Talking Espresso and Great Coffee

A friend in Italy was talking about the new Ferrero Pocket drinks have changed their taste this year. The wha?

Looking around the US, they appear to be available from Parthenon Foods, selling through Amazon. There are two versions, a Coffee and a Espresso version. Both are listed as having chocolate included. Of course, we had to order a couple of both to see if they are good by themselves and how they are over our ice cream. Heh-heh…

Pocket Espresso:

225g, 18 pieces of Pocket Coffee with real Italian espresso coffee inside and covered in a chocolate praline. This candy starts out with a caramelized sugar pocket for a sweet espresso liquid. The caramelized sugar is coated with European milk chocolate. The manufacturer (Fererro) claims that eating three pieces is equivalent to a shot of espresso

Pocket Coffee:

Ferrero Pocket Coffee is a bittersweet chocolate tasting exactly like an Italian espresso. 3 pieces of Pocket Coffee is equal to 1 Cup of Espresso. The chocolate taste Like a liquor chocolate, but with strong espresso in the middle instead of liquor. Pocket Coffee is a delectable combination of espresso filled dark chocolate that combines a gourmet chocolate experience with an authentic espresso taste and energy boost.

I never mind when a company sends me a free coffee recipe… especially when it isn’t linked to a hard sale.

Illy sent an email today giving their recipe for a Marocchino Caldo. It is a pretty simple drink to make and was oh so good this morning! No special equipment needed.

Of course, illy does mentioned they have many more coffee drink recipes in a book they have for sale. Since it was a light mention of the book and they didn’t make the email a pressure sale, I feel good about passing on the recipe and passing on an unsolicited mention they offer many more in a 44 page hardcover book. Keep it fun!!

Two fun espresso cup items came my way this weekend, without even looking. Strange how things work out like that.

The first was a group of designers doing a ‘espresso cup of the day‘. Which you can purchase individually. The cups are all over the place in what makes each one unique, here is one that looks like a cupcake!

If your a technology fan as well as an espresso fan, you will be interested to know that the ones you can order are made when you order – “The cups are printed in Glazed Ceramics by Shapeways.” You can read more about the concept and info on each of the cups on the cunicode site.

So many to choose from… where to start?

The second was a postal print mailer I received from Illy USA. It was full of their coffees and coffee makers. A couple pages had their new espresso cup ‘art’. They looked like a lot of fun so I buzzed to the illy USA site to see more information. Sadly, the site has must smaller images and less info than was even in the mailer. I scanned the printed page to share with you so you can see the art much better if your a fan of fun like I am.

A week after we saw Starbucks roll out their holiday season drinks, McDonald’s has announced that they too will have a seasonal drink. Both of these companies will only offer these drinks over the year ending holidays.

For McDonald’s, we get the Peppermint Mocha, bot as a coffee drink and a hot chocolate drink.

The addition should be a nice add to their product line. A product line that I have read makes up 20% of the total sales McDonald’s does. To make sure plenty of folks try, love, and buy the new Peppermint Mochas, there will be sampling dates around the US. Keep an eye on the McDonald’s twitter posts (@McCafeYourDay and @McDonalds) for a mention of a town near you.

For Nutrition concerns, they are available via the McDonald’s McCafe site:

Illy isn’t calling it “Italian Coffee in a Can”, that is just what I thought of when I saw it.

In my email inbox this morning was the below offer. It appears that Illy is adding to their line of Issimo line with 2 new drinks… Mochaccion and Caffe No Sugar. As you can see in the screenshot of the email below, use the code to get a free sample when you make your next purchase through Illy.

I will be doing research and report back here any caffeine and flavor information I can find. Let me know if you take them up on the offer how you enjoyed your Issimo.

You love the speed of a puck coffee maker but don’t like the ‘pucks’ of so called milk. You enjoy espresso but have a time keeping fresh beans in the house. If this describes you, I have a find you will be interested in. Personally, I was excited.

Illy has several pre-packaged coffee ‘pucks’ options. Their new style, I have mentioned here before are little plastic single use Capsules. And, the long term solution are their E.S.E pods, which are individually wrapped coffee in what looks like filter material. The E.S.E Pods can be purchased from a variety of stores and online suppliers. E.S.E Pods come in Medium, Dark and Decaf.

Their new machine, Mitaca POD1 Espresso Machine, uses these E.S.E Pods. And also has a milk frothing steam nozzle! This is big if you like the speed of the k-cup style machines but don’t want to use the ‘milk’ pucks like in the Tassimo or Dolce machines. The manufactures make an attempt at filling the need of frothed milk but it tastes very different from the milk in your fridge. Interesting enough, from the circle of friends I chatted with about the new Mitaca POD1, they all found it easy to keep fresh milk on hand but difficult to store and grind beans for a quick espresso or cappuccino.

The Mitaca POD1 has the option of the monthly service too. Currently, the machine is just under $400 dollars, but if you go for the monthly coffee delivery option they sell you the machine for $175 US. They also throw in four of their Illy espresso cups on the monthly package.

Particulars from the IllyUSA site:

• Electronic low water level alarm
• Steam nozzle makes frothing milk easy
• Hot water dispenser
• Adjustable tray for small and large cups
• Automatic pod ejection
• Aluminium thermoblock
• Pump pressure: 18 bars
• Water tank: 50.7 ounces
• Weight: 8.6 lbs.
• Available colors: Red, and Silver

Measures: 8.6” w x 11.4” d x 10.2” h

Looking around Kickstarter this morning, I noticed a new project called Coffee Joulies. The end product from the project is Stainless Steal ‘Beans’ with a chemical inside that melts at 140 degrees, absorbing excessive heat out of the coffee. Then, they hold that heat to keep the coffee warm beyond what would be a normal length of time. I am in no way involved with this project, but it seemed interesting for my readers that might suffer from their coffee being too hot or for folks that take their time drinking their coffee which gets cold before finished.

There is a time limit to the project (29 days left as of the posting of this). After that date, the project folks go off and manufacture the Coffee Joulies and start to ship. So, if you read this after the project ends and are interested, you may still want to jump to their project to see where you can buy.

The Coffee Joulies developers had a few FAQ items:

How do I use Coffee Joulies?

Pop a few Joulies into your coffee as soon as it’s poured. The hotter the coffee, the more energy Joulies can absorb, and the longer they can keep your coffee the right temperature.

Are Coffee Joulies really safe to put in my coffee?

Yes! Joulies are perfectly safe when used properly, and in fact make drinking coffee safer than usual by reducing the risk of burning your mouth. They sink in your coffee to keep them away from your lips, they won’t ever be hotter than 140°F when used properly (meaning they’ll never burn you), and all the materials used in their construction are food-grade.

What are Coffee Joulies made of?

Joulies are made of the hightest grade stainless steel used in silverware production, ensuring that they are completely safe, will last forever, and will keep their polished finish for a long time.

What’s inside of Coffee Joulies?

Joulies are filled with a proprietary substance called a “Phase Change Material” (PCM) that melts at 140°F and is 100% edible food-grade magic.

How long will my Coffee Joulies last?

Coffee Joulies are made using the same materials and a very similar process as table knives, and will last a lifetime.

If you are new to Kickstarter.com. It is a site that people can present their projects to accept funding from anyone. There is a set amount that must be reached for the project to be considered ‘funded’, if that isn’t reached the people committing money will not be charged. Generally, the project pay off is the product as if you had purchased it at a highly reduced price, mentions and other ways of saying thanks. Money put into a project does not result in any ownership of the project product and is generally not tax deductible.

Starbucks has two news items worthy of a mention and there is also the new ‘personalized coffee bags’. We had mentioned late last year that Starbucks was raising their prices. We got a lot of emails stating that folks didn’t see the increase in their area. We do not know if the increase was delayed or if it was just being rolled out across the states a few stores at a time. We did see specialty drinks go up 30 cents in Ft. Worth and then a week later go up in Dallas. While we still hit a Starbucks when we have a espresso need and no small shop is available, this price does put the drinks just over our comfort level. We’ll report back on what we end up doing.

Another Starbucks news item was the announcement that the beta for smartphone payments of in store purchases was successful so they are rolling it out to more stores. Currently, there is just over 7,000 stores around the US that you can pay for your coffee and snacks using your smartphone. There is an app for the iPhone (free on the iTunes store here) and there is a BlackBerry app too.  There are most likely Android and Microsoft solutions but we don’t have links to those yet. The iPhone version of the app has a way to ‘reload’ your card and a location finder too.

And to wrap up the coffee news is an offering we found from Boca Java: Personalizing Your Coffee is as Easy as 1-2-3! Choose from either 8oz. bags or 2oz. bags. Fun for Weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Grand Openings, Holiday Gifts, In-Room Coffee Service, Invitations & Announcements, Reunions, Conventions & Trade Shows and Corporate Gifts. You can see their offerings on their site. Personalize Boca Java Coffee with Your Own Image!

While the Keurig is not as sophisticated of a coffee system as the Tassimo, they do have an impressive line of K-Cup coffee offerings. The system treats each pod the same so the many providers of the coffee options pick and choose which of their line will work best with the system. Several brands offer many of their regular drip coffee versions, while others may offer just a regular and decaf.

Costco carries the standard machine, packaged with a few of the coffees on the market to sample which you may like best. They also offer large 80 K-Cup boxes of a few coffees. Most notable has been the Folgers Gourmet Lively Colombia (medium roast).

Also in the ‘big’ box is The Donut Shop Coffee from Coffee People. Well, they ‘did’ offer it, for a couple months.

Many times at Costco, things appear and then go away a short time later. Sometimes this is because the offering isn’t as popular as hoped but many times it is because the product manufacture was just getting folks to try. Then, they pull the bulk product and the only place to buy is in smaller quantities for more money in regular retailers.

There is actually still ‘Donut’ K-Cup coffee at Costco, but it is “Donut House” Coffee.

There is nothing wrong with the Donut House compared to the Donut Shop coffee… we just found it interesting that Costco stopped a coffee and replaced it with a very similarly named product.

For those that care, the Donut Shop is a bit ‘stronger’ tasting, while the Donut House is more ‘bold’. Both are fine… and it’s always great to have new options to try.

As a side note, if Donut Shop did do a bit of test marketing at Costco, it worked. In a visit to Crate and Barrel this weekend, the K-Cup area had only the Decaf version of the Donut Shop coffee left. The counter person said the regular option is always out of stock due to popular demand, now.

If you missed it, this morning the Today show let us know in their Drink This Not That segment, many flavoried coffee drinks where covered. The guest speaker was the author of Eat This, Not That! 2011: Thousands of easy food swaps .

As you would expect… big drinks with lots of syrups and whole milk is like eating a lot of candy. Well, calories wise, it isn’t the best thing for you. Before folks get really excited, what we comparing the calories against? If a person has a drip coffee and four donuts, they could have skipped the crumbs and just had a tasty drink. All fun aside, it is an eye opener on how the calories count up. Here is the info from the show… I had to type fast!

Starbucks
Peppermint Mocha Latte whole milk
700 calories

Starbucks
Cafe Mocha Skim Milk
220 calories

Dunkin Donuts
Large Gingerbread Latte
440 calories (= 4.5 of their “Sprinkle The Cheer donuts”)

Dunkin Donuts
Medium Gingerbread Latte
170 calories

Panera Bread Peppermint Hot Chocolate
610 calories

Panera Bread 10 oz Hot Chocolate
270 calories

McDonald’s
Large Frappe Carmel
680 calories

McDonald’s
Non-Fat Carmel Cappuccino
190 calories

Starbucks
Vente Eggnog latte with whole Milk
630 calories

If you want to see the video of the actual show bit, take a look on their TODAY Holiday Guide Web page.