100% Compostable Keurig Coffee Pods

There has been a lot of criticism over the Keurig coffee system. Although I do love it, I have felt guilty about the pollution it causes and the plastic waste they create. Especially true since I'll have three to four coffees a day. That's easily over a thousand a year!

Because of this, I bought a device, Recycle a Cup,  to help easily dissemble a K-cup, to send the inside for composting, and the outside cup for recycling. Only the lid needed to be sent to the dump. Some pods cut easily, some broke and the cutter would wear out or break.

There had to be something better and I found it. 100% compostable pods.

At the moment, there seems to be only Canadian companies who offer these. MacDonald's with Kraft Heinz and a Toronto company, Coffee Club, developed the pods. According to an article in Waste Today,  the pods are designed to compost in just five weeks. The pods are made from from plant-based materials, coffee bean skins and other biodegradable materials instead of plastic.

Other Canadian coffee producers are now also offering 100% compostable pods. Presidents Choice, a Loblaw subsidiary, offer a good variety of roasts and flavours. Muskoka Roastery Coffee has three roasts and a maple flavoured coffee in their line-up.

I admit, I don't do as much as I could to help the environment but I am getting better. This is one way I do it.

Caffeine Comparison, Diet Coke, Coke, Keurig Pods, PC Nitro, Station Cold Brew Coffees & Tea

The other night I had a Station Cold Brew Coffee around six o'clock in the evening. Usually, I can have a coffee or tea after supper and have no issue sleeping. That night I laid in bed until about 1 AM.

My wife, Teena, has always warned me about having a Diet Coke late at night saying that I won't be able to sleep. It has never affected me.

I started to wonder what the caffeine difference is between the different style coffee's, tea and cola's, so I decided to do some research.

Diet Coke contains 46 mgs of caffeine, which is interesting, as regular Coke has only 34. I thought it would be the other way around.

Keurig coffee pods have around 2 tablespoons in each pod and has between 100 to 140 mgs of caffeine per brew. The extra bold coffee pods are filled with 2.6 tablespoons of coffee, so would work out to between 130 to 180 mgs per pod.

The caffeine content of tea, and I really enjoy a nice Earl Grey, depends on the amount of time it steeps. Twinings Earl Grey contains 19 mgs for a 1 minute steep, 22 for 3 minutes and 25 for a full 5 minutes. I had always heard that tea contains the same amount of caffeine as coffee, but apparently not. Tea has a lot less. The link shows various tea styles and makes and the caffeine content for each.

Now, here is why I couldn't sleep the other night. According to the nutritional information of the cans, PC Cold Brew contains 215 mgs of caffeine. Station Cold Brew has 225 mgs. Both are perfect for an afternoon, especially a hot one, but not for the evening.

So for me, it's regular coffee in the morning, a cold brew in the afternoon and a nice cup of tea after supper.

I do love my coffee!

A Visit to Station Cold Brewed Coffee Company

Today I stopped into the Drake Hotel Cafe to see if they had any iced coffee on the menu. They pulled out a can of nitro infused cold coffee from Station Cold Brewed Coffee Company. I took it home, poured it over ice and really loved it, but it turned out that I did it wrong. The instructions on the can say "Shake Well, Pour hard, Fuel Up." I neither shook it well nor poured it hard.

The can also said the company is located in Toronto and when I Googled it, I discovered their shop is located about a five minute drive from where we shop. Nice! Now Teena and I could drop in, pick up some more, and do it up right!

Station was opened in the summer of 2014, by Steve, Mitch and Mike, who discovered the world of cold brewed coffee during a trip to Brooklyn in 2013.

There are a variety of sizes and I wanted to try the cold brewed coffee which comes in a stubby bottle and uses CO2 for carbonation, plus get the can with the nitro in it, so I bought a 6 pack of each of which they just charged me the same price as buying a dozen.

As I had it explained to me, where Guinness uses a widget to bring out the creaminess of its beer, a little nitro is added to the can of coffee to so the same. The can needs to be shaken and poured hard to release the nitro properly into the coffee.

According to their website: We are committed to sourcing the best quality, responsibly sourced coffee that is sustainably grown. Our signature cold brew is a blend of both Ethiopian and Brazilian regions, locally roasted by Hale Coffee. Our beans are responsibly sourced using direct trade policies to support our commitment to outstanding coffee, growing community and improving the lives of every person involved the process.

Direct trade is a term used by roasters who buy straight from the growers and farmers, cutting out traditional middleman buyers and sellers as well as the organizations that control certifications such as fair trade. Direct trade models build mutually beneficial and respectful relationships with individual producers or cooperatives in each individual country. This provides more control over the quality of the coffee, our social impact as well as environmental concerns.

And how does it taste?

First of all, I love the fact that its ingredients are water, coffee and a little chicory. No additives!

The Nitro (pictured up top) after being vigorously shaken pours with a storm, much reminiscent of the Guinness storm, but one does not last long. What this does, though, is smooth out the taste and make the coffee silky smooth. My first coffee, which I did not shake had a hard edge to it, I liked it, but for those who don't, shaking the nitro does smooth out the bitterness.

A very nice coffee that I will have again, that is after having the five that remain in my fridge.

The Stubby

As there is no nitro action in this brew, I decided to pour it over ice.

The cold brew in the stubby is slightly carbonated, but not soda or beer like. The carbonation is quite subtle. There is more of a bite in the coffee here and I imagine that the ice may have tempered that a little. I really like the bite. It's a much more edgy coffee than the nitro and more to my preference.

I can see that my little back room fridge will always be having bottles of this cold brew handy in the future, as well as the nitro. Both are delicious. I can even picture whipped cream with some bitter chocolate shavings being added from time to time. Now that would be a great way to start a weekend!

ECS Coffee - Burlington

On our way home from Battlefield Museum and Park, we stopped in at ECS Coffee in Burlington. I have been ordering coffee from them online for my Keurig machine and it was so much fun to stop in to browse. The store is three times as big as I thought it would be, with a fabulous selection.

You could buy by the box or individually.

I did both, plus bought some individual Tassimo disks for my coffee machine at work (I don't know why I didn't include them in the picture).

I also joined their coffee club. For every $100 spent, I get back $1 on the next purchase ... 1%, but I'll take it, after all I will be back!

Coffee Delivery!

My colleague at work, Bryan, has a Kuerig machine, which he loves, and told me about an online place that he orders his coffee from, ECS Coffee Inc. If you place an order for $100 or more, they will ship for free so I thought I would give them a try.

Thursday night I sat down and placed my order and Monday it was delivered to Teena's office. She brought them home last night.

I have only tried maybe 8 to 10 different coffees and this was my chance to go a little wild. Not only does ECS sell K-cups by the box but also individually for 89 cents, which I found an excellent way to try new coffees.

Some coffees I wanted a box of, such as the Marley Jamaican Blue which Bryan had given me a cup to try, was heaven. I have tried a different kinds of Donut Shop Coffee but not the X-Bold so ordered a box of it along with a box of Brown Gold Peruvian. I have not had a coffee from Peru which I have not loved and ordered a bag of Inca Trail Arabica.

All the rest were individual K-cups. 36 K-cups with 8 different flavours. With a long weekend coming up, I have a chance to try quite a few.

It's going to be fun!

Keurig versus Tassimo

Before Christmas our caffeine-fueled team at work, a little disgruntled as the floor's coffee maker kept on breaking, decided to pitch in and buy our own Tassimo, the T20 (model pictured on the right).

We are quite enjoying it!

I then wanted one for home but my colleague at work, Bryan, who was looking for a new coffee system at home for himself too, explained his thinking.

Why by the same system for home and drink the same coffee we drink during the week? Why not get a Keurig instead and drink different brands of coffee?

I thought it was a good idea so I went out and bought myself the Keurig Elite.

Now that I have been using both for over a month, it's time to compare.

The Tassimo advertises its barcode technology, which is an excellent feature of the system. The barcode is on each coffee disk and tells the brewer how much water to use, the temperature to bring the water to and the length of time for the brew. It turns out a great coffee. I always have a supply of Tim Horton's coffee disks in my desk, among other brands, and people asks me how it compares to the store brewed coffee. It is quite close but just a touch weaker.

Keurig does not have this feature and instead has buttons to choose a small, medium or large coffee. The more expensive machines also allow you to set the temperature of the water, a feature by manager, Lee enjoys, (he has a Keurig system at home too) as he likes his coffee extra hot but can turn down the temperature when making hot chocolate for the kids.

To me, the Tassimo leads here as a brewing system.

Bryan, Lee and I all agree that it is the coffee selection which puts Keurig ahead of the Tassimo. Green Mountain Coffee's K-cup patent expired in the fall allowing coffee companies to offer their own versions. This plus Green Mountain has been actively licensing as many coffee companies as they can.

Tassimo does have a great selection of coffees and teas but the Keurig choices seems about endless.

Currently I have eight different kinds of coffee at home for my Keurig and have tried a few more. The selection seems endless. My favorites so far are the Starbucks Blonde, Donut House and the President's Choice Medium Roast Gourmet. My favorite Tassimo brands are the Tim Horton's (I am a huge Timmy's fan), Second Cup Paradiso and the Great Canadian Coffee from President's Choice.

Tassimo has a better brewing system. Keurig has better selection.I guess it depends on what you are looking for when you go out to buy one of these systems;

Note: A couple of weeks later Bryan said his was done with the Tassimo. He says the taste and variety of the Keurig is superior. I am still enjoying the variety of having the Tassimo at work and the Kuerig at home but really loves the variety of coffee available for the Keurig, especially the Jamaican Blue Mountain, Donut Shop, and Starbucks Blonde

Sucked in by the Tim Hortons Cup Psychology

Everyday every Tim Hortons I walk by has a very long line-up.

They have the staff to handle it so when you think the line may take a half hour to get through, it only takes minutes. Keep in mind I am speaking about in store, not drive through as I have no experience with that.

My standard order at Tims is a "large black double cup". Translation, a large black with one cup set inside another so I do not burn my fingers. Their cups are quite thin.

Interesting note if you didn't know is that a "double double" is a double sugar and double cream, and is a term so well-known in Canada that it is now in the dictionary. Also Tim Horton was a famous Toronto Maple Leaf defenceman from the 60s who started the chain.

To me, a large was enough. It seemed too much to go to the "extra large". In fact, I never saw many people carrying around an extra large.

Then Tims (what many of us in Canada call it) changed their cup size. They downgraded all their cup sizes so my large suddenly became a medium. Then they added a new 24 oz "extra large" size, which bigger than their old extra large.

The first time I walked up, which was the first day of the change, and ordered my usual "large black double cup", the server pointed at the new cup sizes and explained how a large is now in an extra large glass but called a large.

I knew it was going to be a long morning. I was tired, it was Monday morning so I said sure, I want the new large size. Now the new large size is the same price as the old extra large size, which is not much more, maybe 20 cents. So my large became a medium but I ordered a large which was an extra large.

Hope you're following!

The result ... when I go to Tims now, I always get the new large (old extra large). I also see many others doing the same. I now see many people down in the concourse with the old extra large cups (now large) in their hands.

Then it hit me.

They used psychology on us. We didn't order extra large before as it seemed too much. So they made an even bigger extra large and renamed the sizes. They don't care if few people or any order the new extra large. They were counting on sucking most of us in on moving up a size and we are. I get a bigger cup of coffee but pay more.

They got me!

And now that I realize this, am I mad, will I go back to buying my old size (now medium)? The scheme was so smart I can only applaud it and will do so tomorrow when ordering my "large black double cup".

I love Tims!

Now if they would love me and let me win big on their "Roll up to Win" game!

Dona Maria Coffee from the Dominican Republic

In October, Teena and her sister, Sarah, spent a week vacationing in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

She knows I enjoy coffee so brought back some fresh roasted coffee for me. Dona Maria is coffee which is grown on Maria's farm. The coffee is not only grown on her farm but roasted on site.

The beans are dark roasted and have a very dark look and strong bitter aroma. I was a little worried that it would make too bitter a brew but decided to use the same amount as I usually do and cut back with the next brews if needed.

After grinding the beans, I found they were much lighter in colour. Once brewed, the coffee still maintains a very bitter aroma. Surprisingly, though, there is very little bitterness in the taste. It is not a smooth coffee as it has an edge but was one I enjoyed trying.

Why am I writing about this now, a couple of months after Teena came back and gave it to me? Well, sadly I just brewed up and drank the last batch.

Thanks, Teena, for bring this home for me!

Jeremy from Georgia, who was staying on the same resort as Teena, takes a turn at roasting the beans at the farm.