Starbucks VIA Ready Brew Coffee

Earlier this year Starbucks launched its own brand of instant coffee, VIA.

Not surprisingly, coffee lovers were scandalized by the fact that Starbucks, of all companies, would launch an instant coffee. It didn’t seem to make much sense.

Starbucks countered by saying that their instant coffee was different, and would deliver the same great Starbucks taste as you get from their fresh-brewed coffee.

If the taste is really that good, then VIA would offer the ultimate in one cup coffee making.

Each box contains 12 small sachets of coffee. You simply pour the contents into a cup or mug, then add hot water, and cream and sugar to taste.

The great thing about VIA is that you can put these sachets in your pocket, purse or laptop bag and have them at hand while traveling, or even when at work.

Everything hinges on whether the Starbucks promise holds up.

Is VIA as good as fresh-brewed coffee?

In our humble opinion, it is not. We did some blind comparisons — VIA versus fresh-brewed — and everyone identified which cup contained the instant coffee. There is something about the taste of any instant coffee that always seems to be there.

Granted, if the coffee you get at work or in a hotel is either weak or over-brewed, a cup of VIA would probably be better.

But it does taste like instant coffee, and it isn’t as good as a well-brewed pot of fresh-ground coffee.

Sorry Starbucks, but it just isn’t.

You can buy Starbucks VIA Ready Brew at Amazon.com…

Disclaimer: One Cup Coffee Reviews has an affiliate relationship with Amazon.com

The Dolce Gusto One Cup Coffee Maker

Yes, there is yet another choice out there for lovers of single serve coffee makers.

We have K-cup coffee makers, coffee pod coffee makers, T-Disc coffee makers, to name just three – and now we have the Nescafe Dolce Gusto single serve coffee maker.

The Dolce Gusto uses proprietary coffee capsules. Like K-Cups and T-Discs, these are sealed and contain just the right amount of coffee for a single serving. And you have to use the capsules. You can’t use loose coffee or any other kind of coffee container.

So why might you want the Dolce Gusto?

My first answer would have to be because it looks so amazing. It’s a beautiful piece of design and really does look very different from other coffee makers.

In addition, it’s a good machine… it has solid construction and a 15-bar water pump, which means you get the same quality of espresso you would expect from a coffee shop.

You can use it to make a regular cup of coffee, or espresso-based beverages, like cappuccino.

And it’s fast, making a coffee in under a minute. You can also use its custom-control lever to adjust the strength of each brew. Finally, it has a removable 51-ounce water tank, which allows you to make several coffees without having to refill the tank.

The Dolce Gusto makes single serve coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, shots of espresso, chococinos (hot chocolate) and even iced cappuccinos.

If we have a complaint, it’s that when you use this brewer, it feels a little light in its construction. That said, when I read through customer reviews, there are no complaints about anything breaking or failing in any way.

Most users give the Dolce Gusto a big thumbs up.

Get your Dolce Gusto Single Serve Coffee Machine at Amazon for $149.99

Keurig Office Pro K-Cup Coffee Maker

The Keurig Office Pro B145 Coffee Brewer works in the same way as any other Keurig brewer. You use K-Cups and brew one cup of coffee at a time.

One cup coffee makes a lot of sense for an office environment, where people may have very different tastes in the types of coffee they enjoy most.

Using the Keurig Office Pro means everyone can get their own stash of the coffees and blends they like best.

If you like flavored coffee, make one cup for yourself.

If someone lined up just behind you wants a herbal tea, they just use a herbal tea K-Cup.

Single serve coffee making was developed for the home market, simply because it`s a more convenient to brew one cup at a time, without the mess and bother of traditional filters and drip brewers.

But, in fact, one cup coffee machinesare an even better investment for a small office, or for a group or team within a larger office.

No more conflicts between caffeinated and decaf. So more arguments over whose turn it is to make the coffee. No more worries about that guy who always grabs a cup before the brew cycle is complete.

The Keurig Office Pro has the same features you find in the Keurig home brewers, but is built to deal with about ten times the usage. It is UL Approved for Commercial Use, and includes the special construction and materials required to meet the UL standards.

Learn more and buy the New Keurig Office Pro K-Cup coffee brewer here…

K-Cup Coffee Spinning Carousel

One of the great things about having a Keurig K-Cup Brewer is that everyone in the family, or office, can choose the exact type of coffee they want to brew.

One person wants a dark roast, bold breakfast blend – and someone else wants a decaf. No problem, because everyone can just take the K-Cup of their choice and plonk it into the brewer, one cup at a time.

The trouble is, if you buy two or three boxes of different K-Cups to suit everyone’s taste – where do you store the boxes? Three boxes of K-Cups take up a lot of space, and if they are not on the counter, it’s inconvenient when it comes time to brew.

The great thing about this carousel is that while the footprint is small, and it can fit neatly on any counter top, it has 27 hoops into which you can place your K-Cups.

If you want three different types of K-Cup coffee within hand’s-reach, just fill one row of hoops on the carousel with each type of coffee.

No more ugly boxes on the counter top. No more having to open cupboard doors or drawers to find the coffee you are looking for.

Whether for friends or for your own family, the K-Cup spinning carousel is a great gift idea.

Buy the Keurig K-Cup Spinning Carousel at Amazon.com

Keurig K-Cup Breakfast Gift Basket

It’s that time of year again, and we’ll all be scratching our heads trying to find the perfect gift for friends and family.

Well, if you know someone with a Keurig K-Cup brewer, give them one of these excellent gift baskets.

Each basket includes 24 K-Cups of Green Mountain Coffee’s most popular coffee – their Breakfast Blend.

But that’s just the start. You also get biscotti, pancake mix, maple syrup and granola.

That’s a pretty good combo for anyone with a Keurig brewer who also enjoys a nice hot breakfast on a winter morning.

Order the K-Cup Breakfast Gift Basket here…

Or check out Green Mountain Coffee’s full range of holiday gift baskets for coffee lovers…

Bialetti Mocha Pot

Here is another way to make one cup of coffee at a time. The Moka pot above makes more than one cup, but there are other models in smaller sizes.

Not only is a mocha pot one of the simplest and best ways to make a great cup of coffee, but this Bialetti model is also a thing of rare beauty.

Most coffee makers look plain ugly. Even the original, basic Moka pot design was somewhat drab. But this stainless steel beauty will look good anywhere…in your kitchen or on the dinner table after a meal with friends.

A mocha pot makes a coffee that is unmistakably rich, with a taste somewhere between regular drip brew coffee and espresso.

We use our Bialetti on a regular basis. We don’t use it to make straight shots of espresso. But we do use it to make espresso to which we add hot water or hot and frothy milk.

To use a mocha pot, you simply add the water to the bottom section, pour ground coffee into the metal filter, put everything back together and then heat it up on the stove.

In addition to its beautiful design and the quality of the coffee it brews, this mocha pot has a couple of other advantages that might appeal:

- No plastic parts.

- No moving parts or electronics (i.e. nothing to go wrong.)

Basically, the Bialetti Mocha Pot delivers on the promise of all good design – beauty and functionality combined.

Use it to make a coffee for yourself, or when you are entertaining and want something a little more stylish than a regular glass carafe.

Learn more and buy a Bialetti Mocha Pot here…

The Keurig B60's 7.25 Ounce Drip Trasy

The Keurig B40, B60 and B70 all have a good sized drip tray to catch spills and drips when you are making coffee.

But I didn’t know their full capacity until this morning when, while making my first cup of the day, I managed to start the brew cycle without putting a mug under the brew head. Pretty dumb, I know. But I’m not at my best first thing in the morning.

The funny part was when I turned back to the brewer, and my mug of coffee seemed to have disappeared. I had heard the brew cycle, there was no mess on the counter…so where was my coffee?

Fortunately, the drip tray contained the full 7.25 ounces.

I can understand why this isn’t one of the advertised features of these brewers. Not everyone is so careless. But I was grateful nevertheless.

What about the Keurig B30 Mini? No, it doesn’t have a drip tray that can hold 7.25 ounces. But it does have a very nifty failsafe system that prevents you from starting the brewing process unless you have a mug in place under the brew head.

Which goes to show that all the Keurig brewers are a great choice for early-morning knuckleheads.

Read our K-Cup Brewer reviews:

The Keurig B60

The Keurig B70

The Keurig B40

The Keurig B30

The Breville BKC600XL

Keurig B40 Elite K-Cup Brewer

Elsewhere I have written that the Keurig B60 Special Edition was the most popular among the Keurig K-Cup brewer models. And perhaps at some point it was.

But now it seems the Keurig B40 Elite has become number one.

And that, perhaps, has something to do with the recession, as the B40 is the least expensive of the full-size Keurig brewers.

The Keurig B40 was the first K-Cup brewer made by Keurig for the consumer market.

Being the first, it doesn’t have some of the extra features you’ll find on their more recent models, the B60 and B70.

That said, what it does have is the exact same brewing system.

You simply add a K-Cup, close the lid and press the brew button. And the cup of coffee it makes is just as good as those made by the more expensive models.

Best of all, the Keurig B40 costs less than $100.

While the Keurig B40 is certainly the base model, with only one brew size, it does have one additional feature that is very welcome…

It has an auto-off feature that turns the brewer off if it isn’t used for two hours. This is useful, because if you leave it on all the time, it is constantly keeping enough water hot for your next brew, and adding to your electricity bill in the process.

If you are on a budget, or are looking for a second Keurig brewer for your office or even a dorm room, the B40 may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Learn more and buy the Keurig B40 Elite here…

Black & Decker Brew 'N Go

It’s not fancy, not high-design and not a coffee maker to show off to the neighbours.

But the Black & Decker DCM18 Brew ‘N Go Coffeemaker is a one cup brewer. It makes just one cup at a time and is specifically designed for use with travel mugs. You get a full 15 ounces per brew.

The other significant difference when compared to other one cup coffee makers is that it doesn’t use coffee pods or K-Cups or T-Discs. It’s actually just a drip brewer, albeit smaller than most.

So you buy loose coffee, or grind your own beans, and use it the same way you would use an 8-cup or 10-cup brewer.

But there is no need to buy paper filters, because it comes with a permanent metal filter. Just wash and rinse after each use.

Like I said, this doesn’t compare to some of the more sophisticated one cup coffee makers now available. But if you just want to make one cup of coffee a day before you rush out the door, the price is definitely right.

Even the travel mug is included.

Get the Black & Decker DCM18S Brew ‘n Go Personal Coffeemaker with Travel Mug from Amazon.com

Perfect Pod Holster

If you have a Keurig K-Cup brewer, there are a couple of reasons why you might want to try an alternative to using box after box of K-Cups.

First, the K-Cup is probably the least environmentally-friendly way to make a cup of coffee. K-Cups are not recyclable and make up quite a mountain of plastic to cart off to the landfill.

Second, making coffee with K-Cups is more expensive than using loose coffee in a drip brewer or French press.

So why do we love the Keurig brewers so much? Because they work so well and provide us with a very convenient and mess-free way to make one cup of coffee at a time.

There are a couple of ways to cut back both on the waste and the price.

You can use the My K-Cup reusable coffee filter, which we have written about before. It’s a great alternative to using K-Cups, but does involve a little clean-up after use.

The Perfect Pod Holster also enables you to use your Keurig brewer without buying boxes of K-Cups, but is also a low-mess alternative.

What you do is add a coffee pod to the pod holster. (Coffee pods are like plump tea bags and are used ordinarily in coffee pod brewers like the Senseo SL7810/65.) The coffee pod holster itself is the same size as a regular K-Cup. You simply unscrew the lid, drop in a bunched up coffee pod, replace the lid and then place the pod holster in the brewer.

The advantage here is that once you have brewed your coffee, there are no loose coffee grinds to deal with. You simply unscrew the lid and shake the wet coffee pod into the garbage…or into your compost pile.

You can get the Perfect Pod Holster through Amazon.com…