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Brew, Brew, Brew your (iced) coffee

Note: this is a BzzReport. I am a member of the website, Bzzagent.com, which gives me free samples and coupons to create, well, Buzz about products.

Now that we have that out of the way, today we are talking coffee. I know! It’s the middle of the summer and I want to tell you about a hot, steaming cup of joe. Except that it is neither hot nor steaming. It’s iced coffee. At home. For a LOT less than a coffee shop. Using your Keurig brewer. You DO have one, right? If not, well this review may not be as exciting for you but let’s carry on.

It’s pretty simple. You need a Keurig brewer. You need a K-Cup. Does it have to be the special Brew over Ice K-Cup? Well, it certainly helps, but I will explain more further down. And you need a tumbler. No, not a Tumblr. A tumbler. And even then you don’t really need that. But you also need ice. That’s kinda key. So you need:

  • Keurig Machine
  • K-Cup
  • Tumbler
  • Ice
  • Sweeteners or creams to your liking

Basically you brew the K-Cup at either 6 or 8 oz. That way it concentrates the flavors. And the Brew over Ice K-Cup has a bit more coffee beans in it – allowing for the ice to melt a bit and not dilute the flavors of the coffee. Of course, you can use ANY K-Cup but know that the strength may not be the same. In particular, light roasts sometimes are a bit weak but the flavored coffees are wonderful over ice.

And you need a tumbler of some sort. You can get some at like Bed, Bath, and Beyond or from the Green Mountain Coffee site or they give them away a lot on the Brew Over Ice page. Or you can just use a thick plastic cup (NOT a solo cup, for example). Pour in the ice, add your cream, sugars, whatever, and then brew. Put the lid on the cup, shake it up, and boom, you got iced coffee.

It’s THAT simple. Seriously. I did it. And do it pretty much every morning. It costs me about 65 cents a cup. That’s a pretty good deal. And the Brew Over Ice K-cups are actually pretty good.

But wait! There’s more! They also do Iced TEA. Like 1/2, Southern Sweet, Peach, etc. And they all taste pretty good. I mean, they are K-Cups – I have yet to find one that I really didn’t like!

As you can see from the photos, it doesn’t take long, looks great, and tastes great.  So go on and join Tumbler Nation – we need some more residents!

So what’s your favorite flava? Post it below!


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Great taste, great price?

In today’s segment of Andrew reviews something (which he was given a sample of the potato chips for free), we talk about Private Selection brand from Kroger.

Note: this is a BzzReport. I am a member of the website, Bzzagent.com, which gives me free samples and coupons to create, well, Buzz about products.

For years, you have been hearing about how the generic foods are a good way to cut costs in your grocery budget. But, oftentimes, the generics tasted … well, generic. They lacked any bold flavors and frankly tasted like you spent a lot less on them than the premium brands.

Can Kroger’s Private Selection Brand undo years of bad generic food?

Short answer: mostly.

Longer answer after the jump: 

There are a lot of Private Selection selections to choose from. The kit I was given included Salt & Pepper chips. They were delicious. The wife asked what brand they were and was surprised when I told her it was Kroger’s brand. She was quite impressed. There are many flavors of chips available and come in some interesting flavors, so you should check ‘em out at your local Kroger.

The Private Selection ground beef is also quite good, and is 100% Angus beef. And that comes in several fat % selections as well. Probably am going to be loading up on that tonight for the 4th.

And you need to cool off during this hot summer. The Private Selection ice cream comes in pints, so you don’t feel too bad about eating it, AND has many different flavors. I like the black raspberry, personally. The price tag also helps – it usually is a lot less than other similar type premium ice creams.

So those are the Pros but there are some major cons

 Private Selection brand doesn’t cover everything. So you can’t replace all your premium brand shopping with Kroger’s. 

Along with not covering everything, the variety in the brand itself is sometimes limited. There are not enough low-fat versions of their products. I wish they came out with a baked chip, or a super low-fat ice cream, for instance.

Overall, I liked the Private Selection brand. The price was quite reasonable and the flavors were there. I just wish they had some lower fat/calorie selections. Try it one day – in fact you can do a blind test – and I bet you can’t tell the difference.

Up next in the Bzz world: Iced Coffee. 

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SoBe It

Note: this is a BzzReport. I am a member of the website, Bzzagent.com, which gives me free samples and coupons to create, well, Buzz about products.

Today, we deal with the question of hydration. We all need to drink more water. It’s good for us, right? Refreshes us, cools us down, keeps us going. But after a while, water just gets boring. Because water tastes like water which tastes like water.

But wait, there is a BETTER option. SoBe LifeWater. 25 flavors. no artificial sweeteners. Exotic flavors. Not so exotic flavors. Fruits you have heard of. Fruits you will insist they made up (Yumberry ?!). All delicious.

In the kit I got, they gave me the Coconut Water. Now, if you like coconut or have heard about the benefits of coconut water, you will like this drink. It tastes quite “coconutty.” Almost like drinking a Jelly Belly coconut jelly bean. It had a few more calories than I wanted in water, though.

But, here is the great thing.  They have lots of flavors that have ZERO calories. Which is wonderful. You don’t have to sacrifice taste when you are cutting the calories. It’s a win-win situation.

And SoBe isn’t that much to try one next time you are at Kroger. It’s about the same cost as a bottle of soda, but you get a lot more benefit out of this bottle. 

Got questions? Post em below.