Zevro Incred-a-brew Direct Immersion Coffee Maker

If you are a coffee lover, you have probably used a french press at least a few times and know that you can make some great coffee with them. There are only a few small downsides: it can be difficult to clean them and it can be hard to get out all of the coffee without getting any grounds in that last cup. These are small things and aren’t going to stop me from using my french press anytime soon, but they are enough to make me keep my eyes open for other brewing options. The Incred-a-brew Direct Immersion Coffee Maker from Zevro is just one of these choices – and it looks like a good one.  I’ve used their Simpliss-a-Tea tea maker, which features the same design, many times with great results.

The Incred-a-brew Direct Immersion Coffee Maker lets you steep your ground coffee in hot water (much like a french press), but instead of pressing the grounds through the coffee and then pouring from the top, you can actually dispense the coffee directly into your cup through the bottom of the coffee maker. The gadget has a very cool release valve on the top that that dispenses the coffee directly into a cup when you place it on top of one – and, more importantly, it instantly stops the flow when you lift the coffee maker. It only makes one (large) cup of coffee at a time, so it is great when you want a single serving and it doesn’t take quite as much babysitting as a pour-over filter set up.

Deep Tea Diver

I love that tea infusers are become more and more creative lately, mostly because it gives me an excuse to actually have more than one in my cupboard at a time. They also make fantastic gifts, with something for just about everyone… and since one of my dear friends happens to be an expert scuba diver, the Deep Tea Diver is something that I am planning on gifting her this holiday season! The tea infuser is a tiny diver, made of food-safe silicone and stainless steel. Simply fill the diver up with your favorite loose leaf tea and let him sink to the bottom of your mug. His counterweight air tank will keep him from wandering too far off – and makes it easy to pull him out when he is done. The diver is dishwasher safe, for easy cleanup, too.
Of course, it goes without saying that you don’t need to be a diving enthusiast to enjoy this tea infuser. Anyone with a collection of jumbo mugs will get a kick out of it.

Fiat adds in-car espresso machine to new 500L

I heard rumors of a car with a built in espresso machine several years ago, but I figured that it was a coffee-lover’s urban legend, or perhaps the kind of custom-mod that an ultra-rich car collector might add to one of his or her pricey rides. Apparently, however, Fiat is making this dream a reality. Fiat will be including in-car espresso makers in its 500L model. The machines are made by Lavazza and are designed to flow well with the rest of the car’s interior styling. They come equipped with two matching travel mugs, one for the driver and one for the passenger (or two for the driver, if you’re like me).

This caffeinated car will be available in Europe starting this fall, but the car itself – a four door version of the stylish, but tiny, Fiat 500 – isn’t scheduled to be released in the US until 2013, so we still have to stick to the drive-thru or traditional coffee shops until then.

Zevro Indispensable Coffee Dispenser

One way to ensure that you get a good cup of coffee is to freshly grind your beans just before you are ready to use them. Oils escape from the beans when they’re ground and your coffee will age much, much faster than whole beans do. Dried out coffee grounds lead to less flavorful coffee. The problem with grinding as you go is that you have to devote some extra time to measuring and grinding the beans before brewing. This can be a slow and noisy (especially for those of us who make coffee very early!) process and there are times when it would be nice just to have that coffee already ground and ready to go! I don’t want to compromise flavor for speed, and neither do the people at Zevro, who came up with the Indispensable Coffee Dispenser. This gadget holds up to 1/2-pound of freshly ground coffee in an airtight environment. With the touch of a button, it will also dispense coffee grounds in 1 tbsp amounts directly into your espresso machine, coffee pot, or other coffee-making  equipment. It does not grind the beans, so you can grind them as coarse or as fine as you like before storing them.

The best thing about this dispenser is that it holds enough grounds to be useful, but not so much that you’ll end up with past-their-prime beans in your dispenser. It will keep things fresh until you’re ready for a refill.  The dispensing action is also useful because it means that you don’t need to constantly open the container and let air in as you access your beans.

Real Simple tests Single Serve Coffee Makers

Pod coffee makers are more popular now than ever. They offer convenience, but the quality of the coffee offered with them is higher than it has ever been, making them more appealing to coffee lovers as well as convenience seekers. In the latest issue of Real Simple magazine, they asked the owner of a popular NYC cafe to test 29 models and see how they performed. Then, they narrowed the selection down to just five winners.

• Best for a full house: Keurig Special Edition Brewing System (which I have), which boasts one of the largest selections of coffee and the largest reservoir (48 oz), so you can brew multiple cups easily.
• Best Budget: Mr Coffee Single Serve, which is only able to brew one cup at a time, but is inexpensive and still offers many coffee options.
• Best for Small Spaces: Nespresso Pixie, which features a beautiful and sleek design and brews espresso, for those seeking a richer coffee. The coffee selection is limited, but high quality
• Best All Around: Nescafe Dolce Gusto Genio took this category for being affordable, easy to use and offering the flexibility of brewing a few cups at a time. It’s cute, but the coffee selection is limited.
• Best Espresso: De’Longhi Pump Espresso and Cappuccino Maker EC279 brews quality espresso at the touch of a button, and even has a milk steamer so you can turn your shot into a latte. It’s very affordable compared to larger espresso machines, easy to use and offers a big espresso selection.