of 32 different pods. I just got mine and I'm like a kid in a candy store with this thing. I like the fact that you get two each; either you can share a cup with a friend, spouse, room mate, etc to figure out together if you like a particular blend. Or, if you are drinking this alone, you can drink it once, see if you like it, and go back for a confirmation later..... either way, it will be fun working through it all. At a little over $35, it's not a lot of money for a whole lot of espresso experimentation.

These ESE Espresso pods are made to be used in popular makers like the Breville Café Roma, the Krups XP4050and the Hamilton Beach 40729 espresso machines; all have the ability to use ESE Espresso pods.

New Wave Espresso

There’s a nice video up on the NYT website that talks about the New Wave Espresso as an artistic reality in NYC. They highlight two shops, Gimme! Coffee (a favorite of ours with roots in Ithaca NY) and Ninth Street Espresso. The video walks through the care that a great barista will take to get you a truly excellent espresso. They also show some very nice Latte Art on the video.

Click HERE and then search for “espresso” to pull up the video.

Review: Stomping Grounds Espresso Concentrates - Free Offer

It’s time to measure up the Stomping Grounds espresso concentrate. We’ve been drinking Stomping Grounds for the last two weeks or so, and have had it in a wide variety of ways. Stomping Grounds is an espresso concentrate that comes in shelf stable 1 quart packages and is available in 4 varieties: Espresso, Caramel, Vanilla and Mocha. We have had a chance to try out the Espresso and the Caramel for the purposes of this review. There is a nice little pour spout on the package to make pouring easy, and the product is good in the refrigerator for a month after you open it. Stomping Grounds now has a web-store up at their site, and it is available at Cost Plus Markets, and some select Whole Foods Stores.

Update: Stompin Grounds Espresso Concentrate is now available at Amazon.

Continue reading: "Review: Stomping Grounds Espresso Concentrates - Free Offer"

Espresso you can eat: Espesso

Lavazza has had this little creation that is amazing and allows you to eat you espresso. The concoction is a secret formula that whips up an espresso and other ingredients into a mousse-like wonder that you eat with a spoon. The Espesso can now be had in Chicago these days at the local Lavazza shops there.

If you want to see more about how this works from a short little video, check out Lavazza website and then click on the "Espesso: The coffee you eat." button.

ESE Review: Aloha Island 100% Kona ESE Espresso Pods

So for about the last couple of weeks we have been enjoying the rich 100% Kona ESE Espresso pods from Aloha Island. Aloha Island Coffee Company is a high quality minded coffee company that farms in one of the most well known coffee growing areas in the world. The Kona coast, for anyone who has been there is a dream come true as far as beauty goes; the rough beauty of the lava fields stretch up to the green fields on the gently sloping sides of the volcano. We have been using both the regular 100 % Kona ESE espresso pods and the Decaf 100% Kona ESE Espresso Pods, and will discuss both here.

These ESE Espresso pods are made to be used in popular makers like the Breville Café Roma, the Krups XP4050and the Hamilton Beach 40729 espresso machines; all have the ability to use ESE Espresso pods.

If you have a Single Serve Coffee maker that takes larger pods than ESE pods, check out the review covering several Aloha Island pods for those brewers at our sister site: SingleServeCoffee.com.

Continue reading: "ESE Review: Aloha Island 100% Kona ESE Espresso Pods"

Saving Money on Coffee or Stealing?

So it sounds like there is a fair number of people saving money these days by making their own lattes. Not how you think though. Coffee shop owners are complaining that customers are getting just a shot or two of espresso (over ice) and then moving to the condiment area and filling up with the free milk there; savings can be a buck or two over the usual Iced Latte price. Do that every day for a few months and it adds up. Coffee shop owners are paying through the nose though, as milk prices are up already with fuel surcharges on the deliveries due to the high gas prices. So, is it stealing when you take something that's free? Is it too much of a good thing?

ESE Review: Izzo Caffe and Vivi Cafe Espresso Pods

Two From Izzo – I wanted to post a quick little micro-review of a couple of Italian ESE Espresso Pods that I got in and enjoyed for a few days. The first is Izzo Caffe Espresso, the second Vivi Caffe from Izzo. Izzo Caffè was founded near Vesuvius in 1979 by Mr. Vincenzo Izzo as an artisan-based coffee roastery, which has been striving with passion to produce real Neapolitan espresso for over 25 years. Today this growing company is selling Espresso across Italy and around the world.

These ESE Espresso pods are made to be used in popular makers like the Breville Café Roma, the Krups XP4050and the Hamilton Beach 40729 espresso machines; all have the ability to use ESE Espresso pods.

Continue reading: "ESE Review: Izzo Caffe and Vivi Cafe Espresso Pods"

Starbucks Sued for $114 Million over Pulled "Free Drink" Coupon

From the Uh-Oh department, comes this one. Recall we updated you that the Starbucks Free Drink email promotion was pulled early due to the fact that the email got out of control. Now things just got worse; they are getting sued. In NY, an attorney is suing Starbucks because of the pulled promotion. Starbucks is being sued for $114 million over its recall. Attorney Peter Sullivan filed the lawsuit Friday in New York on behalf of a 23-year-old Starbucks regular who he says felt "betrayed" when her coupon was not honored. He is accusing the Seattle-based coffee company of fraud and says he will request class-action status for the suit. The $114 million is founded on an estimate of what the average daily cost is for a cup of coffee for all the people turned away for the promotion. How he even arrived at the number of people who got turned away is beyond me. So, I wonder, who was the brand manager who dreamt up this promotion and I wonder what s/he is doing now?

Jura Capresso E8 Super Automatic Espresso Machine Arrives for Review

A very fine machine showed up at our door and I am happy to say that the Jura Capresso E8 Impressa Super Automatic Espresso Machine has arrived for review at SingleServeEspresso.com. The Jura Capresso E8 is a Super Automatic machine that pretty much takes your whole beans and makes espresso for you. It grinds, tamps, and pulls the shot for you, then ejects the spent grounds into a bin for disposal later. This all happens at the press of a button.

The Jura Capresso E8 espresso machine comes with a bin for whole bean – it holds about 1/4 of a pound of coffee, a 64 ounce water reservoir, a by-pass doser for adding ground espresso and brewing directly from the coffee you add. This feature is great for brewing Decaf espressos for instance when the machine is already loaded with regular whole bean. The unit has a 1450 watt heater with a 18 bar pump. It also features a Solid-steel conical burr grinder, LED display that will tell you exactly what’s going on, or what needs filling or emptying. It also has a Dual Frother Plus for steaming milk; electronic water-level sensor; auto shut-off. Measures 11 by 13-3/5 by 17 inches; 1-year limited warranty.

We have some Gimme Coffee Leftist Espresso Beans in house and ready for use for this review. I’m pretty excited to start cranking out the shots and lattes.

News from Terroir Coffee Company

Terroir Coffee Company is an artisan coffee roaster based in Acton Massachusetts, and they specialize in finding some of the best estate coffees from around the world, roasting them up and delivering them to discerning customers for prices that are amazingly affordable. The owner, George Howell, posts a monthly newsletter. This month he covers several interesting aspects about coffee handling, and coffee roasting; he also highlights his Espresso of the Month: Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.

Other Features include:

Final Roasting of the El Aguacate: Arguably the finest Colombian coffee ever offered on the market.

Open House at the Roaster in Acton: September 30th

Food Network Profiles Terroir Coffee

Keeping Green Coffee Fresh – the extreme steps Terroir takes to keep their coffee fresh.

ReadMore in their Newsletter
Subscribe to their Newsletter

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ESE Review: Starbucks ESE Espresso Pods

I have been brewing and drinking a lot of Starbucks coffee lately, as I have been using it as my base coffee for the review period when I reviewed the Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso Machine and generally drink it on a regular basis. Starbucks makes their ESE Espresso Pods available in both regular and Decaf varieties, in the standard 7 gram size to fit ESE Espresso machines. You don’t just have to have one of their own Barista machines to use the Pods. If you happen to like Starbucks flavored coffee, you won’t be disappointed when you brew one of these pods.

These ESE Espresso pods are made to be used in popular makers like the Breville Café Roma, the Krups XP4050 and the Hamilton Beach 40729 espresso machines; all have the ability to use ESE Espresso pods.

Continue reading: "ESE Review: Starbucks ESE Espresso Pods"

More Greater Good

Starbucks - like them or not, they are doing a lot of good things with their business success behind all of those espresso drinks. They have stated that a goal of theirs is to source all of their coffee (roughly 2% of the world’s production) from certified farms that undergo an audit which looks at product quality, economic accountability (transparency), social responsibility, environmental leadership in coffee growing and environmental leadership in coffee processing. Starbucks said that last year they sourced 150 Million pounds of certified coffee, while this coming year they will buy 225 million pounds of certified coffee. Under the terms of this program, Starbucks will pay a premium per pound of coffee to farmers who meet the certification. Not bad, farmers get helped, the environment gets helped, and you get higher quality coffee. What’s it cost you? Probably only about a penny a latte. Not bad.

Want to learn more? See their Social Responsibility Newsletter, or subscribe to it.

Review: Aeroccino Automatic Milk Frother from Nespresso

Thought we would highlight this over at SingleServeCoffee.com - our sister site. They reviewed a new way to froth milk for your coffee/espresso drinks - The Aeroccino Automatic Milk Frother from Nespresso.

The Aeroccino is a new, automatic and simple way of creating light, creamy milk froth. You just pour in some cold or hot, fresh skim milk and press the button.

ReadMore at SingleServeCoffee.com

Review: Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso Machine Review

When I sat down to start using the Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso Maker, I wondered if it could turn out a decent espresso – I mean come on a $68 pump driven espresso maker? I have been using it for about 2 weeks at this writing, and let me tell you that I am impressed at what this little baby can do for $68. To start, the espresso machine is targeted at new espresso machine users – it has an instructional video in the box that gets you acquainted with espresso and how to use the machine to turn out good looking drinks. It delivers good espresso that you can be happy with.

Continue reading: "Review: Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso Machine Review"

Gaggia Titanium 90500 Espresso Machine

I wanted to end this Gaggia-heavy week on a high note – as in really high priced espresso. The Gaggia 90500 Titanium – a Stainless Steel Super Automatic Espresso Machine is a high end machine that sparkles with stainless steel. Why they call it a Titanium and then make it in Stainless, I’ll never know, but this thing is ready to do some serious espresso. It’s got two 1,500 watt thermo block heaters – one for brewing and one for steaming; what would you expect out of a Super, eh? Like all Super automatic espresso machines, it takes beans in one end and puts out espresso on the other. The burr grinder grinds your whole bean espresso, then it gets tamped and the high-pressure 15 bar pump extracts the sweet espresso. There are settings galore on this thing, but it can still give you a great espresso at a simple push-button operation. Nice.