Tag: coffee lovers

Caffè Nero Advent Calendar

advent calendar, Christmas, coffee, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Caffè Nero have sent us their first ever advent calendar, complete with 24 days of Nespresso capsules to try their range of delicious coffee.

The advent windows reveal 6 different flavoured coffees; Classico, Siena, Napoletano, Brazil, Colombia and Classico Decafinated.  Each flavour is a different strength from 6-9 and the details of the origins of each coffee as well as their strengths is detailed on the back. Siena is their brand new blend, made with 100% Aribica beans and is exclusively available through Caffè Nero’s at-home range.  There’s even the popular Classico but a decaffeinated version for anyone who wants to enjoy their coffee this December, a bit more guilt-free!

The advent calendar is obviously aimed at adults but I don’t see why coffee-loving teenagers wouldn’t like this. The front of the calendar is really attractive with the Caffè Nero branch in Covent Garden, London illustrated. Where many companies are now only doing the 12 Days of Christmas, it’s refreshing to have a full 24 days.  If you own a Nespresso coffee machine and don’t want to splash out on a whole new range of flavours in case you don’t like them, then the Caffè Nero Advent Calendar is a fabulous way of trying new flavours without the expense. It makes for a great gift as well, especially for those who are so difficult to buy for!

Available from £17.99 at: https://onlineshop.caffenero.com/gift-ideas/coffee-advent-calendar/

Pact Coffee Christmas Selection Box

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, coffee, eco friendly, Family Life, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Home, Subscription Boxes

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

The Pact Coffee Christmas Selection Box opens to reveal the words, “Christmas Just Got Better” and for anyone who loves coffee, that is certainly true!  The Pact Christmas Selection Box contains 4 freshly roasted flavours of coffee all for the festive season; Nyangoma, San Carlos, Kiri and Christmas Blend Filter, all of which are roasted in Surrey and delivered to your door within a few days!

Pact Coffee produce specialty grade (the very best) coffee which is delivered to your door as either a gift, or as a subscription. You can look through the online catalogues of coffee to choose which you would like delivered or have a subscription box where different varieties are delivered to your door. You get to choose whether you want beans or ground, regular or decaf and the type of plan which suits you best including how regularly they are delivered.

We were sent a Christmas Selection Box of 4 coffees to try as part of the Christmas product range for 2023. After choosing our ground or whole bean options, it wasn’t long before the coffee aromas were wafting through our door and filling the kitchen!  Honestly, opening the box when they arrived, there was a wall of coffee smell that hit me and I realised what was inside. Gorgeous, freshly roasted ground coffee all ready for the cafetiere. 

Much like wine is described with fruity undertones and comparisons to oak aging, these Pact Coffees have tasting notes on the front of each pack Kiri boasts, “Turkish delight and blackcurrant’ whist Christmas Blend describes itself as, ‘Hints of Christmas pudding.’ Each of the coffees has their own personality thanks to where and how they’re grown in origins such as Kenya, El Salvador and in the case of the Christmas Blend, how it’s put together by the clever experts at Pact.  Pact choose their coffees carefully and make sure they’re of the highest quality as well as having more than 82+ points in coffee scoring. Not only are they great flavoured coffees and the best possible quality, but each one warms you with their differences and yes, remind you of Christmas!

In addition, Pact coffees come in recycled coffee pouches and can be further recycled. Pact are a B Corp Certified Company which means they act in both a sustainable and ethical way with their suppliers in overseas countries. They include brewing tips on each of the pouches too so that you can get the most out of each coffee you try at home. The labels also give you background to where each coffee is grown and the date the coffee is roasted and packed too so you know that your coffee is tip-top fresh!

Take drinking coffee to a new level with the Christmas Selection Pact choice of different blends, origins and tastes which allow you to really savour the Christmas spirit, and take you into the New Year with some new coffee favourites!

Available at Pact from £19.95: https://www.pactcoffee.com/christmas/christmas-filter-selection-box-2023

Pact Coffee Advent Calendar

advent calendar, Christmas, coffee, Family Life, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Coffee makes a lot of people happy. I have an office which runs on either coffee, chocolate (or both) and the discussions around the finer points of both food stuffs are both daily and endless. Which is better, filtered or cafetiere coffee? South American or Kenyan? Dark roasted or lightly roasted? (apparently that’s a thing) and more importantly, where do you buy your coffee from?

Pact Coffee, the British coffee roasters have brought out their most extravagant coffee advent calendar to date.  Packed with 25 different coffee roasts, I wondered how it was going to arrive with enough coffee included in each day to allow at least one cup of coffee to be made. Surely they weren’t little windows like the chocolate calendars have?  Well, last week a box arrived and my questions were answered. Inside the slightly bigger than shoebox sized calendar were 25 filed packets of individually sourced coffees from around the world. If you can’t get your head around how they’re presented, have a look at the photo and it makes sense!

Now you might be wondering why there are 25 packets and not the usual 24? Well Pact Coffee have decided to include their Special Christmas Blend so that you can sit back on Christmas Day and enjoy a coffee, in the knowledge that you have spent the whole of December sampling everything from specialty coffees to luxury and rare coffees. Sourced from 8 countries and all carefully selected, the coffees showcase the best of stock that Pact have to offer. On the inside of the lid is a QR code so that you can access the menu online and choose to buy the coffee at a later date. There’s up to 200 different roasts to choose from online at any time and the menu changes over the year too.

For example, Day 1 is the Kiri coffee. The card has the packet attached, clearly stating that it’s Day 1 (so if they become slightly dislodged in the box, you can still match them up). The card explains that Kiri is grown by a collective of smallholder farmers in Kenya and on the back it gives more of a background – hints of blackcurrant jam, light roast and even the variety.  It’s grown in the high altitudes and the cooperative who grow it operates with a luxuriously lengthy washing process.

I tried several of the coffees over the weekend, but there are so many, it’s best to follow them in order and one a day if you want to get the full benefit! The best one out of the handful I tried was Kibirizi Washed. The Rwandan coffee has a hint of orange marmalade and is only lightly roasted with a silky mouthfeel. Divine!

If you’re not into advent calendars then this would make a lovely gift for a family or to create conversation in the office before you purchase a Pact Coffee subscription. It’s really easy to find the roasts online to be able to pick out anything you want from their menu, and the variety of coffees is a great way to sample something other than your usual. Coffee lovers will adore it!

Currently available for £29.95 at: https://www.pactcoffee.com/christmas/ground-pact-coffee-advent-calendar-23

Blue Goose Eco Coffee Pod Advent Calendar

advent calendar, Christmas, coffee, eco friendly, Family Life, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Home, Home & Garden, Plastic free, Sustainable

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Every advent, what could you buy your other half that you know they would truly love, and need, without breaking the bank? The Blue Goose Coffee Pod Advent Calendar!

Before you rush out and get the calendars for the kids, have a look at this grown-up calendar. With all 24 days of advent, there are Nespresso compatible, organic coffee pods behind every door. They’re also compostable too!

There are 8 different flavours behind the windows, each with different colouring so that you can tell which is which. From Award-Winning Peruvian, Ethiopian Forest Coffee and even Swiss Water Decaff, there’s something for everyone. Plus, you get to try some coffee blends you wouldn’t normally buy, just without the price tag!

At just under £25 at the moment (Blue Goose have a sale on) it means that each pod is a little over £1 each – much cheaper than Nespresso and these pods are able to be made in the regular Nespresso machines.  The recommended shot volume is 35ml with a maximum of 65ml.  There’s a nice variety of flavours in this calendar, so you don’t get bored but you don’t feel like there are too many to choose from. The menu on the back makes it easy to work out which flavour you are brewing by the letters behind the windows.

Although made by Blue Goose, these pods are all Nespresso and Calendar machine compatible, but as you can imagine, at a lower price.  The pods are all home-compostable and are both plastic and aluminium free. As a Carbon Neutral company, they also pride themselves on being community conscious and provide employment to local Devon people with disabilities.  Blue Goose have also recently won a BOOM award from the Soil Association for being able to demonstrate their support for the organic industry.

Rather than spend this Christmas on the big names, Blue Goose is the alternative that’s more environmentally friendly, organic and yet still has delicious coffee!

Available on sale at £24.99 (regular price £29.99) at: https://bluegoose.coffee/products/advent-calendar

GRIND Coffee and Henry Holland

Birthday Gifts, coffee, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Home, Home & Garden, Plastic free, Subscription Boxes

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Coffee lovers everywhere are aware of GRIND, the Shoreditch based independent coffee company who have gone astronomical in the last few years.  If you’re not aware of them, then where have you been?

GRIND pride themselves on being, “The planet’s favourite coffee” after opening a Shoreditch coffee shop, then having fresh roasted coffee delivered to your door. No doubt the pandemic helped with the popularity of home delivered coffee but since then, GRIND have launched a Nespresso compatible pod which biodegrade in a matter of weeks, launched a charity (The Better Coffee Foundation) and now have a collaboration with artists, including Henry Holland. 

We were sent a lovely sample of their House Blend straight from their Shoreditch office, and along with it, one of the Henry Holland special edition coffee tin. There are other homeware items available too, and there will be more in the future which compliment your coffee tastes and kitchen together.

The Home Roast flavour of coffee is what Cheddar is to cheese – if you’re a lover of the stuff, you’ll go for the best available out there and ignore the cheap imitations whilst at the same time you can’t not like it.  The Home Roast is a rich flavour without any of the bells and whistles often added (or claimed to have) from other roaster. It’s just good, honest coffee anyone can enjoy with the versatility to be used in any type of latte, cappuccino or anything else you want to try. Actually, this would be a good coffee for an awesome tiramisu wouldn’t it?

The Henry Holland Coffee tin is not only handy but beautiful. Before today, in our house we only kept the opened coffee in their resealable packets, leaving them open to the moisture in the air. Now, we have the perfect sealed tin to keep coffee fresh and it’s got all the feels of a trendy kitchen too!  Able to store the GRIND bag of coffee (225 grams worth) it fits nicely in the mug cupboard or behind the kettle for daily use.

Henry Holland also produces a limited edition coffee mug, which is currently out of stock. I’m sure there will be more products and more collaborations in the future though!

GRIND Coffee and Henry Holland Tin (you can choose your coffee) available for £14.00 at: https://grind.co.uk/products/henry-holland-whole-bean-and-ground

Artisan Coffee Co’s. Chocolate Flight and Coffee Pairings

Birthday Gifts, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Summer

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

We were very excited to learn that it’s World Chocolate Day on 7th July, which gives us a perfect excuse to test out some chocolate, and what better than Artisan Coffee Company’s Chocolate Flight and Coffee Selection Box. Chocolate AND coffee!

If you’re not familiar with Tasting Experiences, there is a leaflet enclosed which explains it all; testing the individual coffee bags with their corresponding chocolates, each flavour of chocolate and coffee designed to bring out the richness in each other. For example, testing the coffee called The Genius (no 161) with the chocolate called Wonderously Complex, you should be able to taste the rich cocoa flavour, some pecan notes and a touch of raisin and malt. 

Artisan Coffee began in 2019 after conversations about coffee between a coffee research scientist, an entrepreneur and a sommelier of coffee, known as a Q Grader in the business. It’s no wonder the company was named ‘Artisan Coffee Co’ when the team decided to concentrate on bringing the flavour of coffee to the masses and after a year of doing so, brought in Ashley Palmer-Watts; chef and coffee fanatic.  He designed a range of flavoursome chocolates which harmonised flavours between the coffee and the chocolates. 

The coffee in most cases on the Artisan website is in coffee bags – an ingenious way of getting a characterful cup of coffee without having to brew up beans and filter. Now that we’re all working from home, coffee bags make more sense, or even bringing in a few to the office when we have to makes better sense, but this Tasting Experience box also has coffee pods. So whether you’re working from home or commuting, there’s an option on how to enjoy your roast.  The chocolates are individually wrapped and remind me of after dinner luxuries.

The tasting experience card explains exactly how to set up the coffee and what the pairing of chocolates are to the tastes. This is a great after dinner exercise, or date night fun as you try each coffee with each chocolate. I’m not a great coffee lover, so trying the coffees over a few nights, you really get a taste for the pairings and start to taste the differences. The idea of combining the coffees with gorgeous chocolates is really appealing, and makes the experience more fun.

It may be World Chocolate Day and a chance to try some top class artisan chocolate, but you’ll be forgiven if you want to use it as an excuse to taste some of the best coffees on offer too!

The Ultimate Coffee Selection Box is available from £34.99 at:

The Ultimate Coffee Selection Box