Mr. Coffee 10-cup Thermal Programmable

In response to the inquiry by Mr. Burns, we have a Mr. Coffee 10-cup thermal programmable coffee maker (model ISTX85). Since it is dependent on the thermal carafe to keep the coffee warm instead of a hot plate, we now experience consistent flavor even if we pour a cup 90 minutes after brewing the pot.To answer your next question, I drink my coffee unadulterated with any other substance (sweetner, creamer, flavoring, et cetera).

UBORA Blend…

“Elegant with floral, citrus and herbal notes, this blend of East African coffees was created by a renowned chef and a Starbucks master blender.” (quoted from front of Starbucks Ubora coffee bag) I did some research and discovered that this is a complete sham. The main issue has to do with the “blend” part of the statement. While maybe a bean or two come from East Africa, the majority of the beans actually came from East-Southeast Africa and I believe a good 2% came from the Jersey shore.

Regardless where it came from, I am thoroughly enjoying my coffee this morning.  I picked up this blend while travelling through Denbigh, VA last week.  I’ve never noticed this blend before in any of the Richmond Starbucks and am wondering if they stock their stores differently by store, city or region.  If you have the Ubora blend in your neck of the woods, feel free to let me know.

Cuisinart Burr Grinder

I recently made a post regarding the Krups burr grinder being the most economical on the market.  I just found this Cuisinart at SAM’s Club for $30 on Saturday.

Burr Grinder

I highly advise everyone who wants to enjoy your coffee to heavily consider getting yourself a burr grinder.  If you are using the type that simply hacks away at the beans over and over again, then you are not getting a consistent granularity of grind. The Krups that you see here is the one we have been using for over a year now.  I think it’s one of the most economical types on the market and it does the job nicely.

It does take a little work at first to identify the right setting of granularity and content for your particular brewer, but it’s more than worth the effort

Komodo Dragon

I’m drinking the dragon this week.  Not much to say other than it could easily steal the catch phrase, “Um-um good” from Campbell’s soup.  With each drink, I want to close my eyes and sigh while enjoying the depth of flavor and warmth.  Nice. 

Verona

Cheryl and I agree that we both love Starbucks Verona blend coffee.

 We became coffee snobs over the past 13 years of marriage mainly due to her influence.  She was the one who introduced me to Starbucks, flavored coffees and even drinking “decaf” for which I had previously assumed required additional time in purgatory due to my father’s perspective.

We do have drastically different drinking styles.  Cheryl likes a tiny bit of sweetner (usually demerararaa…something like that) and enough half & half to give it a creamy look.  She also likes it hot, so I usually warm her cup in the mornings with hot water before pouring her coffee into it to ensure it is as hot as possible.  What follows amazes me everytime I see it.  She takes that really hot cup of coffee and comes as close to “chugging” it as possible.

I used to put a huge amount of refined sugar in my coffee until I read the affects that sugar has on my body (Thanks! to Robert Greene) and swore it off forever.  Now I drink my coffee black.  The main difference between Cheryl and I here is that I like to enjoy my coffee…s l o o o o o w l y.  In fact, I usually end up having to warm up my cup as the bottom half has become too cool for consumption by the time I have made it that far.