It’s been awhile since I’ve been excited about a new K-Cup, but Green Mountain Founder’s Blend is truly noteworthy. My mom picked this one up at the store recently. She’s been staying with my family a lot since our twin baby girls were born (December 2015).

I’m having a hard time wanting anything else to drink in the morning besides a cup of the Founder’s Blend. It’s smooth and rich, with very little bitterness. It has some sweet tones to it as well, almost chocolaty. Brewed at the 8oz setting, I’m finding it just right. Any more than that and you don’t pick up all the enjoyable flavor.

This might be my favorite Green Mountain K-Cup so far. I usually go for other brands, but I’m sure glad my mom decided to give this one a try!

Fall is upon us. It’s the season of the pumpkin. I’m ashamed to say, I tried this one so long ago that now I’ve forgotten who gave it to me. Whoever you are, thank you. It was delicious!

This is a really pleasant coffee, one that a non-flavored coffee drinker like me could enjoy. I actually drank it alongside a pumpkin muffin so maybe that helped make the difference in how yummy the coffee tasted.

In case you’re wondering, I do think Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin is better than Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice. It’s smoother, and you can taste more spice. The trouble is that Dunkin’ Donuts K-Cups are much harder to get your mitts on. You have to either buy them from a Dunkin’ store, Amazon, or eBay, and they are not cheap.

If you can get your hands on this K-Cup without spending a fortune, you’ll be glad you did. And, enjoy this beautiful fall season!

This is my first post since becoming pregnant with my 3rd child over 6 months ago. I have anywhere from 5-10 weeks left depending on if the little tyke goes over his due date (July 3rd). I decided to venture out to my favorite coffee shop in downtown Boise this morning to blog but didn’t consider the beautiful weather and that people would be out in force. I had to park some blocks away.

I’m almost always in pain when I walk now and with carrying a bulky laptop, thought I was going to split in half. Now that I am here I don’t think I am going to leave. Ever. I joked with my husband that I’m going to need a wheelchair by the end of the pregnancy. This has been the hardest of the three. Maybe it’s my age (almost 35) or maybe this boy is just extra heavy. It is worth the pain and suffering, but as my husband jokes, “What’s life if you can’t complain?”

I have so much I could catch you up on from the last half year, but you probably came here for the review, right?

My friend Jamie has been keeping me in the K-Cup loop these days. She picks up many of the new kinds. She graciously gave me these three Gevalia cups and urged me to review them.

Have you all noticed that everyone, including your local grocery store seems to have its own single cups these days? I’m not as adventurous as I was in my early Keurig days, so I just give most of them a glance and a shrug.

I’ve decided to back off on writing too many lengthy reviews for a while and sticking to Twitter to give feedback on the ones that stand out to me.

Okay, let’s start with the Signature Blend. It has a light, pleasant aroma. At first sip, it reminded me a little of a flavored brew. It has a bitter and sweet thing going on. My least favorite thing was that it left a film on my mouth. Boo. Other observations: very slight aftertaste and a tad bitter.

Despite some of my negativity, I think I like it. Not enough to buy it, mind you, but …Signature Blend is a sweet, smooth, just slightly rich medium roast. 8oz is a good brew setting for this one.

Colombia

This is a full-bodied medium roast. I tried it on the 8oz brew setting as well. My suspicion is that the 10oz setting would work fine also, but I don’t have another one to confirm this suspicion. Gevalia Colombia doesn’t have a lot of nuance in flavor, but it’s not bad either. For those who use flavored creamer, this would be a good choice. Another bonus is its minimal aftertaste.

Dark

Jamie recommended a larger brew setting for the Dark. 10oz was good. It’s smooth but a bit drying to the mouth and has some aftertaste. Overall pleasant to drink though and ended up being my favorite of the three, probably because may taste buds tend to prefer the dark, smooth roasts.

Thanks for the samples, Jamie. And I hope these reviews are helpful to my fellow Keurig owners.

Conclusion: While I didn’t detest Gevalia, I don’t think the quality is as good as many other K-Cups, like Tully’s.

It’s October, my favorite month of the year, and a wonderful time to enjoy hot beverages. Van Houtte Harvest Blend is one I recommend you try this fall season.

I got about 7 of these in a trade. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but then Harvest Blend won me over. It has a lot of spice and pep and some delicious berry tones. It was fun to try something different too…thinking I should order again for November. Would be yummy alongside some pumpkin pie.

Happy Autumn, Everyone!

After a lazy spell of about two months, I saw that I actually have a decent number of visitors to the site and that gave me the little burst of inspiration I needed to write again. It feels wrong to do a post that includes hot teas in the middle of summer, but you’ll have to bear with me…or skip ahead to the iced tea notes at the end.

While I haven’t been too adventurous with the tea K-Cups, I thought it might be handy to review the ones I’ve tried all in one place. I hope this is helpful to my tea-drinking Keurig friends out there. You’ll see that each brand has its good and bad K-Cups.

Twinings English Breakfast: Not bad. Better quality than Celestial Seasonings English Breakfast.

Twinings African Rooibos (click to read full review)

Bigelow Earl Grey: Not as good as bagged (or certainly not loose leaf) but still enjoyable and much better than Twinings Earl Grey.

Bigelow Green Tea: Not bad. I like the ease of using a kcup since it’s easy to overbrew loose leaf or bagged green tea. I’ve also tried this iced with fairly good results.

Tazo Zen: Nice blend. Great spearmint smell (yep, it’s not your typical green tea). Too bitter at 6oz, but 8oz is good. Be patient: you can taste more flavors as temperature goes down.

Tazo Awake: Just okay. Very similar to Celestial Seasonings English Breakfast. Twinings English Breakfast is better.

Celestial Seasonings Green Tea: Pretty good. Similar to Bigelow Green Tea.

While none of these particularly wow me, some are definitely better than others.

Then there is this gem that exceeds them all:

Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange Spice: Delicious! I can see why it was sold out at Keurig. It has wonderful smells and the taste lives up to them. This is one I would like to have on hand on a regular basis. You can taste the orange and the cinnamon and other spices really well. Good with a smidge of honey. *Thanks to Mari for the photo.

And, last but not least, Celestial Seasonings Brew Over Ice teas:

Southern Sweet Black Tea: Quite tasty. I never tire of it.

Sweet Raspberry Black Tea: Satisfying and good if you like raspberry flavor, although not completely natural-tasting.

Half & Half Black Tea Lemonade: Something a little off with the flavor but still refreshing.

Unsweetened Black Tea: Really strong. You could probably get more than one glass out of this one. It was too strong for me to enjoy without sugar.

Sweet Lemon Black Tea: This one failed to wow me. The other flavored iced teas seem more natural and are yummier.

Sweet Peach Black Tea: Delightful. Right up there with Southern Sweet for iced tea goodness.

A note of caution: Don’t try to brew your iced tea in a glass. It will crack. These thick plastic cups work great.

Disclaimer: This post is the opinion of one lone guest writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the K-cup Barista (click on pictures to read her reviews).  If you really love your organic coffee and will drink nothing else, then this opinion piece may make you mad.  Read at your own risk.

Oh joy, you get a guest blogger today!  I have known the K-cup Barista for years now.  Here is a little background on me.  I, like my K-cup Barista, really like that perfectly brewed cup of coffee.  I was a barista in high school.  Whenever my husband and I take a trip we love to seek out the local coffee shops.  Our children recognized both Starbucks and Tully’s by the age of 3.  I am a coffee explorer.  I don’t have a usual when I go to a coffee shop.  I buy different espresso and coffee drinks, add in different syrups, and sometimes I go rogue by buying tea, gasp!  At home the Keurig is a god-send to allow me to explore even more!  So what does this have to do with organic coffee?  I am glad you asked.  Even though I really like coffee I have had a problem with organic coffee and especially the organic k-cups for a long time.   Here is my review short and sweet on the following organic k-cups: Newman’s Special Blend, Coffee People Extra Bold Organic, Green Mountain Sumatran Reserve, and Coffee People Tree Hugger.

I really don’t like the Newman’s K-cup. It has the aroma of something burning.  The coffee also has a burnt taste and then there is that really bitter after taste that lingers when I want it gone.  Coffee People Organic Extra Bold K-cup is very similar to Newman’s.  I can’t get passed the burnt smell and flavor in this K-cup.  The Green Mountain Sumatran Reserve’s aroma is better but then there is that after taste.  Coffee People Tree Hugger is by far the best organic I have tried.  It actually smells like coffee. Only, again there is a difference in the flavor; a little something extra going on when drinking it.

I have tried in vain to find an organic k-cup that I really enjoy.  Most people around me love their organic k-cups.  So what is wrong with me?  Well the answer is that I have a very sensitive palate or better worded: I have a more discerning palate.  Having the ability to pick up on subtle nuances in food is a genetic trait I can blame on my mother.  A Yale research study showed that there is such a thing as a “super-taster”.  The study can be found here. I actually did an experiment in my college biology class that proved I was a super-taster.

This being said, it makes sense that when I comment on the organic coffee having an odd flavor or after taste people don’t know what I’m talking about.  I will try to explain to them what is going on in my mouth.  Nope, their mouth is perfectly happy with their organic k-cup.  Yet, I think that I have come up with an answer for people when they ask why I don’t drink organic coffee.  Coffee is supposed to be bitter this is true, but it also needs to be smooth and rich.  Coffee is comparable to good chocolate, the kind that is 75% cocoa good.  For me organic coffee lacks the nose of a fully developed coffee.  I want to be able to smell the richness of the beans.  Next, organic coffee isn’t smooth.  It is a coffee that bites you back.  The way organic coffees bite back at you is the after taste.   I don’t know what I am tasting in the coffee.  Maybe it is the manure they use as a natural fertilizer coming through in the beans?  Maybe it is how they process the beans?  I couldn’t say.  All I know is that, for now, this palate will steer clear of most organic coffees on the market today.

So for the rest of you out there who are like me, take heart!  It isn’t that you dislike organic coffee.  No, on the contrary, organic coffee dislikes your highly developed taste buds.  And feel free to use my comparison of coffee to chocolate when you are telling your friends and family why you won’t drink their organic coffee.

Cheers, from the Super-Taster!

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Jamie lives in Idaho and co-owns a fantastic gluten-free business. Other fun facts: she plays the drums at her church and knows the best breakfast places in downtown Boise. You can find her on Twitter too!