Coffee

[For the Love of ‘Fee] Ninja Coffee 12 Cup Programmable Brewer

“For the Love of ‘Fee” is one coffee-lover’s attempt to machete through the tangle of coffee beans and brews to find an awesome cup of coffee. Juan Valdez follows ME!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time, you’d know that I love my ‘fee percolated. So I’m sure some of you are scratching your heads wondering why I am reviewing a drip coffee maker.

With this pandemic, our household has been fortunate to continue to keep working. However, the hubs works shift outside the home, and often rolls out of bed before the crack of dawn to hit the road…it’s a schedule that doesn’t really bode well with stove-top percolation: a brewing method that can take over 20 minutes from start to finish.

So, in early December when the hubs informed me his hours would be changing again to an even earlier start time, way before the Sarca wakes, I knew converting to instant coffee wasn’t going to cut it. Time to pull out our old programmable drip coffee maker from storage!

Well, our memory’s taste buds are definitely short, ’cause the coffee coming from that maker the first week wasn’t great; it vacillated between weak and bitter. To add to injury, the heating element was going, making the coffee stone cold before I got a cup in. On day three of the new schedule, we were talking about finding a replacement coffee maker.

It has been years since I bought a drip coffee maker (the model we replaced was a raffle prize won and gifted to us by Kevin’s parents). Buying one can also be a depressing experience in Canada, with our choices being cheaply made and cheaply made with a computer. I wanted to up my ‘maker game a bit, maybe get one that will do it all – a portable Starbucks barista if you will. It had been almost a year since I stepped foot into a coffee shop… and I’ve been dying for a flat white… But, in the end I wanted something that had one job and did it well.

Criteria I consider necessary in a coffee maker:

Must make 12 cups (less will not do!)
Must have a programmable timer.
Makes a HOT cup of coffee (um, if it doesn’t, then what’s the point?)
Doesn’t have a large counter footprint. (I mean, I’m not running a coffee shop after all…)
I don’t need a Master’s degree to use it. (I has dumb sometimes.)

Wish list:

Comes in black to hide stains.
Easy to keep its guts clean.
No big fancy computer inside that wants to think for you.
Automatic shut off can be shut off or extended past 2 hours (hard to find one that DOESN’T turn off after two hours…)
Choice of brew – bold and regular – hey, a coffee girl can dream.

After some research, I settled on the Ninja Coffee 12 Cup Programmable Brewer (called the Ninja 12-Cup going forward for brevity), ordered off of Amazon. It pretty much ticked all my required boxes, and satisfied most of my wish list. My experience with the Ninja brand comes in the way of a 1000 watt Ninja Professional blender I use every morning to make smoothies. It hasn’t busted in 3 years so there might be something to say for brand power.

The Ninja 12-Cup itself is black with some stainless steel, so it integrates well with the look of my kitchen. It also doesn’t take too much space on the counter, although I had to reconsider my original spot when I discovered its steam vents were located right at the top of the coffee maker, so steam would be released right on the underside of my new cabinets; a move to a different location fixed that.

This coffee maker has one exciting element that piqued my interest immediately: it has a removable water reservoir which you fill and the machine draws from. This is unlike typical makers that have you fill your coffee carafe and pour the water into the maker. I went with the removable reservoir with the hopes of keeping the insides clean, and since I’m not contaminating the water by pouring it into a vessel that has been holding coffee countless times, I’ll avoid that “stale coffee” taste out of the gate.

I wanted this maker to make a HOT cup of coffee, and the Ninja 12-Cup actually boasts a consistent brewing temp of ~201.5 F (~92 C). The maker utilizes a “blooming” method of brew that uses an extra-large “showerhead” that lightly soaks the coffee grounds before dispensing the coffee. This impressed me as other makers I’ve had appeared to have small spray nozzles that just dump the water on the grounds and drain into the carafe.

The carafe itself has an interesting removable lid that locks in place instead of snapping on, and has what Ninja calls “a flavour straw”. Not sure of the point of it, other than maybe it prevents over-flowing. The maker itself uses #4 cone filters, which I’ve never used before (I’ve only ever used the typical basket size). Our model did not come with a reusable coffee filter basket, but models that include one apparently exist (I’m guessing the American model has them).

There are some main programmable features to the Ninja 12-Cup, and a couple that were unexpected. There is the standard digital clock where you set the time, and program the start brew time. Other programmable options include small batch brew (for those times you just want to make 4 cups or less of coffee), as well as your choice of rich or classic brew. Honestly, I didn’t notice much difference using one or other type of brew setting. Rich brew is supposed to hold up its taste when adding cream and sugar, while classic brew is just your average cuppa. There is also a clean setting, where you can add a coffee cleaner solution (or your own vinegar and water mix) to the water reservoir and it will go through a cleaning cycle. I’ve already tried this and not much to say other than it takes about a half hour to run through its cycle…

The Coffee Maker computers want to take over…or Sarca’s a control freak

As much as I like complete control over my own appliances, there is just no escaping the tiny computers manufacturers are compelled to install in them. The Ninja 12-Cup attempts to maintain some control over their human overlords…The maker itself is easy to use and runs quietly – until the brew cycle ends when it announces the coffee is ready by way of 5 short beeps in succession. Unfortunately, you can’t shut that feature off, but at least the beeps aren’t sirens. Now, why would there be an alarm on a coffee maker?? People should just be able to wake up and smell the ‘jo. Ninja Dude, we don’t need your help. Ninja isn’t the only one to adopt beeps at the end of the brewing cycle…my Mother-in-law’s Breville maker does the same thing. What I’d like to know from coffee maker manufacturers is why so many beeps?? Wouldn’t one do? Why beep at all??

Typical among coffee makers, you can only program one start time with the Ninja 12-Cup, except with this one, If you program the maker and then decide to change anything with the time or type of brew, the maker will blink and beep a dozen times warning warning warning you that a program has already been set! Do not mess with the program! This was one “feature” I did not expect.

One complaint I generally have about coffee makers is that a lot of them insist on turning off automatically after two hours; I’ve heard the reason is to reduce risk of fire. I have always hated that: “Why can’t I tell you when to turn off?!” Sadly, the Ninja 12-Cup won’t let me turn off that feature either, but, it provides a compromise where I am able to change the shut-off window from 2 to 4 hours. Yay, finally some control!

I am not an expert here, only that the Ninja 12-Cup will now be our 6th drip coffee maker to be carried over our threshold in 22 years (not to mention the PARADE of electric percolators we’ve owned too!). That said, I’m not going to say the Ninja 12-Cup makes the best coffee ever tasted, because it doesn’t. But, between the hubs and I, we both agree it makes a pretty decent cup for what you can get out of a drip maker. The coffee was hot and its warming element maintains heat, but again, it’s still not nearly as hot as we are used to with percolated coffee made on the stove (likely because we are not dealing with boiling water with a drip coffee maker). Something has to be said for the taste though, and the Ninja 12-Cup gives probably the best tasting at-home drip coffee I’ve had in a long while.

So, all things considered, if you are seeking a new drip coffee maker, the Ninja 12-Cup Programmable Brewer gets a nod from me.

[For the Love of ‘Fee] Fresco Percolator: Still the Perfect Perc One Year Later

I thought I would take this opportunity to share an update on my “endless search for the perfect perc”. As anyone who has been following along with me knows, the house of Sim has seen its share of coffee cock-ups in relation to our percolators, in that we can’t seem to keep them working. Check out this blogpost, and this one, AND this one for more in-depth analysis.

To recap briefly: since 2011, we have had 6 electronic percolators tramp through our kitchen, including 2 Cuisinart, 2 Hamilton-Beach, one DeLonghi, and one Proctor-Silex. Most have failed within the first year of use. It was frustrating, to say the least.

It wasn’t until we searched for a stove-top perc, that the tides changed for us in the Fresco brand percolator, purchased off of Amazon. I am here to say ONE YEAR ON, the same Fresco from last year is still in use: still functional, still very easy to keep clean, and we are still very happy with it. Best purchase ever!

Last year, within two weeks of using the Fresco percolator, I switched out the plastic top it came with for a Fitz-All glass percolator topper I bought from Home Hardware for $6. A great purchase, and helpful hack. It’s still working well. I can only imagine what that plastic topper would look like today if I kept using it…

The Fitz-All glass topper shown here “fitz” perfectly

Cleaning the Fresco perc is an absolute breeze. It’s dishwasher safe, and if I need to clean out the coffee ground basket, running it through some boiling cleaning vinegar does the trick.

Still, it does take me 20 minutes to brew a pot o’Jo with the stovetop perc. But, whatever, I’ll sacrifice my time for a good cuppa. This Fresco perc is built to last and makes a smooth brew! We are very happy with it; no looking back!

[For the Love of ‘Fee] 100% Freeze-Dried and Van Houtte Colombian Light Instant Coffee

“For the Love of ‘Fee” is one coffee-lover’s attempt to machete through the tangle of coffee beans and brews to find an awesome cup of coffee. Juan Valdez follows ME! 🙂

I can’t believe my luck. A colleague of mine on contract who is replacing someone on parental leave is from Colombia, and…wait for it…her dad worked in the coffee industry there. AND he knows Juan Valdez. That’s right, THE Juan Valdez. (Okay, the actor who portrayed Juan Valdez…still counts!) Her family knows coffee!

I’ve learned two things from her regarding coffee:

The best coffee in Colombia is actually exported out of the country to places like North America.
A lot of Colombians drink INSTANT COFFEE. Yep, they do.

That second one almost melted my brains. Really?? Why when they are surrounded by coffee, would they rather drink awful instant coffee?

Well, folks, the secret is in the type of instant coffee. My colleague says I need to look out for 100% freeze-dried instant coffee, not the average crystalized instant coffee like Folgers or Maxwell House that is predominant in the grocery store ’round here. She brought to me a jar of instant coffee straight from Colombia to “show and smell”. Turns out there are differences: the freeze-dried coffee appears lighter in colour, and more granular or chunkier than what I am used to seeing. Also, the aroma of freeze-dried is different – less acrid, more like coffee. She explained freeze dried is of much better quality than your average instant because of how it’s been processed.

Back in 2016, I wrote about my hatred for instant coffee in general. I even developed a hack to make it taste better! There wasn’t much of a choice around where I live with what was available. I had to deal with the instant coffee crystals of Folgers or Maxwell House.

Which brings me to this week’s food run…It was my usual night of grocery shopping that lead me down the coffee aisle for anything new. This is where I was delighted to find Van Houtte Colombian Light 100% freeze-dried instant coffee. The coffee is sold in a glass jar, and I immediately recognized the chunky look of the granules. Van Houtte is a Montreal, Quebec company and from experience, I know Van Houtte to make a pretty good cup of brewed coffee. To find freeze-dried instant coffee in the aisles without begging my colleague to bring me back a jar of Colombian the next time she’s home was great, but seeing the Van Houtte name was even better! I immediately put the jar into my cart.

Yesterday afternoon, I cracked open that jar and did the sniff test, comparing it to the Folgers we had stuck in the back of the pantry – of course, the freeze-dried smelled better! The Folgers smelled like someone needed to take a bath (to put it mildly). In the spectrum of instant coffee smells, the 100% freeze-dried is more like ground coffee, and definitely less acrid than coffee crystals. I made myself and the hubs a cup of Van Houtte following the directions on the jar (add boiling water or milk to granules). The results were pretty palatable. The hubs commented how smooth-tasting it was. I couldn’t help but notice the coffee smelled like COFFEE in the cup for once instead of some weird drink. After I finished my coffee, the thought crossed my mind that keeping some of this on-hand in my office would be a lot better than the Folgers I have sitting there collecting dust.

No doubt, I am not a big fan of instant coffee, but, to be constructively critical, if there was a type of instant to keep in the cupboard, 100% freeze-dried instant is the way to go…I’ve certainly tasted a lot worse in the instant coffee department! And Van Houtte Colombian Light 100% freeze-dried instant coffee is a good one.

[For the Love of ‘Fee] Rise Up Coffee Roasters Organic House Roast

‘For the Love of ‘Fee’ is one coffee-lover’s attempt to machete through the tangle of coffee beans and brews to find an awesome cup of coffee. Juan Valdez follows ME! 🙂

The Cartridge Club Con in Chicago, July 2018

The main purpose for our travel to Chicago, Illinois this summer was to meet up with some friends from the Cartridge Club. We’ve known most of them for a long time, and some we’ve only had an online friendship. This trip, I was excited to meet the Retro Nonsense Crew, Duke and Tara, and their three children in person. They are from Maryland, and were just as excited to meet us. When we met, Duke told me he had some local coffee from Maryland for me to try; Rise Up Coffee Roasters’ coffee. He handed me half a pound bag of their organic House Roast and explained this is the place they like to go. Let me tell you, the beans did not disappoint!

Maybe it’s because we have been finishing off old freezer coffee from Kevin’s mom’s house for the last month, but when I broke into the bag of Rise Up beans, the kitchen smelled like a coffee shop! Them beans were aromatic! The bag boasts that the blend therein has chocolate undertones, and I could certainly smell that. It just smelled so good, I wanted to jump inside!

And then I ground the beans…the place smelled heavenly! The percolator did them justice, and the brewed coffee was delicious with only hints of sweet from the chocolate. Those beans permeated the house so well that even after a long day out of the house, we could still smell the coffee that had been brewed at 6 AM. I was not disappointed!

According to Rise Up’s website, they sell only 100% Organic Fair Trade coffee, which says something about who they are. In fact, their opening page says, The farmer who grew this coffee should receive the glory. We are among the fortunate who get to roast their beautiful coffees and share them with you.” Indeed!

My mug depicts Lawren Harris’s “Lake and Mountain, 1928”. Only the best for this ‘fee!

A big Thank You goes out to Duke and Tara for sharing this Maryland favourite. Kevin and I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘fee, and I can see why this has become a favourite of yours!

[For the Love of ‘Fee] The Endless Plight of the Perfect Perc: Stovetop vs Electric

‘For the Love of ‘Fee’ is one coffee-lover’s attempt to machete through the tangle of coffee beans and brews to find an awesome cup of coffee. Juan Valdez follows ME! 🙂

Our electric Hamilton Beach percolator started to eff up in January. Yup, that one; the one I wrote about last June. I thought we’d at least get a year out of the new one. Wow, they really don’t make ’em like they used to. Blast!

We had decided when we replaced the last percolator last summer that we’d need to have a replacement in the cupboard, but we never thought we’d need one so quickly. Then, after Christmas, for a week straight we dealt with cold half-brewed coffee. We can’t have that! What to do when the only two types of electric percolators for sale in Canada are Hamilton Beach and Cuisinart. I’ve had both, and haven’t been able to hold on to one for longer than 2 years.

I can’t say that I have been 100% satisfied with the electric perc as an appliance when they did work. Aside from the convenience of plugging it in and walking away, there are some design flaws with them that aren’t great. They are hard to keep clean. Coffee grounds go everywhere (and I am not sure how when I grind to the coarsest setting…). You can’t submerge them in water for a good soak. In some cases, there are water indicator windows that clog up with coffee that will never see a bottle brush. And some of ’em won’t even fit my lady hand in through the top for cleaning which has been the case with the Hamilton Beach. Simply for those design reasons, my percs have – on occasion – looked like they have been pumping out sludge coffee in a backroom steel mill since the 80s. Nope, plug-in percs will never get the Good Housekeeping seal from me.

Before this latest percolator passed, the hubs and I revisited the idea of a stove top one like we had when we were po’ church mice 20 years ago. Back then, we were donned this new-fangled thing called a stove top percolator…It was aluminum and had these parts that were unfamiliar. I was used to drip coffee makers! But, hey we figured it out. And, it made the best coffee; I had never tasted coffee so good! Looking back, I am sure a lot of the magic with stove top percs is you are in control of the heat and brewing time. Now that we were under the gun with getting a working perc, we pulled out our old Black and Decker drip maker (the backup of the backup ;)) while a search was on for a stove top perc on Amazon.

Amazingly, we found one in a company from Quebec – Fresco. It’s a stainless steel 12-cup perc. And since the hubs has Prime, it arrived in under two days. The experience has been great!

It looks great! No coffee grounds in the coffee! It’s easy to keep clean and it’s dishwasher safe! I have also used some cleaning vinegar to keep the insides in good order.

About the only thing I can say that would make this the PERFECT PERC is if the top knob were made of glass. Fresco thought it was a good idea to use a plastic knob on the top. The plastic cracked up within the first two weeks, and got all stained. WHY PLASTIC, FRESCO?

Others on Amazon are not satisfied with the plastic knob either. But, one guy on there had the right idea and shared he bought a glass knob that fits a wide range of percs. Amazon sells it for $15. Great idea! I found that knob for cheaper – $6 from Home Hardware down the street. Thank you very much! Works like a charm.

NOW I have the PERFECT PERC. It looks awesome and works awesome. Finally!

I concede it does take us 20 minutes to make coffee. Most people would not want any of that, but sometimes if you want great things, you got to work for it. Take that, Tims!

Waiting…waiting patiently for deliciousness

Keeping the coffee hot after brewing is an area that was a sticking point with me and what was preventing me from moving to a stove top perc in the first place: I didn’t want to keep the stove on all morning. But, I was lucky to acquire a big Stanley Thermos that holds a good amount of ‘fee and keeps it hot. So this situation has turned out to be a win-win!

Enjoy your cuppa! I certainly am!

[For the Love of ‘Fee] (PART 2) If a Percolator Dies in a Kitchen, Does Sarca Make a Sound?

…Not only does she make a sound, Sarca’s whole family makes a sound!

If you’ve been reading this blog and remember the last time my percolator died (Sept. 2014), you’ll understand the struggles I faced finding a replacement.

Its successor was a Hamilton Beach electronic percolator. My household used it lovingly until last Sunday when it stopped drawing power after it brewed a pot, and it never came back. I have to say it was on borrowed time, as it would periodically lose power mid brew, and then repeatedly try to percolate about 3 times before it was satisfied the coffee was hot enough. It’s been doing that behavior for a better part of a year.

Why not just replace it with any old coffee maker? Because, I’m stubborn, and enjoy a perked cup. And honestly, as I have previously opined on the subject, there aren’t much in the way of choices here in Ontario for electronic percolators. My research shows, not much has changed since 2014: people still love their Kuerigs, Starbucks and Timmy Ho-Hos. Few seem to brew at home any more, and percolating is obviously a dead technology, relegated to manual campfire percolators and catering coffee urns. I got the memo, people, loud and clear! No more perc!

But, I still buck that hive-mind mentality. I am forever on the lookout for a decent percolator, even when my perc is working. On Amazon and coffee fan sites, I read reviews like they are the Bible on Sunday. I’ve even taken to Value Village to see if I can find another gently used percolator; my first electronic perc being a Proctor-Silex from VV that introduced me to this way of electronic brewing in the first place.

Last winter, I found a DeLonghi percolator that didn’t look like it had ever been used. This model came with an adjustable setting, giving you the ability to perc a light or dark brew! SCORE! I kept it in storage for situations like this week when my Hamilton Beach would bite the big one. I took it out of the cupboard, and got it running. And welllll…..

I can see why the DeLonghi was barely used, and given away to Value Village…franky, it brews a TERRIBLE cup of coffee. I took this week to try to work out the bugs that come with having a new perc – finding the right grind, using the right amount of grounds, etc. But, unfortunately, after trying for five days to get a decent cuppa out of it, it didn’t work out. There was no aroma…there was no taste…the coffee was practically hot water, even after adjusting the settings to perc a dark brew! The hubs didn’t like it. I didn’t like it. And now my visiting in-laws didn’t like it! Time to fix this – FAST!

The solution is, of course, to buy another percolator. But which? Because of a lack of percolator popularity, there are STILL only TWO main electronic percs on the market that are readily available around here at stores accessible to me: Cuisinart and Hamilton Beach. You look online, and the top two 5-starred percs happen to be from Cuisinart and Hamilton Beach (and no surprise why…those are the only ones being made right now! Of course they are highly revered!)

From past experience, I concluded the Cuisinart percolator isn’t great; a little less than a year and it was giving us problems. At least we had more longevity with Hamilton Beach! The hubs encouraged me (out of practicality or caffeine withdrawal) to stop the search, and just buy the next option…the low-hanging fruit…the Hamilton Beach.

What? Buy another one?

Yup, I went to my local Walmart Friday night and bought another Hamilton Beach percolator. There isn’t much choice out there, and for what it’s worth, for all the whining I have done on how cheaply they manufacture these things, the Hamilton Beach percolator does make a good home perked coffee. Who knows, maybe I’ll get another 2.5 years out of this one too. Fingers crossed. I think in terms of coffee makers, this is number 7 in 20 years. Obsolescence is alive and well!

Enjoy your ‘fee today! I know finally I am!

[For the Love of ‘Fee] A Word on Instant Coffee (and a Hack)

‘For the Love of ‘Fee’ is one coffee-lover’s attempt to machete through the tangle of coffee beans and brews to find an awesome cup of coffee. Juan Valdez follows ME! 🙂

Let me put this out there – in my opinion, instant coffee isn’t that great. I have not been its biggest fan since… forever! To me it tastes bitter. It can do a small tapdance on my tummy. And, frankly, it is no substitute for real brewed coffee. Yet, I still drink it.

I work on a college campus, and believe me, there is no lack of places to buy coffee; there is a Tim Hortons, a Starbucks, a Williams Coffee Pub, the student-run café that sells Lavazza coffee, Roasters coffee, the Second Cup…dude, the campus ain’t that big, but holy Toledo, there are places to buy coffee. It might seem simple to just buy a fresh cup of brew and be done. Sure, I’ll buy coffee on occasion, but it can add up!

Budgets being what they are, I bought myself a 4-cup coffee maker a few years ago and would brew my own coffee for a time in my office. But going on almost a year ago now, the department I work for relocated into a new building. Where the office is situated, there is no kitchenette with a sink close by where I would be able to clean out the carafe and throw away the grinds properly. So instead, I boil some water in my little kettle to make some instant coffee. Although a sink with running water is out of the question, I am not in a complete food desert – I have a drawer in my office where I keep dry condiments: salt, pepper, sugar, as well as tea bags, Coffee Mate, and of course, instant coffee. I do have access to fresh water, by way of a filling station around the corner from my office. And even though I have Coffee Mate (because there is no milk close by) and sugar that I use in my instant coffee, these condiments don’t seem to help to lose the bitter taste.

My usual practice: Boil water using a kettle. Place a teaspoon of instant coffee crystals in a cup. Add boiling water to crystals and stir. Then add sugar and Coffee Mate. Seems pretty common, right?

Earlier this week, I decided I had endured instant coffee as I have known it for the last time. I took to the internet to see if I could hack those crystals into a more palatable beverage. Some solutions were idiotic: “why don’t you quit instant and brew a pot of coffee?” Another site suggested I buy a higher quality instant coffee; now that solution would make sense in theory. My problem is that no matter what kind of instant coffee I have tried, they all seem to have a similar taste. Besides the fact there is nothing fancier for sale around here than Nescafe, Folgers and generic brand (Equate, Compliments, No Name…). In any case, I have resigned myself to hacking whatever crystals I have available.

So, thanks to some Googling around, the solution I came up with is as follows:

Boil fresh water.
Add a teaspoon full of crystals to your cup.
Add sugar and coffee mate* to the crystals.
THEN, add fresh water* (a little less than a quarter cup) to the dry mix in your cup and stir.
Add boiling water to the cup and stir.

Voila. Coffee!

Two things I noticed with this method: no strong smell and no bitter taste.

Why mix the dry ingredients first, then add liquid? Common sense: powder mixes better when you add liquid to it, not the other way around. Science!

Why add fresh water to the dry mix first? No reason, other than it works! I have read that boiling water is excellent for tea (for the steeping), but that the water in the coffee maker doesn’t quite reach the boiling point when you brew a pot of coffee. Apparently, if you have the water too hot it can marr the taste of the crystals. Adding some cold water obviously tempers the hot water, and added bonus: you can actually drink the coffee right away once it’s prepared. Makes sense to me! I have been using this method the last three mornings, and have been enjoying instant coffee for the first time in recent memory.

Do you like instant coffee or hate it? Do you have any coffee hacks? Share in the comments!

*Cold milk would probably be a decent substitute for the Coffee Mate and fresh water. I just don’t have access to it on a regular basis.

The Flames Almost Rose to My Roman Nose

It seems like lately all I have been doing is putting out fires…mostly at work, mind you, but tonight it followed me home.

I was attempting to make pork chops in the toaster oven, and almost set my kitchen ablaze.

Now, before you go and gaffaw about my cooking abilities, I am going to arrogantly say that I have been told I am a decent cook (or so my husband says, and he was raised by the best cook I know – my mother-in-law…and he is brutally honest, so there you go). The cause of the blaze was due to using parchment paper instead of foil as a liner to the baking sheet, and a corner of it brushed against the hot element located on the roof of the oven, setting a tiny fire in my Proctor Silex just a couple of minutes after I had put the chops in. Thankfully, I was in the room preparing the baked potatoes when I caught a glimpse of an orange flame inside the toaster oven.

Surprisingly, I didn’t panic (which is not my M.O.). I calmly, but quickly grabbed the corner of the baking sheet with some tongs and dropped the whole thing in the sink. I moved the meat off the tray and placed it on a plate I had nearby as the flames extinguished. The pork chops were salvaged, by the way. I moved the whole operation to my main oven.

Them chops were delicious!

If one smoldering fire wasn’t enough for one evening, I found another fire burning a hole in my mailbox when I got home from work tonight…and no, it wasn’t a burning bag of crap. 😉 It was a big surprise, since my husband has been receiving parcels in the mail almost daily, and now I get one! Instantly, I could tell who it was from – the address written in black capitals, and an aroma of java wafting from the box. Aaron from KeepsMeAlive sent over a surprise parcel to me!…Totally unexpected…and totally came at a great time.

Inside was a card of Season’s Greetings from Aaron, along with a pound of Moonbean coffee (the man stopped in to his favourite coffee joint when he and Mike were in Toronto!). Not a stranger to Moonbean, Aaron has sent me their coffee before, each time a different type of brew. This time, the roast is called “Awakenings” and from its aroma, it smells like the kind of coffee that could kick my butt into high gear in the morning! No doubt, it will be highly praised by this coffee-lover!

Another surprise appeared with the coffee – a CD…Zappacosta’s “Quick!…Don’t Ask Questions…” I was surprised to see that! I have yet to listen to this album in its entirety, but no doubt it’s classic Zappacosta, with recognizable-to-me songs as “Letter Back” and “the Only One.” Considering I was asking for ANY Zappacosta on my grail list, this was quite a shock to receive, and it was in great condition, to boot!

One BIG THANK YOU to Aaron for sending this package along to me!! It was a big surprise to me that means so much! 🙂

[For the Love of ‘Fee] Eight O’Clock Coffee

‘For the Love of ‘Fee’ is one coffee-lover’s attempt to machete through the tangle of coffee beans and brews to find an awesome cup of coffee. Juan Valdez follows ME! 🙂

Lately, I have only been surviving on one cup of coffee a day. I blame my busy work schedule and the pressure to get moving in the morning, so I haven’t made time to sit and enjoy my usual cup. I guess that isn’t a bad thing per se, but I have to say that I am glad it’s the weekend so I can actually sit and enjoy more than one cup. And this morning, I sit with a cup of Eight O’Clock Coffee.

If memory serves, Eight O’Clock Coffee is exclusive to Metro and A&P stores. My first taste of this brew was back when my sister and I lived together in London, Ontario, which is actually where I had my first cup of coffee. It was inexpensive on a student’s budget, aromatic and delicious, even when brewed using our 4-cup Mr. Coffee drip-o-matic.

There is something nostalgic and familiar about Eight O’Clock coffee…the light and friendly scent that reminds you of sitting at the kitchen table with fresh toast and peanut butter, a newspaper, and a fresh hot cup of coffee. As a household coffee standard, its taste surpasses Maxwell House and Folgers, in my opinion. Never bitter, smooth taste.

I love grinding these beans and smelling that aroma, especially after you spent the last week with another flavour that you got tired of*. And I get three glorious cups of it! Yes, please.

If you are ever searching for a decent generic coffee that smells good, tastes good and is an excellent stand-by coffee, Eight O’Clock Coffee is your brew.

8.5 / 10

*Kicking Horse Pipeline, if you must know. Not a bad one, but Kicking Horse make better flavours. I have written about them previously here.

Trivia time: What company is represented on my mug in the cupface pic? Where have you seen this company before?

Update on a previous ‘fee story…

Remember this cup from my Moonbeam Devil’s Brew ‘fee review?

This is a mug from Casey’s Bar and Grill, a restaurant that originated in my hometown of Sudbury, Ontario. Its Kingsway location still existed until this past summer when they shuttered the joint to become…another phony authentic Irish / Scottish / Whothehellknowsanymore pub chain Fionn MacCool’s? Bah! (What makes it worse, is that Sudz already has one of these in the South End.) RIP Casey’s…

[For the Love of ‘Fee] To go: McDonald’s McCafe Coffee

‘For the Love of ‘Fee’ is one coffee-lover’s attempt to machete through the tangle of coffee beans and brews to find an awesome cup of coffee. Juan Valdez follows ME! 🙂

Raunchy Ronnie’s, McDohNo’s, Starchy Archies…however you like to call McDonald’s, it’s hard to beat the plastic food rap.

I was a frequent flyer at McDo’s growing up, but an awareness of healthy eating and a necessity to save my pennies over the years put a serious damper on that. Truth be told, I have not eaten at McDonald’s since 2003, around the time they came out with those breakfast sandwiches with the syrup-infused french toast (blech). I also recall their coffee as being an afterthought, and pretty watered down. Really, I would expect a place the caters more to children to care more about what goes into a Happy Meal than what goes into their coffee. If the food doesn’t agree, and the coffee tastes bad, I really have no reason to go to McDonlad’s, right?

The hubs and I were talking take-out coffee recently. He said these days his coworkers swear by McDonald’s coffee, preferring it over Tim Hortons coffee (which, to anyone not Canadian, is the number 1 take out coffee shop in Canada). The opposite is true were I work. Having a Tim Hortons, Timothy’s coffee (no relation to Tim Hortons), three other coffee take-outs and most recently a Starbucks right on our college campus, there is no lack of coffee joints, but the favourite seems to be Tim Hortons. I don’t have a dog in this fight in case you are wondering…I’ll take my coffee cheap and tasty, please. I don’t care where it comes from! But, I pass by several McDonald’s and never think about going in.

It was our recent trip to North Bay, and lack of caffeine that made us want to try something different. We made a stop at a McDonald’s in Sturgeon Falls to try this so-called great coffee. Gone are the days of Higgins and Burke coffee (what McD’s served way back in the day), replacing it with its own brand and brew called McCafe. The hubs and I ordered two large coffees with milk, and paid just over $3 for both.

Well, bad coffee at McDonald’s is a thing of the past, folks! The votes are in and I am now a convert! The coffee was aromatic the instant I flipped open the lid. Although the cup had a “Caution Hot” warning, the temperature of the coffee was not a usual “nuclear hot” so I was able to take a slow sip immediately.

The coffee tasted great, almost like I would have made at home; bold with a smooth aftertaste. I felt comforted by its aroma to the extent it made me sad to see the bottom of my cup. Seriously, I was surprised this came from McDonald’s!