Tassimo Hot Beverage System Review

I love coffee, tea, and on occasion hot cocoa.
Zack loves coffee, espresso, etc.
Emily loves tea and hot cocoa.
Natalie love to drink whatever she can get a hold of. LOL!

These are just some of the reasons that I was so excited to receive a Tassimo T45 Hot Beverage System, free for review.

We didn't wait too long after receiving our tassimo to try it out, only long enough for Zack to get home and help me put it together. My part was to keep the kids busy and he put it together...but I did put in the water filter! The machine was easy enough to put together, following the directions.

The first thing that I loved about the Tassimo was that our model included an optional water filter, and came with an extra filter for later use.
The ease of using the hot beverage system was amazing. The Tassimo uses T-Disks to make whatever beverage you want. There is a barcode on each disk that when inserted into the machine is "read" and within 60 seconds the beverave is ready to drink!
I really liked that the Tassimo came with a disk for cleaning and decalcifying the machine, and the disk fits neatly into a pocket behind the water tank.

For my review, I was also sent four packages of T-Disks: Starbucks Cafe Verona, Starbucks Cappuccino Primo, Twinnings Chai Tea Latte, and Milka Hot Chocolate. I also noticed in the box that the Tassimo Machine came in, there was an offer of receiving a couple packages of free T-Disks just for registering the machine - it is always nice to get a thank you for using an amazing product, huh? :)

Another of the many things that I like about the T45 is that it makes, or can make a variety of drinks including: coffee, espresso, cappucuino, latte, hot chocolate, tea, and even had a t-disk to add real milk creamers to your beverages! We have tried a variety of drinks, sometimes making three drinks one after the other, and have never had any flavor trasfer from one cup to another, that is one of my favorite features of this machine!!!

There were three drawbacks that we have noticed thus far with our tassimo. First, the lattes are not as frothy as they are when you order them in a coffee shop - this does not bother me, but some people really like the froth. Second, there is no way to control the brewing temperature. I really wish that there was an option on the temperature because of making drinks for the kids, or even adults who don't want their beverave that hot. Third, we used our coffee grounds in the compost for our garden, but with the T-Disks it is more difficult and not really worth it to get the grounds out once used - but it is possible!

Overall, I would reccomend this product as we have had great results from it. The retail cost of the Tassimo T45 Hot Beverage System that we were provided with is approximately $169.00, which allthough is quite a bit up front it pays itself off with the savings versus going to a coffee shop.
The price of the T-Disks varies based on what brand and type of drink you are looking for. For example Starbucks coffee ranges from $10.49 to $10.99 for a 12 disk pack, Seattle's Best is $8.99 for 16 T-Disks, you can get espresso starting at only $7.99 for 16 T-disks. For the occassional coffee drinker, this is a great deal: there are no more half pots of wasted coffee. For the person who can sit and drink an entire pot of coffee, this might not be the cheapest way to go, but can make a great addition for those times that you want a specialty drink!

I have more pictures of some of the beveraves that we have made, but my computer is acting up tonight. Hopefully I will be able to upload them soon, and will link back to this review at that time.

If you have any questions for me about my familys' experience with our Tassimo Beverage Machine, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer you!

Yes we were provided a free Tassimo T45 for this review, but the opinions are my own and have not been edited by any one. Thank you for taking the time to read this review.

Community Coffee Company ***Review and Giveaway***

I love a good cup of coffee, that is no secret here! So when the opportunity presented itself to work with another amzing coffee company, Community Coffee Company (CCC) I was excited to say the least!

So let me start this review off by telling you a little bit about the Community Coffee Company. They are the largest family-owned retail coffee brand in the US! They have been opperating for more than 88 years, four generations, in Baton Rouge, LA. The mission of the CCC, from their website, is to share their passion for great coffee with you!

For review, I was sent a Community Coffee Company 16 oz Holiday Tumbler, a 12 oz Café Special® Ground Coffee, and a Private Reserve Holiday Duo.
I am in love with the tumbler because it holds a good amount of coffee, is festive, and is microwaveable! I am one of those people who might, occasionally, pour a cup of coffee and get distracted (can you tell I'm a mom? lol) only to come back later to a cold cup of coffee - so microwaveable is a HUGE bonus for me!
My husband and I are right now enjoying a pot of Holiday Jazz®! It is a great medium-dark roasted coffee, with a pleasant aroma and a full-bodied flavor that doesn't disappoint! The other 12 ounce ground coffee that came in the Private Reserve Holiday Duo is Bread Pudding. I am a bit more reserved about flavored coffees, but this has a pleasant aroma and is not too overpoweing in the flavoring that I can't enjoy the coffee flavor as well. If you are a person who likes flavored coffee, you will probably enjoy this more than we did.
The Café Special® Ground Coffee is a very pleasant coffee, with a very pleasant price tag! This coffee could easily replace the Breakfast Blend that we have been drinking. Café Special® Ground Coffee is a full bodied coffee with a medium-low acidity. It is smooth and delicious!
Community Coffee Company has many amazing products available on their website form coffee to coffee presses and tumblers to canisters and more. They also have an assortment of Gift Sets for every taste, budget, and preference! I am going to share a couple of my favorites with you:

Private Reserve® Gormet Holiday Gift Basket For the coffee lover on your list, our Private Reserve® gourmet coffees will make the perfect treat. This basket includes three 12-oz. whole bean specialty coffees (Breakfast Blend, Louisiana Blend® and House Blend), a 2-oz. bag of Pecan Praline flavored coffee and a 2-oz. bag of French Roast coffee. The set also includes a Coffee-Fresh Canister, ceramic Community Coffee Collectible 1960s mug, premium travel tumbler, logo coffee scoop and a black Bodum coffee grinder. All of this in a beautiful willow basket wrapped for the holidays

All of this for only $69.95!!

Private Reserve Holiday DuoFor all coffee connoisseurs who would love to enhance their coffee experience. We have paired our 12-oz Private Reserve® House Blend ground coffee, a Kenya 12-oz French Press, along with a premium scoop for that perfect measure. All of this is in a festive holiday box with a gift card. (Regularly priced at 28.95)

This gift set for only $23.95!
Another wonderful service that is offered on the CCC website is Military Match Gift Boxes, where if you buy 4, 16 ounce bags ($21.96-$23.96 TOTAL plus flat rate shipping) of coffee for a military person OVERSEAS and send it to an overseas military address (APO/FPO) Community Coffee Company will DOUBLE your order! How cool is that!

Military Match program is our way of demonstrating support for those serving overseas, and are away from home, family and friends during this time.

As you can see, there is no shortage of great products or prices from Community Coffee Company! And to sweeten your holiday shopping you can receive 20% off your entire order and FREE shipping with the promo code: SPECIAL

Today, Community Coffee Company is so much a part of people's lives and spans so many generations that it has been dubbed the State Coffee of Louisiana™. We invite you to enjoy this family tradition and experience a little bit of Louisiana in every cup.

And to prove this, Communit Coffee Company is offering one of you wonderful Proverbs 31 Mommy & Wife readers the chance to win a Private Reserve Holiday Duo Gift Pack of your own!
GIVEAWAY RULES
Giveaway open until 9PM, PST on 12/17/09!!
**Please always include a valid email address in your comments if one is not visible in your blogger profile, or I will be unable to contact you!**
Leave a separate comment for each entry you are completing
MANDATORY ENTRY (must be completed for any extra entries to count): Go to the Community Coffee Company website and tell me one gift box that someone on your list would love to receive for Christmas this year!
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Open to legal residents of the USA, age 18+ only. Winner will be chosen 9PM PST on 12/17/09 based on the random integer generator at random.org. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email I will send them before a new winner is chosen.

We are back in Montana!

I love it here. To me, there is no better place in the world than Montana.
When the girls and I came a few weeks ago, we had a great time...so great in fact, that Zack couldn't stand it! So, now we are back up here and he is fishing with Papa. The girls are at the house with Oma, and Aunt Jody and I are at Hastings. We had to come down here to get on the free Wi-Fi and download iTunes onto Oma's computer.
You see, I have a passcode on my iPod touch so that the little fingers in the house are unable to mess things up so incredible bad that I can't fix it, AGAIN. They are better than I thought! My iPod is showing a screen that tells me that it is disabled and to try again in 20846264 minutes...SERIOUSLY, do you know how long that is? 347,437.7333 hours ... 14,476.57222 days ... 39.66184 years ... roughly, I didn't have a calculator!
HAHAHA, just kidding, I used a calculator - I'm just not sure that I used it correctly!!!!
Anyways I just wanted to let you all know that we are back in Montana, if you care!!

And a side note, ordering a carmel macchiato at Hardback Coffee Cafe (inside of Hastings) is NOT the same as ordering it at Starbucks!

Jax Coffee Review and Giveaway

I was given the opportunity to try a small gift box of Jax Coffee from Aroma Promotions.
The first thing that I noticed when I received my gift box, was the aroma - it was wonderful. You know that smell of roasted coffee that you get when you open the door of your local coffee shop, I got that same sensation when I opened the shipping box...amazing!
I made a point to say the shipping box, because I thought it was cool that inside of the regular, brown, cardboard box that you generally receive packages in, there was a nice little black box with a gold cord bow! Maybe it's just me, but I think that display is important - and this was simple, yet elegant.
So inside of the little black box was two half-pound bags of aromatic, fresh roasted coffee beans - Italian Dark Roast and Jax House Blend Medium Roast. Personally, I am a fan of medium roast, but my hubby prefers dark roast, so I think that this is a great combination of coffees to make a gift box!
I love the smell of fresh ground coffee, really I don't think it gets much better than this! The coffee was great! The aroma was incredibly inviting and the taste of the coffee just as delightful!

The gift box that I was given, is a great marketing tool for your business. The cost of one box is under $20 (not $19.99 either lol) SHIPPED! Aroma Promotions ships anywhere in the US and to APO/AFO addresses - "We love serving our Service People" -Jack Erhart.
The gift boxes are personalized with your RECOGNIZED BRANDEN LOGO! This is perfect for thank you's to important clients, holiday gift-giving, enticements to prospective clients, and much more. Heck, I think it would even be great to make up a family "logo" (pic and some nice sentiment) and send these to people on your Christmas list - can't beat the price and it is personal.
The recipient of the gift box has the option to continue ordering Jax coffee after they brew what you gave them...and any future orders comes to them with your logo on it at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE TO YOU!
Way cool!

Thanks to Jack Erhart at Jax Coffee and Aroma Promotions one lucky reader has the opportunity to experience one of these gift boxes too!
THANKS JACK!!


HOW TO ENTER TO WIN:
Giveaway will be open until 8/27/08 at 12noon PST. The winner will be chosen by random.org. Open to all residents of the USA age 18 and over. Please leave a way for me to contact you if you are the winner. Winner will be given 24 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen. Good luck!
MANDATORY 1st Entry - this entry must be submitted for you to win.
**Visit Jax Coffee and tell me which coffee you think you would like the best AND visit Aroma Promotions and then tell me at least one use you would have for the gift boxes.

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES
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The product I received was provided at no charge for review, I am in no way being compensated moniterialy.

LOVE Coffee

My husband told me this morning that I am now a junkie!
What can I say, there is something about the wonderful aroma of fresh brewed coffee that gets me, everytime. I have recently discovered that I not only like my coffee black or professionally mixed (Starbucks) but I really like Dulce de Leche creamer in my coffee!
I was talking to my sister and her husband the other night and told them that with my new discovery, I don't think I will ever again feel the need to rush to Starbucks for my ultimate favorite - carmel macchiato - because I come pretty close to it myself.
What an eye opener, I can save so much money induging myself...with many fewer calories too!!! Just thought I would share, and maybe even encourage you to try it - come on over and I will make you a cup!