Keurig Beverage System Review

The Keurig Platinum Brewer arrived on my doorstep two months ago from MS&L Group North America for demo purposes regardless of my reviews, and it has been performing perfectly since I set it up. Right out of the box it was easy to set up and took only 15 minutes to clean, fill with water and get it ready for my first cup of coffee. One really cool feature you noticed right away was the blue lighting under the water reservoir and the blue display LCD Control Panel.

The LCD panel is the brains of the operation, you can decide what cup size to brew, small cup, small mug, large mug, travel mug or iced beverage setting. Each one brews to a specific amount of fluid so you can tweak your desired strength of beverage to your personal taste. Now, you become the barista and decide how you want your coffee, and without the wait or hassle! If you wake up dragging your feet perhaps you need a small cup of espresso or maybe you the sun is shining and birds are singing and you are looking for a light, full-bodied large mug of Morning Roast coffee. In either case with a simple touch of a button, adding your special K-cup blend and pressing the handle brings you a fresh cup of coffee your way!

The cleaning of the unit is also very straightforward. The drip tray holds 12oz of overflow and is easy to remove, rinse and replace. The K-Cup holder Assembly simply snaps out and back in and can either be hand washed or placed onto the top shelf of a dishwasher. Once in a while you may need to clean the Funnel or Exit needle but a simple clog due to grinds can be expressed with a small paperclip pushed up into the needle to loosen the clog. If you live in a heavy lime area instructions to handle De-scaling are included and require you to use white vinegar run through a few brewing cycles and the machine will be good as new.

Enough on the setup and procedures, the real reason this review is being written is to discuss the wonderful beverage selections possible with the Keurig beverage System. There are over 200 varieties of K-Cups so you will never tire of the same old coffee or tea day after day. I prefer to experiment with the blends and actually create some flavor profiles of my own. For instance I like to mix a small brew of Green Mountain Mocha Nut Fudge with Caribou Coffee Caribou Blend. The flavors blend well together and give you almost a liquid snickers bar taste. The blends I’ve found most flavorful were from Caribou Coffee, Green Mountain Coffee, Timothy’s, Tully’s and Gloria Jeans. They do make a reusable coffee filter but with so man choices why bother unless you crave that special blend needed to get you through the day.

That’s not to say that the other blends out there are not superb in their own way, I just prefer the medium and light roasts of the blends previously mentioned. Once in a while I’ll build up to an Extra Bold or Dark Roast for that extra kick in the pants, but not too often. There are also some really wonderful teas in the K-Cup line and I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss the subtle flavors that emanate from the freshly steeped tea. Twinings, Bigelow, Gloria Jeans, Timothy’s and Celestial Seasonings all have some really nice tea profiles.

I will say that I’ve been sadly disappointed with the Hot chocolate blends and honestly disgusted with Timothy’s White Hot Chocolate. The box states ”…decadent white chocolate infused with hints of cream and vanilla…” but that is far from the truth. Imagine an overly sweetened cup of warm milk with a white chocolate Easter bunny left to melt in the cup, and that’s being nice! The flavor was way too sweet, and looked like skim milk as it was being brewed. The Green mountain Hot Cocoa certainly wasn’t this bad but it too was very sweet and lacked any depth of chocolate flavor. My suggestion is to stick with packets of your favorite hot cocoa and brew hot water into your cup from the Keurig and then add the cocoa and stir.

To sum up the entire review and testing of this machine I would say that it earns 10 whisks out of 10 on Chef’s Scott’s demo rating system. The machine is easy to setup, and clean, wonderful to operate and maintain and allows you to create individual flavor profiles without the large brewing mess. Now each guest can have his or her specific blend without brewing pot after pot coffee or tea. You will not be disappointed with your purchase of this machine and I look forward to coming back in a few months with an additional review to let you know how it’s been performing. Until then – happy brewing!

Grill Charms

Once in a while certain items come along and you think, WOW, why didn’t I think of that. These Grill Charms are one of those thoughts. Take a simple concept, flesh it out make it out of high grade metal and you have a quality product. Now instead of cutting into every steak to see which is rare and which is medium you can insert these charms into the meat and keep track of temps and flavors from grill to table.

Not only are they great for steaks, but chicken, pork chops, turkey cutlets and even hamburgers. The charms do not slide out out thanks to the simple cut edges on the sides of the charm. No they are not tie tacks, nor are they small branding irons for the meat; simply insert into the meat, season as you do normally and then grill to your desired doneness. Then have no fear of stacking together on one plate because each piece of meat has a marker that will clearly state the cook’s intentions. I thought for sure the burgers done up with the charms would loose one or two when flipped but they stayed securely in place and made it to the table without any problems. Each guest was happy to see that the meat did not have to be cut or pulled apart to test doneness, nor were the charms hard to pull out before eating.

Another nice feature is the ability to change up seasonings without worry. I love my grilled proteins highly seasoned and my guests not so much, so I push these little charms into the low heat seasoned meats and now when I’m done grilling I can simply point out the charm that the guest selected without them worrying about burning off their tongue. This also helps many guests with allergic reactions to gluten or nuts. Now, by placing a charm into their cut of meat you can know let them know that you followed it from grill to table without any possible marinades or seasoning that wold cause an allergic outbreak. You simply keep those cuts away from the others and offer your guests a piece of mind with an excellently cooked piece of meat.

Grill Charms are an inexpensive and fun way to stay safe and have fun when grilling! They are easy to clean up in the dishwasher or by hand and ready to go at the next outing. I highly recommend these to anyone needing to mark their grilling territory!

When you need need to know, and don't want to cut!

Keurig Platinum Brewer

The new Keurig Platinum Brewer arrived with several boxes of assorted coffees and teas. The setup right out of the box was easy and took less than 10 minutes including the warm up time to allow the water to heat within the beverage system. The first beverages I made were Green Mountain Espresso Roast and Columbia Coffee by Caribou Coffee

Both coffee blends were very flavorful, smooth with a rich aroma. The beverage system worked perfect – stay tuned for more coffee notes from the kitchen!

GreenGourmet from Cuisinart

Take a look at the new 5.5 quart non-stick saute pan from Cuisinart GreenGourmet.