Flavoured Coffee - Right or Wrong?

I promised you a blog post about flavoured coffee, so here it is.

There are a couple of different ways to get flavoured coffee, firstly there is the addition of flavoured syrups. (I have a great recipe for Gingerbread Syrup which I'll share when I dig it out!) You can buy them from most coffee shops, or pay a little extra to have a shot in your coffee.

These syrups are available at www.thecoffeepod.co.uk and cost around £6-£8 a litre

Now, at christmas time I'm very partial to a gingerbread latte (hence the desire to find a recipe!) but generally I go for a straight up latte, the extra sugar that these syrups add is not conducive to dieting, and honestly the sugar free ones are not so nice!

However I recently tried the Douwe Egberts Vanilla instant coffee:

Delicate vanilla flavoured coffee - 2 calories a cup!

The flavour collective range also has a caramel flavour and a hazelnut one. I actually got sent a sample of the caramel (go to the Douwe Egbert's facebook page to request one) but I bought a jar of the vanilla and I have to admit I'm impressed.

The trademark jar is miniaturised down to 50g and when you open it you get a waft of vanilla fragrance, in fact I have to admit the smell is the most impressive thing about this coffee, it just smells fantastic and is perfect first thing in the morning.

Now bear in mind there is no added sugar in this coffee, so you aren't going to get the same sweetness you would if you added a shot of vanilla syrup, but there is a hint of mellowness that coffee sometimes lacks.

Something I really like though, as it cools this coffee actually still tastes good! In fact they suggest you can serve it over ice and make your own iced vanilla coffee, though in that case I'd add some sugar for a touch of sweetness.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this coffee. Of course it's only a little jar, they say 25 servings, but I've not been keeping track. And I'm afraid this is not an every coffee drink for me, I'd love too, but it is a little bit pricey for such a small jar, according to my supermarket the current prices (at 30/5/2013) are:

• Sainsburies has an offer and it is £1.99 a jar 
• Tesco has it at full price - £2.99 a jar
• Asda have it on offer at £2 a jar

I would definitely say it is worth keeping an eye out for an offer though - my next purchase will be the caramel!

Bank Holiday Coffee

It is bank holiday monday and following a lovely weekend with my family I am chilling out with a cuppa, the back door open and the radio tuned to my favourite old lady station, Gold (I'm 30!).

Bank holiday coffee is big coffee, I've had a latte this morning in my big Pret mug and now on the instant (too lazy to make another latte!)

What does your bank holiday cuppa look like?

Cheers!

Instant Coffee choices

Kenco Really Rich 

So, I mentioned that I'm a fan of coffee, but I'm definitely not a snob.  I make do with instant coffee most days, for ease, and even though we drink skimmed milk here I do try not to drink too much milk all the time.

I'm fairly picky about the coffee we have at home, and Kenco Really Rich is often my go to coffee. It makes a nice strong coffee, without being bitter and the granules dissolve well (not always the case with cheaper coffees).  One issue I have with instant coffee is that it can smell a bit gravy-ish if its not nice coffee.  I've tried a few over the years, but discovered Kenco at uni and when some of the other coffees I like aren't on offer (more on those another time) it is one of my favourites.

According to mySupermarket the 100g jar of Kenco is currently retailing for somewhere between £2.50 and £3.50 in the different supermarkets. Which I don't think is unreasonable, and it is often on offer (where aren't there offers nowadays?).

Kenco also do eco refill packs, many of us transfer our coffee out of the glass jar it comes in, and I think these refill packs are a great way of saving a little bit of money (they are often cheaper) and helping the environment.  In fact, you can send your empty packages back to Kenco, who will get them recycled and donate a little bit of money to charity at the same time.

Kenco partner with The Rainforest Alliance and buy 100% of their beans from RA approved farms, which is good for the farmer, good for the environment and good for us.

Overall, as I say, a great all round coffee, rich in flavour and definitely not bitter.

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This was not a sponsored post, I have not been asked to write this post, nor compensated for it.  All views are my own.