Get a Good Start On Your Day

Getting a good start on the day is important and a great cup of coffee can help do just that. Here are four blends from Green Mountain Coffee which will start you out right in the morning. To have that first cup quickly with no fuss, no beans to grind, and no waiting to savor the first sip, a Keurig single cup coffee maker is your answer. Hopefully, there’s one already in the place of honor on your kitchen shelf. These blends are morning favorites and are available in both K-Cups and whole bean or ground coffee.

Kenya AA from Green Mountain
This is a full flavored coffee of the finest AA beans from the slopes of Mt. Kenya of Africa. It is a rich, full-bodied blend with a tantalizing aroma and smooth finish  that will make it one of your favorites. Says one enthusiast,” This is by far my favorite coffee. KENYA AA kicks the pants out of that coffee from that “shop on every corner.”

Breakfast Blend
This has a rich taste and brews a balanced, smooth cup of coffee It is an inspired blend of sparkling Central American beans with darker, Indonesian beans, which add depth and body. Once you start drinking this coffee, it becomes a very important part of the morning. “I drink two 9 ounce cups in the morning, two in the evenings; my wife the same…Since we had this brewer (a Keurig Platinum), it changed my schedule a lot. I used to go out to drink coffee at Dunkin Donuts but not any more.” Another echoes those sentiments,” I was a Dunkin Donuts fan until I tasted this!” The raves continue,”This is an excellent coffee in the morning or any other time of the day.….”, ‘This coffee is great for breakfast since it’s nice and smooth.”

Fair Trade Island Coconut
This blend of lightly roasted beans from Central America has a subtle, sweet flavor. It’s blended with the rich, mellow taste of coconut for a delicious flavor. Better stock up on this one as it’s a Seasonal Blend, which just appears in the Spring. When it’s gone, there will be no more until next year to the chagrin of this blend’s many fans. This coffee tastes wonderful anytime of the day. Says one fan,” I work for a company that markets Green Mountain across America. My #1 request from customers was OFFER ISLAND COCONUT YEAR-ROUND!”

Nantucket Blend
Green Mountain’s most complex blend creates a cup of exceptional character and flavor. It has a loyal following that have been drinking this blend for over 20 years. This coffee owes its great flavor to a skillful combination of African beans , which bring a berry piquancy to the full-bodied Indonesian beans. Then, add the zest and tang of Central American coffee with the smoky touch of a deep French Roast. Raves one coffee lover, “Best coffee ever! I’ve tried many brands and blends and this is by light years my favorite. Nantucket is now more than an island in the region; it is the name of my morning state of mind. This coffee will be your favorite at first taste!” Just like the fan of Nantucket Blend said, that first cup of coffee in the morning can become your morning state of mind! So make sure it’s a good one!

Now There’s Great Cocoa In K-Cups

Green Mountain Coffee has just introduced two new K-Cups of hot cocoa. Great for indulging anytime, either of these two are bound to hit the spot. There’s Café Escapes Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa and Café Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa – both brimming with the smooth creamy flavor of chocolate.

Café Escapes Dark Chocolate Cocoa is rich and decadently full of dark European chocolately flavor.

Café Escapes Milk Chocolate is the newest cocoa from Green Mountain and it’s worth waiting for. This creamy, indulgent treat has a smooth flavor, luscious, and satisfying.

Green Mountain Cocoa was developed especially for use with the Keurig brewer and makes a great mocha coffee when mixed with a K-cup blend. In a review from www.singleservecoffee.com., the comment was “We liked the fact we can use our Keurig to whip up a cup of the cocoa from a K-Cup…”

Green Mountain’s Café Escapes will soon present Café Mocha, Chai Latte, and French Vanilla Café-au-Lait.

There are other brands of cocoa now packaged in K-Cups and you’re sure to find some new favorites. Take a look at these chocolate treats:

Timothy’s White Hot Chocolate has been a best-seller for years and www.schoffee.com says its “…a favorite of hot chocolate lovers everywhere. They make a rich, creamy steamy cup of white hot chocolate –not available anywhere else.” A coffee fan on www.qwowi.com/2008 tried Timothy’s and says “…it’s thick and creamy and full of white chocolate flavor when brewed at the 7.25 setting. I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by Timothy’s White Hot Chocolate…It’s one tasty cup of white chocolate – “deliciosity!”

Bellaccino Gourmet Hot Cocoa has a deep rich flavor with the intense lingering chocolate experience so cherished by true cocoa lovers.

Gloria Jean’s Hot Cocoa in a K-cup is a rich creamy blend, sure to satisfy.

For Best Results In Making Cocoa With A K-Cup:

• Store the K-Cups at room temperature.
• Shake the K-Cup before brewing.
• Use the 7.25 or 8 ounce setting on your Keurig Brewer.
• First, run a hot water brew cycle – without a K-cup.
• Then, just pop a K-cup in your Keurig Brewer and, in less than a minute, you have a delicious cup of steaming, hot cocoa.

Top your cup or mug with a dollop of thick, sweet whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon or mound on the yummy marshmallows. What a luscious treat to enjoy any time of the day or night!

Try the new hot cocoa K-cups

Coffee With A Social Conscience – Heifer Hope

Since 1981, Green Mountain Coffee has been roasting fine Arabica beans from around the world to bring you an extraordinary cup of coffee. During these years, the company has worked diligently to establish strong relationships with the coffee growing communities. This outreach is helping to provide a better way of life for the small farmers through Certified Fair Trade programs, as well as special projects like Heifer International. Now, you can also help support these efforts with your purchase of the Heifer Hope Blend, available in bags of ground roast, whole beans, or K-Cups.

This coffee is a vibrant blend of full-bodied Sumatran, spirited Mexican coffees, and spicy beans from Guatemala. The blend makes a smooth, vibrant cup of coffee that’s sure to please. Says one customer, “Wonderful, full flavor. A coffee you can drink black it is so perfect on its own. I bought bags for myself to support Heifer, Fair Trade, and Organic Farming. Now I won’t go back to my old blend. Love it!”

For the past two years, Guatemalan beans have come from a co-op of about 1,600 farmers, who meet the standards for selling their coffee as Fair Trade Certified Organic. The co-op has diversified and produces honey, cheese, milk and the spice, cardamom. They built a small inn and a cultural center and promote the production of women’s dresses. Green Mountain is working with these farmers on the expansion of their livestock and composting programs.

Green Mountain Roasters contributes a portion of the sales of this coffee to the Heifer Project and matches employees’ personal denotations. The money goes directly into the community efforts of the organization. The Heifer Project provides animals to farming families and trains them how to care for them. This helps families who raise coffee develop alternate income sources and improve their diets as well.

The Heifer Project has also developed a service-learning course of study for middle school students that engages them as investigative journalists to write on issues concerning international trade and developing sustainable solutions to world hunger and poverty. They learn the impact of consumer decisions on imports, exports, using organic and Fair Trade products. Another aspect of this educational curriculum is ‘Chores For Change” in which young participants volunteer time at a hunger fighting organization in their community. They can collect cans of food, donate service at a soup kitchen, or collect donations for Heifer International.

So when you buy Heifer Hope Coffee in a bag of beans or a pack of K-cups, you are getting a great cup of coffee, produced in a socially responsible way. Plus, you are contributing to the efforts of Heifer International in its work to decrease world hunger.

Kenya – A Distinctive Coffee

Kenya, an East African nation, produces over 2 million bags of coffee a year and it ranks number 17 in production world wide. Most of its Arabica coffee is grown on tiny farms, averaging half an acre in size, north of Nairobi and on the slopes of  Mt. Kenya. The farmers are organized into small, craft-oriented, cooperative processing centers which are spread out across the country-side. Each day’s harvest is processed separately into small lots of finished green coffee beans. They are sold individually at auction in Nairobi. Unique, unblended lots are purchased by small, high quality buyers who are willing to pay the price.

The Coffee Board of Kenya established guidelines for standards on the coffee beans, After the coffee is milled, it is graded. Kenya AA means the largest, high-density beans; while grade AB is slightly smaller beans. The theory is that the larger beans contain more of the special oils which give coffee its flavor and aroma. AB can also be of high quality but experts say, over the long run, that Kenya AA produces a better coffee.

Kenya coffee that is Fair Trade Certified has been raised by farmers in cooperatives, such as the newly certified Rumukia Farmers Cooperative Society. This organization has started ‘field days’ to train its members in the best agricultural practices and it offers credit services for medical emergencies and education. It is working to upgrade the drying tables for the coffee beans and to improve roads within the area to enable farmers to get their coffee to the mills efficiently.

Now, some premium Kenya beans are marketed with the name of their region of origin. There are currently three identified brands, Mt. Kenya and Aberdares, from the region north of Nairobi, and Kenyan Blue Mountain, which came from Jamaica and is grown near the Uganda border. Starbucks introduced its ‘Black Apron Kirinyaga Kenya’, which was grown by small farmers and processed through a cooperative venture of six mills.

Political unrest and instability has disrupted the auction market system, making it more difficult for Kenya coffee to reach the world market. When you do see Kenya in the grocery or coffee specialty shop, grab a bag or two as you’ll enjoy its delicious, full-bodied flavor!   You can find Green Mountain Kenya coffee at many fine retailers.