999 posts
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Coffee
Mar 26, 2019 21:17:26 GMT
via mobile
Post by Backdrifter on Mar 26, 2019 21:17:26 GMT
Oh Camp coffee made with milk, that is something else. Nothing to do with coffee mind, but something else! A taste of my childhood. Mine too. 1 or 2 teaspoons stirred into ice cold milk; I loved it. Can you still get it?
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3,478 posts
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Coffee
Mar 27, 2019 5:50:37 GMT
Post by showgirl on Mar 27, 2019 5:50:37 GMT
As someone who is not that keen on the taste of coffee, I had a brief fling with Camp until I realised that one of the reasons I preferred it is that it contains sugar. I didn't mind the chicory it also contains but didn't want to consume yet more invisible sugar. Mind you, that was decades ago so the formula may have changed.
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18,845 posts
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Coffee
Mar 27, 2019 13:34:32 GMT
Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 27, 2019 13:34:32 GMT
Camp is still available. It’s 25% sugar, but that’s a lot less than those flavoured syrups that some people put in their coffee.
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2,302 posts
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Post by Tibidabo on Nov 26, 2019 17:03:26 GMT
Well, here's a tale. (You may like to get comfy with a coffee or two - it's a long one, but could be helpful.)
Black Friday Nespresso deals are offering a shiny new Vertuo machine, normally retailing at £199, for £89. As I know Nespresso machines and prices, I thought this a pretty good deal. Our machine is a bit temperamental, being French and all that....no... really... I had a French car once and it took me two years before, on a lone drive, I realised it liked to open the rear windows all by itself now and then. And there was I thinking it was the kids... well, you would, wouldn't you?
But I digress. Our machine is a bit moody. I have it programmed to make a larger cup (still not quite big enough if truth be told) and it often 'forgets' to put the extra water in and I find myself rushing across the kitchen to press the button again, before it clicks off. So we decided to upgrade before it completely gives out.
What I really liked about the Vertuo's description was that you could make 5 different cup sizes automatically, which was exactly what I wanted as the current machine can only make 3 - small, tiny and dribble. The Vertuo sounded perfect - even having a giant travel cup size available. So it arrived. Along with some giant Liliputian spaceships, in varying bright colours. No way were these pods going to fit into my twirly capsule holder on the corner of the kitchen counter. I'd have to order a new one - more of which later.
So. The coffee. It's Nespresso, right? Wrong. It tastes nothing like Nespresso. Nothing whatsoever. There is a flowery aftertaste that feels as though I've chomped my way through Kew in lilac season. Some of the stronger blends taste ok at first, but they all leave this aftertaste. There is one called 'Colombia' that defies all reasoning and I can only suspect that its taste testers were, themselves, on the Colombian marching powder when they put a cross in the box to say it tasted like coffee. I've been to Colombia and I can honestly say that it resembles nothing (legal) that was ever squirted between my lips over there.
The only pods that are bearable are the tiny shot espresso ones. And here's where the Vertuo machine has a big, massive fail. It's too clever for its own good. You see, around the edge of each spaceship...sorry...pod, is a barcode. You put the pod in your machine and screw down the lid (not so easy for lefties) and it reads the barcode and decides how much water to whizz into your cup. You cannot change that like you can with the original. So, the only ones we thought tasted ni...er...ok-ish, were the ones that only put a teeny amount of water through the pod and we ended up pressing the button several times to get a decent quantity - kind of defeating the object of buying a machine that automatically makes big mugs.
I did contact Nespresso and asked if I could get my original capsules in Vertuo design only to be told that it's a different method of making the coffee so it wouldn't taste the same.
Mr Tibs was doing slightly better than I was. He's a bit common you see, and adds milk to his coffee - making the taste not quite as important. I was keeping a checklist (yes, I know) and asking him which ones he liked. He hadn't found a favourite yet, far from it, but didn't hate them quite as much as I did.
"I mean," he said. "I'm not as ...um...what's the word?...as you."
"Fussy?" I offered.
"Ah. Yes. That's the one!" he countered. I'll say this for Mr Tibs. He sure knows how to be married to me.
"Well," I batted back. "If I wasn't fussy I wouldn't have rejected all those others before marrying you, would I?"
I couldn't quite decipher the somewhat wistful look on his face, so decided to move swiftly on.
I'd had to buy a pod holder to fit these new barcoded monsters. I liked the look of one that was a kind of drawer with tempered glass on the top, upon which you could actually place your machine and see the pods underneath. It had good reviews on Amazon so I went for it...and immediately sent it back. When I stood the machine on top of it the lid wouldn't open fully as it hit the cupboards above the counter. Yes, I do have a bit of counter without a cupboard above it, but I didn't want to put the machine there, did I? (He told you I was fussy!) None of the Amazon reviews I'd read mentioned this. I changed it for a green thingy stuck to the wall, into which you slide the pods, arranged left-handedly, just 'cos it amuses me to watch Mr T fumble to get one out. (I'm amphibious, don't you know?)
Anyway. For the past two mornings we've both got up and used the old machine, unable to face another day of sucking a million mints in an effort to get rid of the aftertaste. Today I got in from work and went onto Nespresso's chat service, basically telling them we hated the coffee and could we send their machine back pretty please. They have been brilliant and agreed to pick up the machine and refund me, along with any unopened sleeves of pods.
We're sticking with the original. I would suggest you go to a Nespresso boutique and try before you buy. You might like it, I won't judge! But it doesn't taste like the normal Nespresso. You have been warned.
I'm now left with a green thingy, with giant holes, stuck on my kitchen tiles. I wonder what I could use it for? All suggestions gratefully received...
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3,927 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 26, 2019 22:02:07 GMT
Tibidabo How about theatre ticket storage? Or are the holes the wrong shape?
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18,845 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 26, 2019 23:20:15 GMT
But I digress. Our machine is a bit moody. I have it programmed to make a larger cup (still not quite big enough if truth be told) and it often 'forgets' to put the extra water in and I find myself rushing across the kitchen to press the button again, before it clicks off. So we decided to upgrade before it completely gives out. Im deeply suspicious of that virtuo thing. I have a very old magimix machine. Its great but has never made my preferred longer coffee (no I’m not going to use the term “lungo”) hot enough. There’s a simple answer to this. A kettle. Two pods (for the first one of the day when ones hand is still shaking) a medium sized cup (with saucer, I do not entertain mugs), topped up with fresh boiling water. Then a big heaped teaspoon of Coffeemate. Yes, you heard right. Coffeemate. I just bought a squeezy tube of condensed milk which I plan to experiment with in coffee. I think it’s going to be good. I was on the Eurostar over to Paris the other week and this fabulously chic Japanese woman sat opposite me. She had a coffee and, get this, asked for a foil wrapped pat of butter which she unwrapped and dropped into the coffee. My eyes were out on stalks. I googled it later ( good luck getting a Wi-fi signal on the Eurostar) and it’s an actual thing. “Bulletproof Coffee”.
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4,631 posts
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Coffee
Nov 27, 2019 23:12:12 GMT
Post by Phantom of London on Nov 27, 2019 23:12:12 GMT
I would say making your own coffee at home with all these fandango machines with bells and whistles is going to be cheaper than a shop bought coffee. But the coffee from a shop is far superior than home brew, for no other reasons their beans are fresher and the machines have better pressure to froth milk.
Even though shop bought coffee is seen to be a luxury by most. However you can keep the cost down, for example in my preferred coffee outlet (others are available) Caffè Nero, if you collect the stamps you get one stamp for every coffee you buy, take your own cup and you get an extra stamp, pay with their app and you get a plethora of free stamps to entice you to use the app and every time you make a purchase to the app for the holidays - you get a Christmas Cracker that may contain an awful joke to bonus stamps between 1 and 9 stamps, this doesn’t seem to be random and is controlled by an algorithm to peg you back to an average of 1-2 stamps per purchase. But the first 2 crackers I pulledI got 2 free coffees, then the next couple a pair of rotten jokes and then bonus stamps for the couple being 1 stamp, then 3 stamps, then a couple more terrible jokes and so on.
So that luxury cappuccino still maybe a luxury but instead of paying £3.05 with all the stamps you pay about £2.
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1,511 posts
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Coffee
Nov 28, 2019 14:06:32 GMT
Post by anita on Nov 28, 2019 14:06:32 GMT
Instant coffee made with a kettle - fine by me.
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