Flavored Iced Coffee

On August 26th, Folgers unveiled two new coffee products . . . Folgers Filter Packs Coffee and Folgers Instant Coffee Single Serve Packets, which are available in both Classic Roast and Classic Decaf.  The filter packs work with any coffee brewer that has a basket or cone filter.  Sold in two different sizes, one Filter Pack can make up to six 6oz cups of coffee without the mess of using paper filters and loose coffee grounds.

The Instant Coffee Single Serve Packets are the perfect thing for when you are on the go.  Each box contains 7 packets.  The box is so compact that you can easily store it in a kitchen or desk drawer, your purse, a briefcase, or your backpack.  All you need is a cup and some hot water or milk to turn one packet into a hot cup of Folgers coffee.

Recipe:  Easy Caramel Flavored Iced Coffee

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup warm water

1 (.7oz packet) Folgers Classic Instant Coffee Crystals

2 Tbsp half and half, creamer, or milk

ice cubes

whipped cream

2 Tbsp Smucker's Caramel Sundae Syrup

Step 1.  Pour water over coffee in an 8oz glass.

Step 2.  Add Caramel Syrup and stir until dissolved.

Step 3.  Stir in creamer.

Step 4.  Add ice cubes.

Step 5.  Top with whipped cream

If you prefer to drink unflavored coffee, simply replace the Caramel Syrup with 1 Tbsp of sugar.  This recipe was provided by Folgers.  For more coffee drink recipes, visit Folgers.com.

Thank you to Folgers for providing a gift basket full of complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional gift basket for our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a Folgers Gift Basket containing the following:

• Samples of the two new Folgers products
• 1 Cuisinart Brew Central 12 Cup Programmable Coffee Maker (ARV $79.95)
• 1 Travel Mug
• 1 Coffee Travel Case
• 1 Bottle of Smucker's Caramel Sundae Syrup
• 1 Customized Boat Bag

Limitations:
This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Leave a comment telling me where would be a handy place to keep Folgers Instant Coffee Single Serve Packets. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1)  For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.


2)  For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3)  For 10 extra entries, join the Wakin' Up Club to receive Folgers coupons, special offers, recipes, and more. Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments telling me you did.

4)  For 1 extra entry, "Like" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here with the link to your Facebook profile.

5)  For 1 extra entry, "Like" Folgers on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Facebook profile.


6)  Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7)  Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8)  Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9)  Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!

Review: Green Mountain Iced Coffee Made By the Keurig Mini Plus Brewer

I love coffee (who doesn’t?) and I especially love a good iced coffee in the summer. But one thing I hate is to make my own, so I buy my iced coffee. When I had he opportunity to try a Keurig Mini Plus Brewing System with a variety of Green Mountain iced coffee and tea K-Cups, I was excited. Although I rarely drink iced tea, the possibility of getting my iced coffee fix without needing to make an extra stop in the morning is like a winning lottery ticket.

The Keurig B31 Mini Plus Brewer is sleek and compact and looks nice enough to leave on the counter top all the time. Its operation is simple and was up and running in moments. The operation of the machine is not a great deal different than any other coffee machine except you do not need to fuss with filters and loose coffee.

Clean up was even less work than brewing. During the morning time rush the Keurig is a breeze . . . easy to use with virtually no clean up at all.  But how did it taste? The Green Mountain iced coffee was excellent, just as good as the stuff I buy. Excellent tasting iced coffee made easily from my own home is really what I wanted and both Keurig and Green Mountain delivers.

As excellent as my experience has been with ease of use and taste, I do have some reservations about the Keurig Mini Plus Brewer. It only accommodates small coffee cups.  To use my larger mugs, I needed to remove the base. I should mention the base is designed to be removed for larger cups, but I think the machine is just too small. I would need to keep the base removed all the time just to accommodate typical sized cups. Want to use a big travel mug? Tough luck. You will need to use another smaller cup and pour it into your travel mug afterwards. At some point the convenience gained from the novel Keurig concept and easy clean up gets lost in the inconvenience of not actually getting the coffee into the cup you want to use.

My overall impression? The Keurig B31 Mini Plus Brewer made excellent coffee, was a breeze to use, and clean up was as easy as it could be, but a few design shortcomings on cup compatibility make the Keurig B31 slightly less than perfect. If this brewer was a couple of inches taller this would be the perfect coffee machine.  This is not the machine to choose for brewing iced coffee or tea directly into a cup of ice, since that would require a taller cup to allow room for the ice.

To view the full line of Keurig coffee brewers and iced beverage K-Cups, visit Keurig.com.


Thank you to Keurig for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.