Monday Morning Coffee News

Happy Monday! Here’s a quick recap of what’s been going down lately in the world of coffee: Starbucks opens a Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room and announces the 2 latest lucky winners of their “Starbucks For Life” contest, Keurig recalls one of their popular brewers, a new WiFi coffee maker is set to be unveiled, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf serves up some yummy limited-time only Mexican chocolate inspired beverages for the winter months.

Starbucks recently opened it’s first Reserve® Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle, Washington.  Take a look at the video below. I feel a road trip coming on.

Starbucks has also announced the 2 newest winners of their Starbucks For Life Contest: Jim, a Californian Firefighter, and Steven, a postal worker from Texas.

Keurig has issued a safety recall notice on all of their MINI Plus Brewers made before July 2014. Apparently during the brewing process, water may overheat, spray out, and burn users. According to Keurig this malfunction is more likely to happen if more than 2 cups are brewed in quick succession. Owners of MINI Plus Brewers can visit  www.miniplusbrewer.com to see if their particular brewers are part of the recall (Keurig is going by the serial numbers located on the brewers) and find out how to receive a free repair kit if it is. – Hot liquid burns are a pretty serious matter and as a long time Keurig brewer owner (I have 2 and I use at least one everyday, multiple times) I find this malfunction to be a little scary, even if I don’t own that particular model.

Speaking of brewers, Smarter, the British company that brought us the iKettle, is releasing The WiFi Coffee Machine, a coffee machine that can be controlled by an iOS or Andriod app and can be set to wake you up in the morning with a cup of coffee made from freshly ground beans (from a built in grinder), tell you when it needs water, and ask you if you’d enjoy a nice cup of Joe when you come home from a long day of… whatever you were out doing (no judgement). The machine will even send you an alert when your cup of coffee is ready. The machine will be available to purchase in March and will set you back about 150 dollars – All of this sounds super fancy, but I’m not so busy that I can’t stumble over to my brewer in the morning and press the on switch all on my own. But hey, to  each their own.

From now until March 1st, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is offering some special limited-time Mexican chocolate beverages – Mexican Chocolate Latte, Mexican Chocolate Ice Blended drink, and Mexican Hot Chocolate – to warm you up during these cold winter months.  According to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Vice President of Marketing, Diane Kuyoomjian, “Our Mexican Chocolate beverages incorporate the authentic elements of this distinctive chocolate favorite: a rich yet balanced flavor, accented with hints of cinnamon and a slightly granular texture.” – I love Mexican hot chocolate, it’s not as rich as other hot chocolates and the cinnamon flavor really does add a warm, cozy touch to the drink. I can’t wait to try this.