DripJoy coffee service and JoyBarista coffee maker review

Like many households, mornings at the Chapman residence usually start with a trip to the coffee maker. I love my coffee hot, but I always put milk in mine, which cools the coffee to barely tolerable levels. DripJoy has a single serve coffee maker called the JoyBarista and a subscription coffee service with multiple types of coffee. What thrilled me most about the JoyBarista brewer was the ability to brew hotter coffee, which is supposed to make it taste better. I’ve just had my cup, so let’s head into the review!


I was sent the JoyBarista and three types of coffee; medium, medium-dark, and dark. I dislike nearly all types of dark coffee, so I had to test theirs out to see if I could tolerate it. My husband, on the other hand, loves dark coffee.


In the JoyBarista box, you’ll find the JoyBarista brewer and an instruction manual.

Setup was really easy. I simply plugged in the brewer, filled up the water reservoir, then ran the recommended amount of cycles to clean out the innards. Once that was done, I was ready to start brewing me some coffee.


Now seems a good time to talk about DripJoy’s coffee subscription service. There are many packages you can choose from, with the price ranging from $.39/cup (256 cups per month) to $.62/cup (24 cups per month). These examples are for the residential home options, and there are further discounts if you need more than that. You can tinker around on their website and see further pricing.

When you start a subscription, you get the option to purchase the JoyBarista for a discounted price. Now, the pods themselves claim to be Keurig 2.0 compatible, so the JoyBarista isn’t a necessity, but I could not get any of the pods to work in my Keurig 2.0 unit. Keurig 2.0 K-Cups worked fine on the JoyBarista, however.


Alright, back to the brewer. The JoyBarista can brew between 6-12 ounces of coffee with a single pod. 6 ounces was a little small, but 8 ounces was just right for both my husband and I. You can easily remove the cup base to place taller cups if need be. The time between pressing the ‘brew’ button and getting your final cup of coffee is just a little longer than the Keurig, which makes sense since DripJoy claims the hot water sits longer on the coffee grounds to draw out the full flavor.


The one thing I disliked about the brewer was the sleep mode. After 1-3 hours (adjustable) of idle time, the brewer will automatically go to sleep. This is to save power since there is a commercial grade heater within the unit, but both my husband and I agreed that waiting for the water to heat up in the morning was quite annoying. I timed it one morning, and it took a little over two minutes for the water to heat up and the brewer to be ready. I contacted support and they said there is no way to disable sleep mode, but they’ve received similar comments to my own and will look into it for future models.


Using the brewer is very, very simple. You press the button on the top and it opens up so that you can place a coffee pod inside, then you close it, choose your cup size, and press the brew button. You can’t customize the coffee strength, which some may dislike, but my husband never complained once. (He uses the strong setting on the Keurig all the time!) When I used regular Keurig coffee pods in the JoyBarista, it tasted good; a little stronger, but more flavor as well. Despite the flavor being better, I still couldn’t stand any of my husband’s dark roast coffee pods.

That being said, the dark roast pods (named French Elation) from DripJoy were much better. These were my husband’s favorite type, and I have happily drank several cups of dark roast coffee. We would definitely get the dark roast pods again. We also were able to try their Colombian Cheer (medium strength) and Morning Joy (medium-dark strength), and my favorite had to be the Colombian Cheer. Since we had a way to bypass the non-Keurig 2.0 pods, I tried the DripJoy branded coffees in the Keurig 2.0 machine we have, and I really preferred using the DripJoy.

Overall, I can’t see myself going back to my Keurig, even when we run out of DripJoy branded coffee pods. My coffee is a bit more flavorful in the JoyBarista than the Keurig, and the temperature of the coffee comes out perfect in my eyes. All of the flavors of coffee we were sent were fantastic, and non-DripJoy branded coffee also tasted good. I am still unsure whether or not the Keurig will be demoted to storage in the garage, but for now, the DripJoy JoyBarista coffee maker will stay on the counter for me and my family to use.

Source: The sample used in this review was provided by DripJoy. Please visit their website for more information.

 

Product Information

Price: Pods: ~$.39/cup – $.62/cup : JoyBarista – Base price $189.99; discounted with subscription order.
Manufacturer: DripJoy
Pros:
  • – Very simple to use
  • – Hotter coffee than standard Keurig coffee makers
  • – Great tasting coffee both from the brewer and from their coffee pods
Cons:
  • – Have to wait for the water to warm up if it goes into sleep mode
  • – DripJoy coffee pods may not work in Keurig 2.0 coffee makers

Filed in categories: Home and Kitchen, Reviews

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DripJoy coffee service and JoyBarista coffee maker review originally appeared on on March 12, 2017 at 9:12 am.

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DripJoy coffee service and JoyBarista coffee maker review

Like many households, mornings at the Chapman residence usually start with a trip to the coffee maker. I love my coffee hot, but I always put milk in mine, which cools the coffee to barely tolerable levels. DripJoy has a single serve coffee maker called the JoyBarista and a subscription coffee service with multiple types of coffee. What thrilled me most about the JoyBarista brewer was the ability to brew hotter coffee, which is supposed to make it taste better. I’ve just had my cup, so let’s head into the review!


I was sent the JoyBarista and three types of coffee; medium, medium-dark, and dark. I dislike nearly all types of dark coffee, so I had to test theirs out to see if I could tolerate it. My husband, on the other hand, loves dark coffee.


In the JoyBarista box, you’ll find the JoyBarista brewer and an instruction manual.

Setup was really easy. I simply plugged in the brewer, filled up the water reservoir, then ran the recommended amount of cycles to clean out the innards. Once that was done, I was ready to start brewing me some coffee.


Now seems a good time to talk about DripJoy’s coffee subscription service. There are many packages you can choose from, with the price ranging from $.39/cup (256 cups per month) to $.62/cup (24 cups per month). These examples are for the residential home options, and there are further discounts if you need more than that. You can tinker around on their website and see further pricing.

When you start a subscription, you get the option to purchase the JoyBarista for a discounted price. Now, the pods themselves claim to be Keurig 2.0 compatible, so the JoyBarista isn’t a necessity, but I could not get any of the pods to work in my Keurig 2.0 unit. Keurig 2.0 K-Cups worked fine on the JoyBarista, however.


Alright, back to the brewer. The JoyBarista can brew between 6-12 ounces of coffee with a single pod. 6 ounces was a little small, but 8 ounces was just right for both my husband and I. You can easily remove the cup base to place taller cups if need be. The time between pressing the ‘brew’ button and getting your final cup of coffee is just a little longer than the Keurig, which makes sense since DripJoy claims the hot water sits longer on the coffee grounds to draw out the full flavor.


The one thing I disliked about the brewer was the sleep mode. After 1-3 hours (adjustable) of idle time, the brewer will automatically go to sleep. This is to save power since there is a commercial grade heater within the unit, but both my husband and I agreed that waiting for the water to heat up in the morning was quite annoying. I timed it one morning, and it took a little over two minutes for the water to heat up and the brewer to be ready. I contacted support and they said there is no way to disable sleep mode, but they’ve received similar comments to my own and will look into it for future models.


Using the brewer is very, very simple. You press the button on the top and it opens up so that you can place a coffee pod inside, then you close it, choose your cup size, and press the brew button. You can’t customize the coffee strength, which some may dislike, but my husband never complained once. (He uses the strong setting on the Keurig all the time!) When I used regular Keurig coffee pods in the JoyBarista, it tasted good; a little stronger, but more flavor as well. Despite the flavor being better, I still couldn’t stand any of my husband’s dark roast coffee pods.

That being said, the dark roast pods (named French Elation) from DripJoy were much better. These were my husband’s favorite type, and I have happily drank several cups of dark roast coffee. We would definitely get the dark roast pods again. We also were able to try their Colombian Cheer (medium strength) and Morning Joy (medium-dark strength), and my favorite had to be the Colombian Cheer. Since we had a way to bypass the non-Keurig 2.0 pods, I tried the DripJoy branded coffees in the Keurig 2.0 machine we have, and I really preferred using the DripJoy.

Overall, I can’t see myself going back to my Keurig, even when we run out of DripJoy branded coffee pods. My coffee is a bit more flavorful in the JoyBarista than the Keurig, and the temperature of the coffee comes out perfect in my eyes. All of the flavors of coffee we were sent were fantastic, and non-DripJoy branded coffee also tasted good. I am still unsure whether or not the Keurig will be demoted to storage in the garage, but for now, the DripJoy JoyBarista coffee maker will stay on the counter for me and my family to use.

Source: The sample used in this review was provided by DripJoy. Please visit their website for more information.

 

Product Information

Price: Pods: ~$.39/cup – $.62/cup : JoyBarista – Base price $189.99; discounted with subscription order.
Manufacturer: DripJoy
Pros:
  • – Very simple to use
  • – Hotter coffee than standard Keurig coffee makers
  • – Great tasting coffee both from the brewer and from their coffee pods
Cons:
  • – Have to wait for the water to warm up if it goes into sleep mode
  • – DripJoy coffee pods may not work in Keurig 2.0 coffee makers

Filed in categories: Home and Kitchen, Reviews

Tagged:

DripJoy coffee service and JoyBarista coffee maker review originally appeared on on March 12, 2017 at 9:12 am.

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Click & Grow introduces DIY gardening – sorta

Growing your own food is awesome because you know where it came from and how it was grown (with or without pesticides). But gardening itself takes some effort if you want the plants to actually live long enough to produce fruits and vegetables. The folks at Click & Grow are no strangers to making gardening products that bring food growing capability to everyone. Even people who think they have black thumbs. A few years ago I reviewed their Smartpot system and thought it was a cool idea. Click & Grow has released similar products since then and now their latest product is the DIY Garden Starter Kit.

The DIY Garden Starter Kit includes 9 plant cups that have a wick that draws the exact right amount of water into the cup when submerged in water.

Unlike previous Click & Grow growing products, the DIY kit does not use batteries or power.  The plant cups contain Click & Grow’s NASA-inspired Smart Soil technology which is a nanotech material engineered to supply plant roots with the right amount of oxygen, water, and nutrients. No pesticides, fungicides, hormones or any other kind of harmful substances are used.

It’s up to you to make the holder for the cups though. That’s where the DIY part of the system comes into play. You can get creative by using LEGO, Mason jars, etc.

The Click & Grow DIY Starter Kit is available for $29.95. Growers are able to fill the cups included in the starter kit with the plants, herbs, veggies, and fruits refill capsules that include plants like kale and chili peppers for $19.95 for 3 capsules. For more info visit Click & Grow and their Amazon store.

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Click & Grow introduces DIY gardening – sorta originally appeared on on March 8, 2017 at 8:17 am.

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Light up your desk and charge your phone with the Jabees Q9

The Jabees Q9 LED desk lamp is a multi-tasker that no only lights up your desk, but it can also charge your Qi-enabled device through it’s built in charging surface or USB port.

Consolidate your lamp and your charging dock or cables with one device from Jabees. The Q9 LED desk lamp features folding design, high-quality LEDs, a built-in Qi charging pad and a 5V/2A USB charging port.

The Q9 also features touch control that allows you to customize the color temperature of the 800 lux lamp from cold to warm tones.

If you have a device that is Qi enabled, you can set it on top of the lamp’s base to charge wirelessly for an easier cable-free charging setup.

Q9 LED Lamp is priced at $59.99 and is available from Jabees.

Filed in categories: Cables, Batteries and Chargers, Home and Kitchen, News

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Light up your desk and charge your phone with the Jabees Q9 originally appeared on on March 7, 2017 at 4:31 pm.

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This butter knife spreads cold butter without tearing your bread

I love butter and I love bread, but I don’t love it when the butter is cold and I can’t spread it without tearing the bread or toast. First world problem? You betcha! But is there a solution? Of course, there is… The Butter Knife from Butter & Honey. I’ve reviewed a couple other cold butter spreading gadgets over the years, but this knife looks like it could be the best of the bunch.

It looks like an ordinary stainless steel butter knife. It has a serrated edge on one side of the blade, but on the other side are small holes and at the top is a wider slot.

Raking the knife edge with the holes across the top of a stick of butter causes little strings of butter to collect on the blade. Multiple thin bits of butter spread easier than a big chunk of cold butter, especially on toast.

The wider slot at the tip of the knife allows you to shave off larger ribbons of butter and then when you’re done you can put the knife in the dishwasher for cleaning.

The Butter & Honey Butter Knife is priced at $19.90 and is available from Amazon.

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This butter knife spreads cold butter without tearing your bread originally appeared on on March 6, 2017 at 4:29 pm.

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