Coffee Prices on the Rise

Coffee prices are on the rise, and two favorites in our house are not immune. With the costs of the raw material - quality green coffee going up, the cost to me, a big coffee consumer are going up too.
Recently the cost of my Nespresso capsules went up; a whole 3 cents, from $0.49 each to $0.52, but hey it's an increase. I think that I can afford it though, especially if it keeps me away from Starbucks for just one day, I'll be good for a few months. I brew in the Nespresso Essenza C100, shots of espresso mostly.

Long time readers also know that we run on a Keurig B-70 in our house and for us, it's allowed everyone in the household to get a cup of what they want. I mean hey, I like the regular stuff too, it's just got to be a pretty hefty roast. Our sister site, SingleServeCoffee.com just reported on some price increases coming for K-cup coffees too. I went over to Coffeewiz and picked up some Tully's French Roast; a pretty popular flavor in our household.

Timothy's Rainforest Espresso K-Cups

If you're looking for a bold alternative to the espresso shots, a cup of Timothy's Rainforest Espresso might just do it for the weekend. I took a look at these last year, and I continue to thow these into the rotation these days still. Right beside the espresso machine is our Keurig B70 brewer.

Pretty bold and dark, the Timothy's Rainforest espresso K-Cups are a good little choice. Not quite the full body of an espresso shot, but hey, a good sipping coffee.

Free shipping if you spend more than $25.

Timothy's at Amazon

Quick Pick: Double Black Diamond K-Cup - Bold Stuff

It's ski season and I just had to pass this along. The folks at Green Mountain have a dark roast that is bold enough to stand up and ski some Giant Slaloms on it's own so I figured that it's going to appeal to a few espresso lovers out there. The stuff is roasted dark and has a pretty bold body and finish; it's an "Extra Bold" K-cup, so it's not going to be accused of being a lightweight.

I have been cruising through a box of "Double Black Diamonds" for a while now and I have to agree. Dark roast, not sharp or hollow, but fairly full bodied, without as much smokiness as the Tully's French Roast I have been drinking. Has no problem standing up to milk, and is a nice bold cup for the winter season.

Check them out at Green Mountain - Double Black Diamond Extra-Bold K Cups

Quick Pick: Timothy's Midnight Magic K-Cups

A quick K-cup pick heading into the weekend this weekend is the Timothy’s Midnight Magic K-cups. The Midnight Magic blend is a dark roasted coffee that has a spicy flavor; with a mild sweetness and a fairly powerful punch. In our
Keurig B70 brewer brewer I tend to brew these on the small cup setting and brew a couple at a time to get a very full large mug of coffee in the mornings when I am not brewing up espresso. Life’s busy, not much time in the morning, and I always get freshly brewed coffee with the Keurig.

A Two-pack of 25 K-cups each for $20 - special now on shutterfly cards - through 10/31.

At Timothy's Midnight Magic K-Cups

Coffee People Black Tiger K-Cup Review

Well it's been a while since we grabbed a couple of boxes of Coffee People Black Tiger K-cups, so I thought I would get back to you on them. We've blown through the two boxes by now and overall enjoyed them.

Coffee People describe them like this: " Full bodied, earthy, and dark. Our answer to a customer request for a blend with the rustic taste of the old country. Rules were broken, but - oh well! Here it is. Totally unique and ferocious!"

I didn't exactly describe them as ferocious, but we generally liked them. The flavor is definitely dark roasted, and bright, but not overly acidic. The back end is not overly bitter, a good sign considering the dark roast; they didn't over do it. I will say that the back end runs away a bit and is reminiscent of a Sumatran coffee with their classic upfront flavor and a clean finish.

I am constantly comparing the K-cups we get toe Tully's French Roast (see my Review of Tully's French Roast K-Cups) which is what we are drinking day in and day out around here, and the Black Tiger is comparable, just not as ferocious late in the flavor profile; clean, not lingering.

Net if you like the dark roast, full flavor and a clean finish, the Black Tiger is a very good choice.

Coffee People Black Tiger is available at Amazon

I'll point out that when the Coffee People Black Tiger boxes arrived from Amazon, they had this big orange sticker across the edge of the box: "Do Not Open Ship as One Piece". which was put there to prevent people from opening up the box and shipping one K-Cup to fulfill the order for "1 - Coffee People Black Tiger K-Cups". I would be pretty upset if I bought a two boxes for about $20 and they sent me 2 K-cups instead......

CoffeePeople Black Tiger K-Cups

OK - so wrap up the Caribou French Roast Review and receive the CoffeePeople Black Tiger Bold K-cups for the next one. So idle time around here, and definitely no days without a cup of coffee or espresso around SingleServeEspresso.com

CoffeePeople Black Tiger is a dark roasted K-cup that the describe like this:

" Full bodied, earthy, and dark. Our answer to a customer request for a blend with the rustic taste of the old country. Rules were broken, but - oh well! Here it is. Totally unique and ferocious!"

I don't know, we'll see in our Keurig B-70 brewer. We'll check it out over the coming weeks, and get back to you.

Black Tiger K-Cups at Amazon

Caribou French Roast K-Cup Review

So, I have been dipping into the Caribou French Roast K-Cups recently and all of a sudden found myself at the bottom of the box realizing that I hadn’t really written anything up on them. The K-cups came to us a few weeks about 6 weeks ago, and have been in rotation ever since. When I drink K-Cups, I have a lot of varieties available, but do tend to keep coming back to the Tully’s French Roast as a favorite morning coffee with it’s smoky boldness. So, it was a natural to compare the Caribou to the Tully’s.

Caribou is a pretty popular chain in the upper Mid-west, where I think it gives Starbucks a good run for its money. I like the outside nature and feel of the Caribou design concepts and their coffee is pretty good.

Caribou's website describes the French Roast this way:

Continue reading: "Caribou French Roast K-Cup Review"

Caribou French Roast K-Cups

If you haven’t heard, Caribou Coffee has a line of K-cups out which includes a good looking Caribou French Roast K-Cup. The Caribou website says that the French Roast is “A combination of coffees from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, and New Guinea is blended and roasted to a beautiful dark brown with an even development of surface oils. This produces a decadent, bittersweet flavor with a smooth, heavy body - an utter indulgence. Perfect for chilly mornings and flavorful enough to stand up to a touch of milk after dinner.”

Not bad. I have some on the way and will let you know how it fares in this espresso crazy household.

Caribou French Roast K-Cups at Coffee Whiz

Quick Pick: Coffee People Wake Up Call BOLD

According to their website, Coffee People’s roots can be traced to the Saturday Market in Eugene Oregon. Small amounts of specialty grade coffee were roasted and offered it for sale at the Saturday Market. The first Coffee People Coffeehouse was opened in 1983 on NW 23 Street in Portland. In 1999 they became part of Diedrich coffee who is also concerned with flavorful, high quality coffee.

At Amazon, Coffee People's Wake up Call Bold is available for not very much money... only $17 per 2 pack. The dark roasted bold flavored lively coffee may just be a great pick for the espresso lover. An in the end, that is not a lot of money for $50 k-cups.

at Amazon

Don't forget the
Keurig 27-Cup-Capacity K-Cup Spinning Carousel to store all of those great K-cups.

Keurig 27 Cup - K-Cup Storage Carousel

When you have a lot of choices in K-Cups, it's hard to keep the selection stored so that it's easy to see and get to. Well look no further than the K-Cup spinning carousel that holds a fun filled selection of up to 27 K-cups. The dispenser is chrome plated and spins around to show off the selection of coffees for you everyday or for your guests.

Keurig 5060 27-Cup-Capacity K-Cup Spinning Carousel at Amazon

New Extra Bold K-Cups: Espresso, Kenyan AA, and 10% Kona Blend

Green Mountain recently launched a trio of new Extra Bold K-cups, and I grabbed up all of them to try out. The 10% Kona blend, the Kenyan AA, and the Espresso Blend all have 20% more coffee in the K-cups to make them just a bit stronger and richly flavored. I have been a fan of the K-Cup system for a while now, and despite all the coffee makers that come through the SingleServeEspresso kitchen, The Keurig B70 brewer has found a permanent home on the counter top for everyday use. It’s flexible, versatile and pretty darn convenient.

Over the past week or so, I have been experimenting and I have to say that none are perfect, but I have found another combination that makes me pretty happy with the results. Long time readers will remember that I found a very similar mash-up that I enjoyed before, the Timothy’s Rainforest Espresso together with an Organic Sumatran Extra Bold for a bit of body. One on the 5.25 ounce setting and one on the 7.25 ounce setting into an extra large mug.

Continue reading: "New Extra Bold K-Cups: Espresso, Kenyan AA, and 10% Kona Blend"

New Organic Espresso K-Cups

If you didn’t happen to notice, our sister site, SingleServeCoffee.com broke the news that there are some new K-cups coming out from Green Mountain, including a new Organic Espresso blend. I like the variety and convenience offered by our Keurig B70 K-cup brewer, and look to it for some diversity in my heavy coffee consumption. We’ll be getting in some of the Organic Espresso Blend to try out as soon as we can and report back on it.

Organic Espresso Blend [Dark Roast] Our darkest Extra Bold K-Cup, Fair Trade Certified organic Espresso Blend is sourced from a number of origins to display both balance and intensity. We look to Indonesia for syrupy body and depth, and the Americas for chocolate notes and velvety richness.

More blends at SingleServeCoffee

Don't forget the
Keurig 27-Cup-Capacity K-Cup Spinning Carousel to store all of those great K-cups.

Timothy's Italian Blend K-Cups

This past week, I ordered up some Timothy's Italian Blend K-Cups for a little change from the ESE pods I have been ripping through. The Italian blend is a medium roast of Central American beans, and has a nice up front flavor with some lingering sweet roasted notes. Not a HUGE espresso cup of coffee, but that's what I expected out of this non-extra bold K-cup.

So far so good.

At Amazon

Don't forget the
Keurig 27-Cup-Capacity K-Cup Spinning Carousel to store all of those great K-cups.

Free Tully's Travel Mug

Nothing's free, yea I know. But If you drink Tully's K-Cups, you can get a free Tully's travel mug. CoffeeGiant is running a special right now that gets you a free travel mug when you buy 3 boxes of Tully's K-cups. I like the Tully's French Roast, but they have several varieties. We've got the Keurig B-70, and have a box on tap right now.

More At CoffeeGiant