PODcast #62 : Espresso Pods News

Welcome to The PODcast, PodMerchant's newsletter of espresso pod news, education, tips and deals. Back issues of The PODcast are available online.

Happy Holidays Issue

It's that time of year again. A happy time, but also a very busy time for merchants, including merchants of pods. Too busy to write new material for a PODcast. So, as has been my custom in the past, we present a "Best Of" issue. And, it may be that our next issue will be like-wise, as the taxman has decided to inspect Podmerchant's books in January.

Holiday Schedule

Our planned last day of shipping this year will be Tuesday, December 21st (tomorrow!). We will resume shipping two weeks later on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011. If you place your order during our closure, we will give a 5% discount for waiting on your order. To claim the discount, you'll enter the coupon code: "HAPPYHOLIDAYS" (without the quotes of course). This coupon will work in addition to the usual 10% PODcast coupon.

Espresso Elucidations

It's a Clean Machine...

"It's a clean machine," sang Paul McCartney in the Beatle's classic "Penny Lane." Unfortunately, mine wasn't. I should have known better. And I do know better. But somehow I let my office espresso machine go for over nine months without cleaning. It happens gradually so it's not like suddenly one day you notice it. What happened is this: I had tried our new Aloha Island Kona at home on a brand new FrancisFrancis! X6 and I was absolutely blown away by the flavor. Now, I don't drink much of it, because it is very expensive, even at wholesale price. But the other day I made some Aloha Island at the office on my Nuvola Terry, which I had always thought made great espresso. Where was that fabulous flavor? It was gone I tell you, gone! It wasn't bad but it wasn't fantastic and it has to be fantastic. So I got out a package of Urnex Cleancaf and went to work. After cleaning I tried the Aloha Island again. The fabulous Kona flavor had returned. Lesson learned — don't let your machine build up coffee residue.

Espresso Tips

When I began publishing the PODcast (5 years ago!), I expected to publish a tip in each issue. I quickly ran out of tips. I guess that's one of the advantages of espresso pods — it's so easy that not too much can go wrong. Nevertheless, from time to time, there are valuable tidbits to pass along.

This issue's tip expands on our Espresso Elucidation. To get the best results from Urnex Cleancaf, we recommend the following procedure. After you've mixed Cleancaf and poured it into the tank, don't just run it through the machine. I recommend running a few demitasse-cup-fulls then pausing for several minutes to let the Cleancaf work on dissolving the coffee residue. Then run a few cup-fulls again. Pause and repeat until the Cleancaf solution coming from the spout is clear blue. Be sure to let it rest long enough between pumping to allow the Cleancaf to work on the built-up residue. You should also scrub the shower screen and filterbasket with a toothbrush. Be sure to remove the filter basket and scrub the portafitler chamber. The shower screen can also be removed to clean on upstream of it. Residue gets up there too.

PodMerchant News

The return of Covim Caffe'

Long-time customers will remember when we carried Covim Caffe' espresso pods. Covim, simply put, is the best coffee I have ever had. As proud as I am, and as much as I love our own PodMerchant private label, I stil have to give the nod to Covim.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Covim distributor went out of business. I tried several times, but only recently was I able to get in communication and place an order with the home office in Italy. I eagerly await having Covim back on our shelves in January.

Inventories

Christmas sales have cleaned us out of many popular espresso pods. But we expect our shipment from Italy due in during the holidays, and delivery should be during our first week back. Full stock on Lucaffe', Amigos, Caffe' del Doge, Izzo, Compagnia dell'Arabica, and as mentioned above, Covim Caffe'.

Facebook

Please visit our Facebook Page! We post updates on product availability, coffee-related stories, photos, and videos to our Facebook page. Press on our Facebook Page and you'll get up-to-date news and coffee stories posted to your Facebook News Feed. We also have a discussion board.

PODcast Discount Coupon

PODcast subscribers get a 10% discount* coupon with each issue. Just enter the code below on the Shipping Selection screen during checkout.

• The discount does not apply to illy Caffe' products.
• Coupon expires when the next issue is published, or at the end of the next month following publication of the issue, whichever comes first. This means you need the current coupon code from the current newsletter!
• Only one coupon per subscriber per issue.
• For more information, please see our PODcast Coupon FAQ.

The subscriber version of this newsletter contains a Coupon Code for 10% your next order. Be sure to subscribe to take advantage of this discount.

Keep on brew'n...


Kevin Garrett, The PodMerchant.