I kicked off the start of 2017 by brewing a nice cup of TAYST Coffee Roaster.

What is TAYST Coffee Roaster?

Well, this coffee brand is Eco-Friendly and 100% compostable. The pods/cups are compatible with KEURIG and NESPRESSO coffeemakers.

Each Purpod100™ has three layers: a lid, a ring, and a mesh. The lid is made from bio materials. The printing on the lid is made from water-based compostable ink. The ring is made from natural bean skins, and the mesh is made from renewable bio reins. Once composted in the ground, it will add nutrients into the soil.

Currently there are several different coffee flavors:

Despite my love for everything caffeinated, I do occasionally drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee. The problem for me is that I'm limited to two or three  decaf brands in my area (I live in a small town with only a Walmart and a Dollar General!). When I had an opportunity to review a new decaf brand, of course I jumped at the offer.

The brand is called "Five Cups Coffee," which has dubbed itself "the world's finest decaf coffee. It's a USDA organic and direct certified trade.

Why is it called "Five Cups Coffee?"

Well, since it's decaf, you can drink five cups of coffee without having to worry about any harmful effects to your body. Plus, you won't have the unwanted "caffeine" crash!

The coffee is made with a blend of 100% arabica beans that were grown on award winning farms in Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras. The coffee beans go through the Swiss Water® decaffeination, which is a 100% chemical free process.

The coffee is roasted on demand, in small batches in the USA. Each bag of coffee beans has a ziplock, which will help keep the freshness.

Cold or iced coffee isn't something that I don't normally drink very often, not unless I'm just too lazy to reheat the old coffee I had brewed earlier in the day.

Nevertheless, the idea of a Hand Built Coffee Maker intrigued me, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to review this product.

The Hand Built Coffee Maker Kit is basically just an ordinary Kerr wide-mouth glass jar with a lid that you use for canning. The only difference is that it comes with a 304 stainless steel mesh filter.

How do you make coffee with this?

All you have to do is fill the mesh filter with whatever amount of coffee you want to use (up to two cups), place the filter inside the mason jar, pour a desired amount of water into the jar, and tightly secure the lid. Then you need to patiently wait for the coffee to slowly brew, which takes between 6 to 24 hours.

Each time I had convinced myself that I've seen almost every kind of coffee maker, something new comes to my attention. Which is exactly what happened when I learned about the new Staresso Manual Coffee Maker.

What exactly is the Staresso Manual Coffee Maker?

Well, it's kinda like a travel espresso machine that uses a vacuumed sealed pump to make a quick caffeinated shot.

Created in China, the unique manual hydraulic pumping system will give a pressure higher than 15 BAR level, which is higher than a normal espresso machine.

The Staresso unboxed!

The coffee ground basket!

There's no better way to start a rainy September morning than sipping on a strong cup of coffee, which is exactly what I've been doing today.

What kind of coffee am I drinking?

Brazil Santos Gourmet Coffee by Kaffina Kaffe Premium Gourmet, a new coffee company that is Kosher Certified. The #KaffinaKaffe can currently be purchased on Amazon.com for $16.99.

It's available in four different flavors - medium roasted Brazil Santos, medium roasted Colombian, medium roasted Guatemalan, and medium roasted Sumatra. The coffees are made from 100% pure high quality Arabica coffee beans. Each 12 oz. bag is resealable.

A peek at the "coffee grounds" inside the bag.

There's no reason for me to go into an excessive rambling about my love for coffee as I've already written many posts about my caffeine addiction; so it should be no surprise to anyone that I'm once again writing a review for a coffee brand.

This month I was sent the "Bold Variety" Roast Coffees from Brooklyn Bean Roastery, which contains 40 single-serve coffee cups. All the cups are compatible with most Keurig brewers. Brooklyn Bean Roastery coffees are made from 100% Arabica coffee beans.




The flavors are

There's no better way to kickoff a Monday morning than drinking a great cup of coffee! And coffee has becoming more and more popular because of the KEURIG craze!

Now, I don't own a KEURIG, but I do have a Hamilton Beach Flex Brew, which also uses K-Cups!

Earlier this month, I received the Java Factory Variety Pack, featuring 40 single-serve cups.

It has six different flavors:

DA BOMB!

If you're as big of a coffee drinker as I am, then you probably have tons of K-Cups just laying around in the way.

Personally, I already own a drawer-type K-Cup storage, but I still have many K-cups just tossed about. Luckily for me, I was sent the Oak Leaf K-Cup Carousel Tower to test out and review. The #OakLeaf tower retails for $52.99, but it can be purchased on Amazon currently for $13.29.

The storage tower is made from strong metal that has been painted black; though the handle is gray. The bottom part the carousel has a felt padding, so it won't scratch whatever surface it is placed on. Both sides of the tower will hold 15 K-Cups.

While my blog's Holiday Gift Guide won't officially kickoff until Black Friday, I thought I would a feature a review for a nifty gift idea that would be perfect for a friend or family member that is hard to buy for.

Earlier this month, I was sent the Espresso & Coffee Candy & Mugs Set which features 2 Antique Vintage Green Cups, 1 Balis Best Espresso Candy (5.3 oz bag), Balis Best Coffee Candy (5.3 oz bag), 1 Dual Speed Hand-held Milk Frother and a Coffee Clip/Scoop. The set is being sold on Amazon for $31.97!

Being a big coffee drinker, I do have several mugs; some I collect and others I drink out of. The two green mugs in this set are high-quality with a very simple design. I especially like the rustic color around the brim each of cup.

I had been using a small plastic tablespoon to scoop my coffee grounds, which I sometimes accidentally misplace. This Coffee Clip/Scoop is well-constructed and features an extra long handle, which you can use to clip onto a coffee bag, so maybe I won't lose this one.

The Dual Speed Hand-held Milk Frother is well-constructed too. If features two speeds - Low and High. It requires two AA batteries (not included). A frother is used to foam milk for hot chocolate or it can be used to foam creams for coffee drinks.

My love for coffee is no secret on here, so it shouldn't be a much a surprise that I wanted to review the Adrano, Brazil Volcano Coffee from Heirloom Coffee, LLC.

What makes this coffee different from the others that I've tried?

Well, for starters, this a bag of "green" coffee beans, meaning the beans haven't been roasted yet. Adrano is Heirloom Coffee's top specialty coffee. It's made from a blend of  Mundo Novo, Catuaí and Acaiá varieties of Arabica where it's grown on several small estates in the Pocos de Caldas volcanic caldera in Brazil. The soil there is enriched with volcanic minerals and rainforest soil as well as an abundance of nutrition and minerals, giving the coffee beans an unique taste.


I've never personally roasted coffee beans before, but after a quick internet search, I quickly learned how to. While I read about several different methods, I just covered a small amount of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and then scattered a handful of the coffee beans in the pan. On medium heat, I heated up the pan and placed a lid on it. Eventually, I started hearing crackling sounds, which means the beans were being roasted.

Besides from candy corn and other sweets that get center our full attention in stores, I almost forgotten about the flavored holiday coffees that are released around this time a year.

I've been under the weather for the past few days and I wasn't in the best spirits on Wednesday afternoon, well, that is until I received a package in the mail that contained a box of 40 single serve coffee cups of Brooklyn Bean Roastery: Pink Pumpkin (pumpkin vanilla flavored coffee) and my mood was somewhat lifted. The cups are compatible with most Keurig K-cup brewers (2.0 included).

Brooklyn Bean Roastery was founded in 2010, a company that offers a wide variety of Keurig-compatible filtered single serve coffee cups. They use a roast2cup process that makes every cup of coffee smooth and rich. Only the high quality 100% Arabica Coffee beans are used.

While I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, I do like pumpkin flavor coffees and creams. It was nice to sit down last week and drink a warm mug of pumpkin flavored coffee. No, the coffee isn't pink. It's only called that to represent breast cancer awareness.

Yep, here I am again writing another review for a whole bean coffee brand! I guess you can say that I'm a coffee addict, but I can't help myself from trying out different coffees.

I received the Coffee Colombian Roast Crazy Passion about a month about a month ago to rest out and review. It's made by CoffeeCrazy, the same people that makes the SalsaCrazy DVDs.

A lot of coffee beans and grounds tend to have unwanted chemicals in them, so it's great that this brand is organic! The 12 oz. bag is currently available on Amazon for $14.95.

Well, it's probably no surprise to my regular blog readers to find me reviewing a coffee related product. If you're a big coffee lover like I am, then you probably don't have room for all the cups, mugs and tumblers that you've collected over the years.

Just a few days, I accidentally dropped one of my favorite mugs, shattering into dozens of pieces. I would replace it with a new one, but I didn't any even have the space for the old one.

Recently, I was sent one of the Espresso Stack Cup to test out. What exactly is an Espresso Stack Cup?

Well, it's a small Le Bleu Bean mug that fits inside a small LEGO-like storage box. The mug retails for $25, but is currently available on Amazon.com for $12.77. While the ceramic mug only comes in one color (white), the box comes in either black or white. The idea is that you can stack up every Espresso Stack Cup that you own; saving you space.

Yeah, it's probably not a big surprise to anyone that follows this blog to find me reviewing a coffee related product as I'm a big coffee lover! I've tired many different coffee brands and I prefer beans over ground as I believe the beans have a fresher taste. I started out using just a Ninja chopper to grind the beans that is until I purchased an electric coffee grinder at a thrift store. It worked great for about a year and then it quit on me. Of course, I bought a new electric coffee grinder and it works great, but you can't grind very many beans at one time.

A few weeks ago, I was sent the Cozyna Ceramic Burr Coffee Grinder to review and as you can imagined, I was excited about trying a hand-held coffee grinder.

The Cozyna Ceramic Burr Coffee Grinder is made from stainless steel and features a Ceramic Conical Burr, so it will never rust. It will give you a wide range of grinding. You can grind the beans to the size that'll fit to whatever coffee brewer (espresso, French press, coffee maker, etc.) you are using.

It's no secret to my blog readers that I love my daily cups (Yes, I said cups) of coffee. If you have seen the news lately, then you'll know that experts are now saying that coffee is good for you as it can help prevent liver disease, prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s, back pain and other ailments. Well, that's if you drink regular coffee without any creams or sweeteners.

Last week, I was sent a 3-Cup Double Wall Stainless Steel Coffee Press from MIRA. This is the third coffee press that I have owned. The other two were made out of glass and unfortunately I accidentally bumped one of them when I was washing it and I cracked it.

Like I already mentioned, the MIRA Coffee Press is made out of stainless steel, so I never have to worry about cracking this one. It is very simple to use. All you have to do is pour 2 - 3 tbsp of coffee grounds for every 6 fl. oz into the press. Next, you need to pour the correct amount of boiling water. It only holds between 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups or 3 (4 oz.) cups. Place the plunger on top of the press to cover it. Let stand for a minutes and then slowly push the plunger handle down. Then just pour yourself a cup of coffee.

I believe all my blog followers already know that I love a good cup of coffee (or several), so it is probably no surprise that I'm once again reviewing another coffee brand.

This brand is called Death Wish Coffee! The company was founded by Mike Brown, a coffee shop owner, Saratoga Coffee Traders, in Saratoga Springs, NY. His customers kept wanting the strongest coffee and after doing some research he realized there isn't one. Therefore, he set out to make the "world's strongest coffee" -  DEATH WISH COFFEE!

Death Wish Coffee has twice the amount of caffeine than what is found in store bought brands. It has a dark roast blend from high grade coffee beans, which are Fair Trade and USDA Certified Organic! It is available in 1 pound whole bean and ground bags as well as single-serve cups.