Up on the ladder: drinks

Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts

I saw this machine at Home Good and was curious about it that I bought it. The box said it uses pods so I mistakenly thought it took k cups but it doesn't. It takes the ESE espresso pods that are flat like a disk. I'm not sure why there isn't a machine that does everything, but this is close enough. I'm not a big coffee drinker so I didn't want too many coffee tools, but I wouldn't recommend this one. The drip coffee works fine and the espresso maker works ok. The milk steamer is poorly made as its performance greatly deteriorates the more I used it. Without the steam working properly to do its jobs it just makes the espresso maker part kind of useless.

I think I paid about $120 for this machine. There was some assembly to put this together. The machine doesn't look bad and using it wasn't too terribly difficult to understand. I do like the design of it and it didn't take too much space either. There's quite a bit of items to clean, but they are rather easy to clean. Cleaning the dried milk off the steamer is the only part that takes a bit of effort.

Not going to talk about the drip coffee maker as its works the same as any drip coffee maker. It does include a mesh coffee filter as well which is nice. I use the drip coffee the most and it has yet to fail me. You can keep the coffee warm for up to 5 hours which is nice.

The espresso maker I feel is good enough to make lattes. Its not going to make great espresso, but if quality is not a concern this does the job. Using ground coffee hasn't produced a strong enough coffee taste to mimic the coffee shop lattes. Anyways it comes with 3 different sizes that you can put into the handle to make a single, double, or an ESE pod. The box also included a plastic spoon measure with a flat disk at the end that you can pack the grounds down with. Inserting the handle is like a regular espresso machine, but this isn't designed the best. I actually hurt myself the first time I tried to make an espresso with this machine. I tried to get the handle all the way to the left where the locked icon was indicated. But the handle couldn't go all the way because it was really tight to get it through. So when I tried to unlock the handle I ended up smacking my hand on the machine since its quite cramped. I ended up tearing a bit of skin off. So now I only just locked it enough to not move.

The steamer can swing and its quick short. This machine doesn't include anything to put milk in so you may need to buy that separately. Since its short you can't get anything big. The steamer includes a rubber black nozzle thing that froths the milk. Without it it won't froth the milk. I tried using this steamer many times and it is not an enjoyable thing to use. Since its short and the machine itself is not tall, I don't get a lot of room to handle to pitcher I use to hold the milk. I have to tilt it to get the steam nozzle in and most of the time I end up spilling some milk on the table. The nozzle only goes side to side and does not tilt up or down at all. As you steam the milk it doesn't steam fast enough before the machine has to recharge it. It doesn't heat the milk as hot as I'd like either. And over time it loses it strength so it hasn't been a year yet and I've given up on the steamer. I've cleaned it and all, but it hasn't improved.

Overall this machine isn't great, but its not useless enough for me to get rid of it. So i wouldn't recommend this coffee machine.

So before I made a post about Soylent and the its Cacao flavor. So now I will review the other flavors I got from their variety pack. The variety has Cacao, Coffee, Chai, and Vanilla. The bottles have a new design now so its smaller than the old bottle. If you want to get 50% off your first box use our link!

The Coffiest taste very different from Starbucks or any other bottled coffee drinks you may get at a store. It isn't sweet at all though there is sugar in the ingredients list. The taste coffee taste is very black or espresso taste but its not strong enough to have that bitter kick. It is a little weird to have that black coffee taste with the creamy texture since black coffee is mainly water. Speaking of texture, there is some sandiness to the texture so that is a bit weird, but it didn't bother me. This isn't bad as a meal replacement, but not as a coffee drink since you be able to find better coffee at the similar price.

The Vanilla doesn't has a strong vanilla taste as I thought it would have. It has a very latte taste so it does have a very cow milk taste to it. The sweetness is mild and the texture is quite creamy. No sandiness to it either like the Coffiest did.

The Chai does have a moderate Chai taste. It also has this multivitamin taste mixed with it so that's a bit weird to swallow through. Not exactly a fan of this. Texture is creamy and not sandy. I think its probably the creamiest and milkiest out of the four.

I've already talked about the Cocoa before, and the taste is still the same. I do feel the texture is more creamier. Overall, these aren't bad tasting but they're not the best tasting. These are very convenient to have when you're too busy to cook or get food as well as being very affordable. Since these bottles can last for like 6 months I do think its worth having around.

I've been seeing people talk about this Soylent meal replacement drink for a bit, and I thought I check on it. They said it tastes good so it made me curious to try it to see if they're right. When I went to their website, it only sells them as a 12 pack subscription. There aren't any stores locally that sells this since it seems to be a kickstarter company. Found a 50% off on your first box so I decided to buy it. I had a oral surgery soon so I needed soft foods. Thought it be a good chance and excuse to try it out. A week after I bought it and received it, they emailed me saying they have a variety pack now. They didn't when I ordered. The variety pack comes with 4 each of coffee, vanilla, and chai flavors. I just bought 12 of chocolate since chocolate is a flavor I'm more forgiving with taste.

They shipped it through Fedex the day after I ordered. It took around 4 days to reach me. I was surprised to see it shipped from the Northeast where I live since the company is in Los Angeles. Thought it be shipped from there. The 12 pack box is $39, but with 50% off I got it for $18. Each bottle is around $4 each, but as a meal replacement I think that's rather cheap. There are also powdered options. The nutritional information and ingredients is on the box, not on the bottle.

Since I only got the cocoa flavor I can only review on that. The chocolate taste is good, but it is not at all rich. It is similar taste to chocolate milk, but since its made with soy and not milk it is different. If you ever had soy drinks before you may know what I'm talking about.Its also not very sweet. The sweetness is subtle enough for me to handle. I'm not a fan of meal replacements that taste like deserts since I'm not a sweets person. Since this is a soy product, I do wonder if the original flavor is just plain soy milk taste.

Before I usually just get the powder stuff for meal replacements, so having it already made and bottle is really convenient. The bottles are also recyclable so I don't feel like I'll contribute to the trash problem. They have a year long shelf life and don't require refrigeration until you open them. The only bad thing I can say about it is that there still isn't a variety pack of all the flavors. Since I can't finish a whole bottle in one serving, smaller sizes would be nice too. Even having a smaller box size of 6 instead of 12 would be nice too. You can pause your subscriptions up to 8 weeks and cancel anytime. Overall, I do think it is worth a try. It is hard to try something in packs of 12 so hopefully they will be able to have distribution to local stores soon. You can always find referral codes like mine that will give you 50% off your first box which is what I did, or you can split the cost with friends and family.

Nature's Bounty Protein Shake mix was one of the best selling protein dietary supplement powders on Amazon so I decided to try it out. Plus the tub is about $15 which I find to be at an affordable price. I got the chocolate flavor since its the flavor I can easily eat no matter how bad it may taste to others.

This is the best tasting powder mix I've had so far. The smell and taste is like chocolate cake mix. It definitely beats the Vega One I had before. Though I think the Vega One has better ingredients as its more natural than this. A serving is two scoops of the little scooper that comes with the tub. Each tub has 13 servings though sometimes I just use one scoop.

You can mix it with water and it will taste fine, but if you mix with milk or milk alternatives then it taste better. This stuff mixes just as much as other powder drinks. I didn't have issues drinking this and I finished it much faster than other powder mixes because the taste was good enough that I did drink it nearly everyday. I actually forgotten to take photos because I've already threw it away before I decided to write about it. It did have 100% daily nutritional value on many vitamins and minerals which I do like since I didn't want to drink it more than once a day to get what I need. Overall, I do recommend this mix!

I've been wanting to drink more coffee, but since I do not have a brew system or even a grinder or a filter I went with instant coffee instead. Picked this one up at Whole Foods to try out. Its made with 100% Arabica beans. There's a best buy date on the bottom that gives it more than a year of shelf life. The smell is also nice when you open the jar.

I can't really tell if the jar is plastic or glass but I think its most likely plastic. The directions says a teaspoon of the instant coffee in a cup of hot water is how to make this coffee. I use a little less. I like being able to adjust how strong I want my coffee. I normally take it black or if I have it around I would mix it with ho cocoa mix so its like a mocha.

The taste is actually not bad for instant coffee. There's a nice balance of bitterness, that burnt taste, and the acidity doesn't bother me as much as when I order coffee from a cafe. The jar isn't big, but I haven't gotten half way through yet. So I can see this jar lasting me probably almost 6 months since I'm not sharing this with anyone and I don't drink it everyday. Not sure if its cheaper than using grinds, but I sure save money and space from not buying a coffee maker and spending on filters. The only downside is not having options. This doesn't come in different roasts. I have tried it with some hazelnut creamer which tasted great so I definitely recommend flavored creamer if you want some variety than regular coffee.

I saw this at the market today and decided to try it out. It says it has half the calories and sugar than coconut water. It has B vitamins and magnesium for bones. It comes from maple trees in New York.

This does taste odd at first. It kind of reminds me of the Japanese drink called Pocari Sweat. The water does look a bit cloudy but the texture is like water but kind of thick like its watered down syrup. The taste is sweet and the rest is hard to describe. It is water from a living thing so just kind of imagine what that would taste like.

I wouldn't buy this again but I do appreciate having another alternative for water.

Saw this beside Starbuck coffee stuff at a super market and wanted to try it out. I picked the mocha one and each 14 fl oz bottle is $1.99 which I think is a decent price.

This coffee is pretty smooth and moderately sweet. It actually taste more like chocolate milk than coffee. I didn't entirely mind it and I sure did feel the caffeine so there is coffee. So if you want your coffee mocha drink to taste more chocolate than coffee than I recommend giving this a try.

Overall, I did like this drink and might go for this instead of Starbucks if given the choice.

I probably should have gotten this before than getting a full size, but I've got it now. This 4 piece sampler is $10 which is a lot to me, but there isn't a free sample so I've got no choice. It comes with a meal bar, and 3 shake powders in mixed berry, chocolate, and french vanilla.

The meal bar is chocolate peanut butter flavored. Its size is like a thicker candy bar like a snickers. It has a layer of smooth chocolate, and crunchy peanuts. Its covered in chocolate as well so its more chocolate than peanuts. Its mild tasting as well, but its good. The sweetness is mild and the chocolate taste is mild as well. I'm not a fan of bars since most of them are like candy bars, but this one does have greens and fruits in it as well. Its hard to believe it has that since all I taste was a chocolate candy bar. The wrapper says its has 13g of protein (2.2 eggs), 3g of fiber (1.8 slice of wheat bread), 1 servings of greens, as many probiotics as 1 cup of yogurt, 1g of omega-3 ( 2 servings of salmon), 1.4 cups of antioxidants, and 25 vitamins and minerals. This bar isn't filling, but after a minute I didn't feel hungry. I do kind of feel like I could eat more, but I've heard its better to have several mini meals than 3 normal meals. Having chocolate as a meal isn't what I'd like so I wouldn't purchase this bar, but if you like chocolate I'd recommend giving it a try.

Since I've already have had the full size chocolate powder, I am use to the taste. The mixed berry and vanilla weren't that much different from the chocolate in terms of overall taste since they are mostly the same ingredients. The mixed berry is quite fragrant though. It really boils down to personal preference so getting this sampler should really help pick which one you can learn to tolerate. The first time I had a drink with just water it was not pleasing at all but I expected it. I did get use to it within a week.

To mix things up I will try these in smoothies and with almond milk. I have to say, I prefer using just water than with almond milk. Just to clarify, the almond milk is unsweetened. For my smoothies, I kept it simple with just 1/3 cup almond milk, one banana, ice, and a tablespoon of Vega powder. For all 3 flavors tasted great in smoothies, but then again a tablespoon isn't much. I did add frozen berries to the mixed berries which made it better than just banana and almond milk.

Overall, these are decent! The powders don't expire till 9/2017 which is plenty of time. I definitely recommend these powders! One thing to note though, these drinks are better to be consumed within the day you make a them. The probiotics are very much alive and would change your drink over time. Believe me, it will end up smelling like poop if its kept for days so don't make big batches.

So I saw that this Tropical Smoothie Cafe place opened up in my town. I never heard of this company before, and at first thought the name was rather unoriginal, haha. It did open up in the summer so it I did end up trying it out. The first cup got me hooked!

They have a variety of choices and also sell food. The price is a little more than I expected it to be. The smoothies only come in one medium-large size cup that they priced at $7. Having such a huge cup was kind of hard to finish for me, but as I kept going back I was able to finish it. The smoothies themselves are super healthy compare to smoothies you find in many places. They are not like deserts in liquid form. These drinks are just water, greens, fresh fruit, and I think sugar in some. No dairy! They do have like a mocha smoothie and peanut butter, but the fruit and greens smoothies are the best in my opinion. I tend to order the limited smoothies. They have new limited smoothies on each season, and I have yet to find any of them that I dislike.

I definitely recommend trying this place out if there is one near you. Otherwise you can look at their menu and try making it at home. Its surprisingly easy to make them when they list the ingredients. It may not be 100% but it is close enough for me!

I was looking for a drink mix and maca root, and saw that this Vega One shake mix has both on Amazon. This is a vegan, non GMO, and gluten free product. Its has all the healthy goodies that we need: protein, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, fiber, omega-3, and antioxidents. Hard to not want to try this when it looks this good. They have this is several flavors, but I chose chocolate since it seems to be a safe choice in terms of taste. The tub size I got is the small 1 lb that's 6.5 inches tall and 4.25 inches wide. It comes with a scoop and the labeling sayings it has 10 servings.

Now I wasn't expecting this to taste good since normally healthy type stuff isn't the best tasting types of food especially in this powdered form. First time trying it it was not the most delicious thing to drink. But its not too bad that I couldn't learn to get use to it. Its like a protein shake which tend to taste like a dissolved chewable vitamin tablet. One scoop is for a 12 fl oz size serving. I just mix it with water. It might be better tasting to use something creamier or in a smoothies, but water is very convenient for me. I don't have a shaker bottle so my drinks do end up grainy which I don't mind as much as the taste. I find that watering it down does help me drink it easier. I personally find 12 oz to be too much so I usually put a couple of tablespoons to drink a day. I find that making a batch to drink for the next couples days makes the taste even more unappealing so its better to make it fresh!

Not sure if its coincidental, but the first few days of drinking this it was a bit detoxifying. I went to the bathroom more than usual but overall I felt normal. The bathroom trips lasted about a week or so. I have been drinking about 3 tablespoons of the mix everyday. I have gotten use to the taste, and since its getting colder I have been using warm water instead of cold. The warm water makes it taste like hot cocoa more which is more appetizing.

So far I have been drinking it for over a month and haven't felt like I have more energy or less sick. The only real difference is that my hormonal acne has lessened which is what I was hoping for. I would usually breakout a couple times a week, and have one or two big ones on my chin especially around my period and when I'm ovulating. I still get the ones on the chin, but they have significantly downsized compared to before. Though sometimes there will be one big one on my chin or break out. As of now I am fine with that. So I am glad that this stuff is doing something for me.

Since I do not have the means to eat more healthy this is a good way to at least to balance out the bad (fast food and processed foods). So if you're like me I definitely would recommend giving this a try. You definitely can't be particular about the taste if its towards your health. If you think you can get past the taste give this a try! If you regularly make smoothies then getting the regular "original" flavor would be good to add to your smoothies. I wouldn't recommend adding to hot drinks like coffee since it might cook off the healthy benefits. I'm only half way through the tub. Its takes me longer to get through it since I'm using a smaller amount than the scoop, but I do plan on getting the bigger tub after I finish this.

Wanted to try a protein shake so I got this at Whole Foods and it was almost $3 for this 11 fl oz box. It has the USDA organic stamp and is certified gluten free. It is made with organic soy milk rice solids, dried sugar cane, organic cocoa powder, inulin probitoic, and vitamins and minerals. It has 11g of protein and inulin is a probiotic that provides fiber.

The taste was weird at first. It has the kind of creamy chocolate milk taste, but with the aftertaste of medicine. Its like a vitamin capsule crushed into powder and mixed with this. I wouldn't say its terrible so I've had worst tasting drinks before, but I don't think people would normally describe it as tasty. Like I said before I haven't had a protein shake before so if this is what they're like then I suppose its good.

Wasn't able to really finish this in one sitting, and only drank half of it. That half was able to ward off the hunger, but its not filling. Not use to having milky drinks as just a meal so it was a bit uncomfortable in my stomach to not have solids. I do like that it has a probiotic which is why I choose this over the other one, but I will try others just to compare.

So far, if you want a drink to be organic and probiotic I would go for this and just deal with the taste. Personally I don't find it bad though its not something I would really crave.

Whole Foods had a sale for this but ti was sold out before I could buy one. I finally bought one to try after the sale was over. Its bottled cold pressed watermelon water. Its 100% juice and no water or sugar is added. The bottle was like $4 for a 12 oz bottle. It is a tad expensive and you might think just eating a watermelon is a cheaper way to get the same thing. It is convenient though.

This stuff looks and tastes exactly like watermelon water. It does have organic lemon juiced added as well. The bottle says the watermelon is certified non GMO though it snot labeled to be organic. THe taste is pretty refreshing and cooling. Its definitely hydrating and delicious. It may not be as delicious as eating an actual watermelon, but its still good.

I definitely recommend giving it a try. Its a great water alternative that's natural and isn't coconut. So far I've only found this in Whole Foods where they put their healthy fruit and veg juices.

Espressione 3-in-1 Espresso machine + programmable drip coffee maker

Soylent Variety

Soylent

Nature's Bounty Optimal Solution Complete Protein & Vitamin Shake Mix Chocolate

365 Instant Coffee

Happy Tree Maple Water

Caribou Coffee Chocolate Mocha Iced Coffee

Vega One Sampler

Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Vega One All-in-One Nutrional Shake Chocolate flavor

CalNaturale Svelte Chocolate Organic Protein Shake

WTRMLNWATR Watermelon Water Cold Pressed Juice

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