November 2010 Monthly Round-Up for Single Serve Coffee

SingleservecowboyNovember 2010 was another month of interesting single serve coffee news and reviews including our review of the Starbucks VIA Caramel and Mocha Instant Coffee. We also reviewed the Wolfgang Puck Sorrento Fair Trade K-Cups. Also, expect product reviews of the Bunn My Cafe Single Serve Coffee Pod Brewer MC Model and the Solofill Cup Refillable Single Serve Coffee Filter for Keurig Brewers. Make sure and check out our 2010 Single Serve Coffee Holiday Gift Guide – K-Cups, Coffee Pods, and Single Serve Coffee Machines if you have a coffee lover in your life that needs some single serve coffee gifts. Stay tuned for more exciting product news and reviews on one cup coffee and single serve coffee over the next month, and Happy Holidays!

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Posted by Jay Brewer at December 1, 2010 8:23 AM

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Review: Bunn My Cafe MC Model Pour Over Single Serve Coffee Pod Brewer

The BUNN MC My Cafe Home Pod Brewer is a modified single cup pour over brewer with a reservoir refreshed with each cup you brew by adding from 4 to 14 ozs of water each time you brew. The Bunn My Cafe MC Model coffee pod brewer uses coffee pods and tea pods and features both a standard brew mode and a pulse brew mode for tea and darker coffees. The BUNN MC My Cafe Home Pod Brewer is also very compact and has a stainless steel exterior. Unlike the older Bunn My Cafe this brewer comes with one pod drawer for brewing that can be used for tea and coffee.

Key features of the Bunn My Cafe MC Model coffee pod brewer include:

Customize Your Cup – choose coffee or tea pod and choose your brew strengthAroma – Enjoy fresh coffee aroma with pods as they brewFast – Great hot coffee or tea in under a minuteBuilt to Last – 2 year limited warrantyPulse brew option – extracts bolder coffee flavor; preferred setting for teaPatented Jet Action Sprayhead – propels water through the pods to release flavor and aromaPod Drawer – compatible with hundreds of coffee and tea pods plus tea bagsStainless Steel Hot Water Tank – keeps water at 200F the right temperature to brew without bitternessThe Bunn My Cafe MC Model coffee pod brewer comes with an assortment of coffee pods and tea pods so you can start brewing right away.

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You remove the drawer and the brewer will start to heat
up. Inserting the coffee pod is easy to do and you can
use the holder to compost it after use.

Trying a Variety of Coffee Pods and Coffee Roasts with the MC Model Bunn My Cafe

We tried all of the coffee pods and tea pods that came with the Bunn My Cafe MC Model coffee pod brewer. We have to say the variety and selection was excellent. Anytime you can sample right from the box some of the best coffees you can get in coffee pod format makes us a true believer.

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Some of the coffees included:

Reunion Island Coffee pods – Donut Shop, Vanilla Hazelnut, Sweet Unity Farms Mahale HIghlands and moreWolfgang Puck Coffee Pods – Sorrento BlendCity Steam Single Serve Gourmet Coffee Pods – Various blends including City RoastOrgana Tea Pods – English Breakfast and Others

We are dark coffee drinkers, and even a milder roast has to be really well brewed. There are two modes on the BUNN MC My Cafe Home Pod Brewer and in just about every case we chose the pulse brew method. Why? Pre-wetting a coffee pod makes for a much better cup of coffee. You can pre-wet and use the non-pulse brew mode, but the pulse brew does it for you by first wetting a little, then pausing, and doing this several times until you get a rich cup of coffee. We think the pulse mode is the way to go for most coffee drinkers.

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The non-pulse mode is also great for just making a cup of hot water, and using it for something like hot cocoa. We also did find light coffee drinkers preferred this mode with a french roast coffee. They got the extraction and flavor but the coffee was not as dark.

How good is the coffee?

Hot and good. The head brew temp claims to be 200 F in the tank, and we found at the brew head exit this to be in the 197+ range. So that means inside at the coffee extraction point we have a really high temperature at around 200 F. The coffee extraction on all levels is well – stunning. The flavors from the coffee pods are rich and delicious and have regular brewed coffee notes.

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We did some cross comparison with the Wolfgang Puck Sorrento Blend K-Cups and the Wolfgand Puck Sorrrent Blend coffee pods and found the coffee pod flavor to come out just a little ahead.

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Composting Coffee Pods and Tea Pods

We think you’ll like how eco-friendly coffee pods are. You an compost just about any coffee pod as it’s just paper and coffee grounds. You’ll want to get a coffee pod trash can like this one. It will help you make sure you recycle those coffee pods.

The Power On Feature of the Bunn My Cafe MC Model

This is the one feature you have to get used to and takes about 1/2 a day. There is no “power switch” the brewer goes into standby mode after 6 hours and keep the water in the tank on demand hot for that time. After it goes into standby mode when you pull out the coffee pod drawer the brewer heats up and is ready for use in a few minutes. At first we were used to having our brewer have a shut off but then after the day and many days after that – we were really into this.

SDC11989.jpg We also tried the Dunkin Donut coffee pods. Result?
Excellent cup of Dunkin. Excellent.

First of all the water tank is small and keeping it hot is like having an instant hot dispenser so not that eco-unfriendly. And secondly we love how quick we can get another cup.

Conclusions

We really have to say there’s little not to like about the coffee pod brewer from Bunn. The MC Model My Cafe from BUNN MC My Cafe Home Pod Brewer is really hard to beat for a little coffee pod brewer that creates amazingly rich coffee. We love the foot print and think you’ll like the results from the brewer.

Pros

Small footprintTwo brew modes for light and darker coffeeOn demand coffee brewing with 8 oz pour over methodGreat extraction on coffees and teas100s of coffee and tea pods can now be yours to brewEasy to use coffee pods and coffee pod drawerSimple ControlsCoffee in about a minute when the brewer is onFresh coffee or tea each time because you always fill with new water and keep the brewer reservoir in a cycle

Cons

No water reservoir – you have to pour over a cup each time (for some a pro for others a con).

We want to thank Bunn for providing the Bunn My Cafe MC Model coffee pod brewer to review.

The suggested retail on the BUNN MC My Cafe Home Pod Brewer is $99.99 to $139.99.

At Bunn and BUNN MC My Cafe Home Pod Brewer

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Posted by Jay Brewer at December 3, 2010 9:13 AM
How does the coffee compare head-to-head with the older BUNN MCP or MCA pod brewer?
Posted by: Eric B. at December 3, 2010 9:29 AM We think right on par.
Posted by: Jay Brewer at December 3, 2010 9:34 AM Does this unit allow the use of LARGE pods? Oh, and can you make a single brew cycle generate a cup of coffee larger than 8oz?
Posted by: B.S. at December 3, 2010 10:07 PM Yes, it will, up to 14 oz. of water. The unit will also take a 12 g. pod easily plus your own homemade pods.
Posted by: Pat at December 4, 2010 3:34 PM I was ready to throw my cash at the MC to replace my Senseo, until I read the part about no water reservoir. With that, would this have been a good replacement for the Senseo (original)?
Posted by: RB at December 6, 2010 10:06 PM In my household we are big coffee drinkers.I would love to win the coffee pods following on facebook zeta mcmillan
Posted by: Zeta McMillan at December 9, 2010 10:51 PM re:bunn my cafe MC model…. After reading review dated 12/3/10, i would love to purchase this unit, has everything i am looking for. However, i cannot find it in any store in my area (buffalo, ny) or on the web…not even featured on the Bunn site. Any suggestions??? thank you, char
Posted by: char at December 10, 2010 8:20 AM It’s currently on Amazon.com and at select Bon Ton and Dillard’s stores
Posted by: Jay Brewer at December 10, 2010 9:21 AM This is an amazing inovation! I would live to own one.
Posted by: Terri Baker at December 10, 2010 1:47 PM love this! want to buy it
Posted by: olena datsyuk at December 11, 2010 2:11 AM

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Review: Wolfgang Puck Jamaica Me Crazy K-Cups for Keurig K-Cup Brewers

Review Single Serve Coffee

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We forge onwards in our Wolfgang Puck K-Cup reviews with a flavor that had been piquing our curiosity ever since it was first announced…Wolfgang Puck Jamaica Me Crazy K-Cups. With a name like that, how couldn’t one be curious?

Surprising aromas of vanilla & coconut quickly filled the room upon brewing and had the staff quite excited since it brought back fond memories from one of our all-time favorite K-Cups (GMCR’s Island Coconut). This was spot-on with the packaging’s description, however, we also detected notes of what you’d usually associate with Jamaican beverages… rum!

Flavor was matched perfectly with the aroma as we noticed vanilla, coconut and yes, even rum . Yeah, mon! The Wolfgang Puck Jamaica Me Crazy K-Cup was living-up to its namesake as we were definitely going crazy over this new flavor. We tried thinking back but simply couldn’t remember any other rum-flavored K-Cups in recent history, so this one might very well be the first. If so, then hats off to the flavor profilers at Van Houtte. We think they have a winner with this one. Acidity was very smooth and subdued with barely any sour aftertaste on the finish.

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Body had shades of medium brown with tinges of red when held to a light source. Labeled as a medium roast, we felt this was more in the lines of a strong light roast bordering on medium instead. Mouth feel was smooth throughout with silky smooth characteristics. Quite good overall, but for full-on coconut flavor, we still prefer GMCR’s seasonal Island Coconut (although we’ll gladly take this as a substitute while we await a new batch in between seasons). We didn’t add any sugar or cream but can only imagine it might boost the coconut flavors up a notch.

Aroma – 10 – Vanilla? Coconut? Even RUM?!? We were floored (no, not in that sense)Acidity – 7 – Smooth throughout, barely any sour bite on the finish.Body – 8 – Shades of medium brown with notes of red when held to a light source.Flavor – 10 – Ever have rum-flavored coffee at 6:00am without getting smashed? Do we even need to explain why this gets a perfect 10?Mouth Feel – 10 – Smoooooooooth!Coffee Drinker - Suited best for light roast drinkers who enjoy coconut/rum flavored drinks.

Overall Rating: 95 – Excellent

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Wow… this one certainly caught us off-guard! We went into this review not knowing what to expect and ended up with a new favorite. Van Houtte might as well have slapped a Bacardi or Appleton logo on the packaging and we wouldn’t have known the difference (Heck, if Timothy’s can do it with Kahlua). We noted the coconut & vanilla but our mind kept wandering back to the fact that this coffee just smelled & tasted like it were spiked with a shot of the good stuff from a Jamaican distillery. Overall, we have to say this is now one of our favorite flavored K-Cups and if you like the coconutty splash of Pi?a Coladas, you’re going to “go crazy” for these K-Cups. Definitely worth a try if you’re looking for something different.

Wolfgang Puck Jamaica Me Crazy K-Cups will will work in your Keurig Elite B40 Brewer, Keurig B50, Keurig Special Edition Ultra Elite B60, Keurig Platinum B70 Brewer, Breville BKC600XL/BKC700XL Gourmet Single Cup Brewer, and other Keurig K Cup brewers including the Keurig Mini Plus and Keurig Mini B30. Canadians can also buy these for $16.49 CAD at www.tweedandhickory.com

A special thanks to SH for providing this Single Serve Coffee staff review. We would like to take this time to thank CoffeeWiz.com for sending us a box of these K-Cups for the purpose of this review.

Read how we review and rate single-serve coffee and other single-serve coffee beverages here.

Read More in: K Cup Reviews | Keurig & K-Cups | Reviews

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Posted by Jay Brewer at December 31, 2010 8:12 AM

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Review: Wolfgang Puck Sorrento Fair Trade K-Cups

Review Single Serve Coffee

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Today we continue reviewing the Wolfgang Puck K-Cup series with the Wolfgang Puck Sorrento Fair Trade K-Cups. Sorrento is a small town in the Campania region of Southern Italy, so does this coffee offer a bold Italian roast flavor associative of its namesake? Let’s find out.

Brewing these K-Cups result in earthy notes of (yep, you guessed it) smoky molasses and is quite similar to the Wolfgang Puck Vienna Coffee House & Sumatra Kopi Raya K-Cups we recently reviewed.

Billed as an extra bold, flavor had faint hints of dark chocolate and smoky notes, but to be honest, this tasted quite similar to the Vienna Coffee House K-Cups and we were having quite the difficulty in determining any differences between the two. We suppose there was more of an earthy flavor overall yet they still seemed pretty similar.

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Body was dark brown in color with shades of red when held to a light source. Acidity was one of the only differences between this K-Cup and the Vienna flavor as it seemed considerably more muted here but not to the point of being watery. The other difference was mouth feel since it was more smooth yet bordering on the oily side. We didn’t detect any smoky aftertaste either.

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Aroma – 8 – Similar to other Wolfgang Puck K-Cups we’ve reviewed recently. Smoky molasses, tinges of earthiness.Acidity – 6 – Seemed muted but not to the point of being watery.Body – 8 – Dark brown with notes of red when held to a light source.Flavor – 9 – Similar to the Vienna flavor but not as strong.Mouth Feel – 7 – Smoother than the Vienna flavor yet still bordering on the oily side.Coffee Drinker - This one’s a tough call. If you like the Vienna, you’ll probably like this. It’s a dark roast that would probably go well for strong medium roast drinkers or casual dark roast fans.

Overall Rating: 88 – Good

Compared to the Vienna Coffee House K-Cups, if we had to pick one over the other, we’d likely go with the Vienna as it seemed a bit more satisfying overall and gave us the impression it would handle cream & sugar without washing-out too much of its strength & flavor. Man, what a brainteaser this K-Cup has been. The only way we can describe this would be the “Fair Trade Version” of Vienna Coffee House. So there you have it, if you like the Vienna flavor but want to endorse the Fair Trade coffee movement, go with this K-Cup. Aside from the acidity and slightly more earthy flavor, there isn’t much difference here.

Wolfgang Puck Sorrento Fair Trade K-Cups will will work in your Keurig Elite B40 Brewer, Keurig B50, Keurig Special Edition Ultra Elite B60, Keurig Platinum B70 Brewer, Breville BKC600XL/BKC700XL Gourmet Single Cup Brewer, and other Keurig K Cup brewers including the Keurig Mini Plus and Keurig Mini B30. Canadians can also buy these for $16.49 CAD at www.tweedandhickory.com

A special thanks to SH for providing this Single Serve Coffee staff review. We would like to take this time to thank CoffeeWiz.com for sending us a box of these K-Cups for the purpose of this review.

Read how we review and rate single-serve coffee and other single-serve coffee beverages here.

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Posted by Jay Brewer at November 24, 2010 5:53 AM

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Review: Wolfgang Puck Vienna Coffee House K-Cups for Keurig

Review Single Serve Coffee

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Our ongoing series of Wolfgang Puck K-Cup reviews continues today with their Wolfgang Puck Vienna Coffee House K-Cups. While billed as a blend that had Chef Wolfgang going back to his Austrian roots, a quick gander at the Wiki article for Vienna coffee reveals that it’s a “traditional cream based coffee beverage made by preparing two shots of strong black espresso in a standard sized coffee cup and infusing the coffee with whipped cream (as a replacement for milk and sugar) until the cup is full. Then the cream is twirled and optionally topped off with chocolate sprinklings”. Hmm… ok, so this K-Cup should possibly taste like an extra bold with hints of cream & chocolate? Let’s find out.

Upon brewing, we got strong earthy notes and hints of molasses. While the foil label claims this is an extra bold medium roast, we’d have to disagree. This one seemed dark roast all the way both in aroma & moreso flavor. Acidity was strong with quite a sour bite at the beginning which quickly mellowed throughout the aftertaste.

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Flavor was strong and lived up to its extra bold billing. We noted lots of smoky taste reminiscent of a double-shot of ristretto while we got faint notes of dark bittersweet baker’s chocolate on the finish. Body was full of dark browns and yielded reddish notes when held to a light source. Mouth feel was more on the oily side but satisfying nonetheless. The only thing missing to complete the Vienna coffee experience was any hints at creamy notes, but to be fair, we’re hard-pressed to recall of any recent dark roasts that had creamy notes unless we, well… added cream to it. As for aftertaste, lingering smoky notes remained.

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Aroma – 8 – Strong & earthy with smoky notes, just like we’d expect from a double-shot of espresso.Acidity – 8 – Rather strong with sharp bite at the forefront but quickly mellows through the smoky aftertaste.Body – 9 – A palette of dark browns with reddish notes when held to a light source.Flavor – 10 – We still think this is more of a dark roast. Strong smoky taste, faint notes of bittersweet dark chocolate in the finish. Quite pleasing overall.Mouth Feel – 7 – Rather oily which reinforces our dark roast beliefs. Smoky notes linger in the aftertaste.Coffee Drinker – Suited best for those who prefer dark roasts. Don’t be scared off by the medium-roast label on the packaging, this K-Cup has quite a good kick of strong flavor.

Overall Rating: 92 – Exceptional

We think Van Houtte’s got some hidden gems in their Wolfgang Puck K-Cup line-up which have yet to be discovered including these Wolfgang Puck Vienna Coffee House K-Cups. If this is indeed a medium roast, then they’ve done wonders with the extra bold process. We went into this review thinking we’d end up with a mild medium with only “hints” of extra-bold flavors but were pleasantly surprised to discover quite the opposite. These K-Cups have got quite the satisfying kick and should be enough to please even the most discerning dark roast drinkers. By far one of our favorites in the Wolfgang Puck line-up so far.

Wolfgang Puck Vienna Coffee House K-Cups will will work in your Keurig Elite B40 Brewer, Keurig B50, Keurig Special Edition Ultra Elite B60, Keurig Platinum B70 Brewer, Breville BKC600XL/BKC700XL Gourmet Single Cup Brewer, and other Keurig K Cup brewers including the Keurig Mini Plus and Keurig Mini B30. Canadians can also buy these for $16.49 CAD at www.tweedandhickory.com

A special thanks to SH for providing this Single Serve Coffee staff review. We would like to take this time to thank CoffeeWiz.com for sending us a box of these K-Cups for the purpose of this review.

Read how we review and rate single-serve coffee and other single-serve coffee beverages here.

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Posted by Jay Brewer at December 8, 2010 7:43 AM

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