K-Cup Alternative: Cameron's Single Serve Coffee

Cameron's Single Serve Coffee in Chocolate Caramel Brownie
$7.99 for 12 single serve coffees at Sobey's grocery stores
$7.99 for 12 at Cameron's website

I've really been enjoying these Single Serve Coffees from Cameron's. They're cheaper than K-Cups, use less packaging, and they taste great! This one in Chocolate Caramel Brownie is chocolately and smooth.

At first, I wasn't sure how these were going to work in my Keurig machine, but they ended up working better than actual K-Cups! Some of my K-Cups have malfunctioned resulting in coffee grounds escaping into my coffee.

The top looks similar to a K-Cup.

The rest of it looks a lot different from a traditional K-Cup, but as you can see, there is less plastic on this one.

It fits snugly into a Keurig machine.

Unlike a K-Cup (where the bottom of it is punctured to let the coffee out), the Cameron's Single Serve Coffees have a simple coffee filter bottom. The Keurig machine doesn't puncture the bottom because it is shorter than a K-Cup and doesn't reach that far down. As you can see, the bottom is undamaged, resulting in a pleasant grind-free experience.

I definitely recommend checking these out! I've only had great experiences with them and I'm anxious to try out the other flavours.

These also work in other machines including:

• Jaimbria
• Breville BKC700
• Cuisinart SS700
• Mr. Coffee BVMC-KG1

K-Cup Storage

Keurig has a Carousel for storing K-Cups but it won't work well for me because it's too tall to fit on my countertop (the cabinets sit close to the counter). Instead, I came up with a simple and cheap way to store my K-Cups.

Above is a bamboo cutlery tray that I bought at a hardware store for $16.99 (I've seen them cheaper at WalMart but they were sold out). Any cutlery tray will do but I like the look of this one. Each compartment fits 5 K-Cups while the one on the side fits 5 (29 in total). 

This could also fit into a drawer as that's where it's meant to be placed! It's a great idea for anyone with a small kitchen.

Touch Organic White Tea

Touch Organic White tea (100 bags) $7.57 from Well.ca

After a week of coffee drinking,  I decided to switch back to tea for a while. I've drank about half of this box since I got it a few months ago and I'm really enjoying it! White tea is a healthy drink option for those looking to drink more fluids. Click here to view the benefits of drinking white tea.

Each bag is individually wrapped. The tea bags themselves are brown.

Here's my cup seconds after I placed the bag into the water. 

The colour intensifies the longer you brew it for.

There are a few different ways that you can brew white tea, but it all comes down to preference. However, there seems to be a general consensus that boiling water should not be used. This can 'cook' the leaves, giving it a bitter taste.

This is how I brew my white tea:

-Put some water into your kettle (a little more than the amount of tea you wish to make)
-Set it on high heat
-Let it heat up until you can see steam coming out of the kettle before it boils. Turn off the heat. If you've accidentally let it reach boiling, take it off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes to cool down.
-Pour the hot water into your cup and immerse the tea bag in the water.
-Let it brew for 2-3 minutes, dunking the tea bag in and out of the water occasionally.

Sometimes I leave the tea bag in a little longer and it gets a little bitter, but it's not bad. White tea tastes a bit similar to green tea, but it's not as strong. It has a smooth taste and can be a great transition into the world of tea!

A while back, I was drinking 2-3 cups of this per day. I would use 1 tea bag to brew an entire teapot and let it brew for 5-6 minutes. I felt that I had more energy and I was generally in a better mood. This week, I only drank coffee and I don't feel nearly as good as when I was only drinking tea and water.

A Week of K-Cups: First Impressions

Author: Moréna

I recently stumbled upon a local café which allows you to pick and choose K-Cups. Corey and I chose 30 different ones (with some repeats) and it only cost us $22.00! Needless to say, we were anxious to try all the flavours.

These are the ones we drank this week. Some are ones we already had before. Two are missing from this photo because they didn't work out (more on that later).

I didn't plan on it, but I ended up drinking mainly coffee this week. The extra caffeine definitely made me more alert and energetic but after this review, I'm going to take a break from coffee and switch back to tea.

Corey and I both drink our coffees the same- with a splash of milk. This way, we can taste most of the coffee's flavour.

Corey was anxious to try the Timothy's Cinnamon Pastry. The scent of cinnamon
 is strong when brewing, but the taste isn't overpowering.
You can definitely taste the cinnamon pastry in this one! 5/5 

I gave this Grove Square Cappuccino in Caramel a try thinking it was coffee
 (clearly I didn't read the label). A few seconds after it started brewing, the water went
 clear and I thought that perhaps something was wrong, but that's when it dawned
 on me that this wasn't coffee. It was obviously a powder and when mixed with hot water,
 turned into a cappuccino. It's sweet and can be watery if you brew a large cup of it.
 Taste-wise, I really liked it, but I'd prefer buying packets of mix as it would be cheaper.
  3.5/5

Corey tried this Timothy's Original Donut Blend next.  The name is a little misleading
as at a quick glance, we only saw "donut". It turned out that this was just regular coffee,
but tastes just like a coffee that donut shops sell. It's not strong and has a smooth taste.
3/5

I was excited to try this Van Houtte Butterscotch K-Cup because Van Houtte is one
of my favourite coffee brands. To me it had a mild butterscotch taste. The coffee taste
 wasn't too strong either, making this a great coffee for a first timer. I'd definitely
 try it again, but it's not one of my favourites.
  4/5

Corey chose this Donut House Chocolate Glazed Donut to drink next.
 It smelled chocolately but it ended up tasting like a regular coffee.
He thinks the reason why he couldn't taste the chocolate was because he
was on his third coffee of the day, so he might have to try it again later on.
  2/5

Another Van Houtte K-Cup! This one in Crème Brûlée caught my
 attention because the text on the label was a different colour from the rest
that I had tried (those kind of things always get me!).  I ended up really liking
 this one. When brewed, it wasn't as dark in colour as some of the other ones
 that I tried. It has a caramel taste to it and isn't bitter. I'll probably get another
one of these next time we buy them individually.
4.5/5

Corey didn't have a very good experience with this Timothy's Mocha Java.
You might be able to see in the photo at the top of this post that the Mocha
 Java K-Cup's top is more damaged than the rest. While brewing, the foil lid
somehow came undone and coffee grounds ended up in the cup. We're not
sure if we closed the Keurig lid too quickly, causing the lid to rupture, or
 if pressure built up inside it while brewing. Either way, we'll review this
once we get another one to give it a fair review.

I've never tried anything from this brand before, and Caramel Vanilla Cream
was the first one I wanted to try. It tasted very similar to the other caramel-flavoured
 K-Cups that I've tried and I didn't think it was anything special. Other brands and
flavours aside, I thought it made a decent cup of coffee, though
I didn't detect much vanilla.
3/5

Corey's experience with the Donut House Coffee was very similar to that of the
Timothy's  Original Donut Blend. They both taste pretty much the same- like
 a cup of coffee you'd get at a donut shop.
  3/5

This Wild Mountain Blueberry K-Cup is my favourite so far! I could definitely
 taste the blueberry flavour in it and I plan on purchasing a box of these!
The coffee taste is average- not too bitter, but it tastes like coffee.
5/5

This Kahlua Original K-Cup isn't pictured at the top of this post because we threw
 it out before we even thought about starting this blog. It was the very first K-Cup
Corey tried from our mixed 30-pack and we think that it may have been
defective. All of the coffee grounds ended up in his cup and we had to try to strain
them out with a coffee filter. It ended up being a complete waste, but at least it smelled good! 

I couldn't resist this Timothy's Sugar Bush Maple. I have fond memories of visiting
 the sugar bush as a child and I love maple syrup! This makes a decent cup of
coffee and the maple flavour is mild. I wish the maple flavour
was stronger in this one, but nonetheless, I liked it.
3.5/5

Pecan Praline was average. At this point in my coffee bender, everything started
tasting like caramel. I tasted a tiny bit of pecan, and overall this was an okay cup
of coffee. I'm going to try it again to see if maybe I was just burnt out on all these flavours.
3/5

If you're a fan of hazelnuts, this Van Houtte Vanilla Hazelnut coffee is for you!
 It has a great hazelnut taste, with a bit of vanilla and I could drink this every day.
  5/5

Unfortunately, I bought two of these. With a name like Caramel Apple,
I couldn't resist. Again, I was expecting coffee (I should really read the labels!).
When this was brewing, I was shocked to find that a clear yellow liquid was
 coming out of the machine. It smelled amazing, but I had no idea what was in my cup.
That's when I read that this was a "Caramel Apple Cider". I gave it a sip and
found that it was very sweet. I like sweet tasting things, but this was too sweet. I also
don't really like hot sugary drinks. After a few attempts to drink it, I poured it out.
If I had realized that this was a 'cider' before I made it, I'm sure my
review of it wouldn't be so bad.
0.5/5

I was curious as to whether this was flavoured as a Chocolate Macaroon
or a Chocolate Macaron because apparently these days those two are synonymous
 (they're not). A macaroon is made with coconut while a macaron is a French
 dessert which looks like a cookie. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the
name of this K-Cup accurately represents the flavour of the coffee. It has a great
chocolate taste and hints of coconut and baked goods. This is a flavour
that I'll be purchasing again!
  5/5

That's all for this K-Cup first impressions post! We have quite a few left to try so stayed tuned for the next post :)

Rekorderlig Wild Berries Swedish Pear Cider

Ever since trying Somersby, we've been interested in trying other ciders. This is a pear cider from Sweden that is flavoured with wild berries. It contains 7.0% alcohol and a single can costs $3.00 at the LCBO.

The LCBO describes the tasting note as: "vibrant aromas of candied strawberry, raspberry and cherry; not-too-sweet on the palate with lots of berry and cream soda flavours."

We decided to drink it over ice as our previous cider experience didn't go so well.

Ingredients

When we opened the can, we could definitely smell the berries. It smelled like a fruity body spray. Here's what we thought:

Moréna: I loved the smell of this. When I first tasted it, I thought it was all right. It didn't really have any 'bite' to it, and was quite sweet. It's smooth at first, but there is a bit of an alcoholic after taste. It kind of tasted flat to me, even though I tasted it right away. I don't think this will be a drink that I would come back to as I think it's too sweet for my liking. 3/5

Corey: It smells like a wine cooler and has a strong sweet after taste. 3.5/5

Katherine: Has a bad after taste and tastes kind of like raspberry vodka + Sprite. 3/5

William's Sir Perry Traditional English Style Perry (Pear Cider)

 Though this is in the beer section, ciders are not beer. Ciders are fermented alcoholic beverages made from fruit juices (Wikipedia). This one is made from pear juice and contains 6% alcohol. It is made in the UK.

A single can of Sir Perry will cost you $3.05 from the LCBO. The LCBO describes the tasting notes as: aromas of fleshy peach, pear & mineral; flavours of sweet pear.  

Ingredients

We decided to drink it chilled (as recommend on the can).

Three of us were tasting this pear cider.

After we opened the can, we could immediately smell the alcohol, along with a hint of pear. Here's what we thought:

Morena: It tastes like white wine and the pear taste was faint. I was expecting it to taste more like pears. It might taste better if it were colder or served over ice. 2.5/5

Corey: It's tart and you can really taste the alcohol. 3/5

Katherine: Tastes like bad wine! 2/5

We all agreed that this cider wasn't the best we've tried and that it might taste better if it were colder.