My sample of Gloria Jean’s Hazelnut for this review was provided by Keurig themselves.  When I started the K-Cup Challenge I never imagined it would be so well received.  I’m pretty excited to add Keurig to the growing list of supports for this little endeavor.

Since I’m fond of plagiarizing little bits of info from my sponsor’s sites, I figured I do the same for Keurig, so FYI, here’s a bit of background:

The Keurig Story

The word “keurig” is derived from the Dutch word for excellence, and it is our promise to you. Excellence guides everything we do, from our patented single-cup brewing technology, to the gourmet brands of coffee and tea that are packaged in our K-Cup^® portion packs, to our customer service.

Today, Keurig^® is the leading single-cup brewing system in North America-for both At Home and Away From Home. Now, you can enjoy a fresh cup of gourmet coffee or tea, and hot cocoa Keurig Brewed^® in less than a minute, without any set-up or clean-up. Keurig’s popular coffee, tea and hot cocoa brands offer hundreds of K-Cups^® to choose from, so everyone can have their favorite variety.

KEURIG.
BREWING EXCELLENCE ONE CUP AT A TIME^®

Learning is good, but for those of you short on time, let me give you the really short Cliffs Notes version. All you really need to know (at least for now), is that Keurig is a wicked cool, Massachusetts-based (hence the “wicked cool” part) company that manufactures the single greatest advancement in kitchen technology (the Keurig lineup of home brewers) since the microwave. Oh, and given a choice between my microwave and my B70 Brewer, I’d ditch the microwave.

Modern kitchen marvels aside, I’m actually here to discuss the coffee itself.  But before I get into the actual review, I think it’s only fair to further preface the content by acknowledging right up front that I’m totally not a Hazelnut guy.  I’ve never liked it, I probably never will.  I’m on a  mission though and along the way, maybe, just maybe, I’ll get lucky and score a Hazelnut flavored K-Cup that I can actually get excited about.  That said, what about Gloria Jean’s Hazelnut?

What it Says on the Box

“subtle taste of hazelnut”   Seriously?  That’s all you’ve got?

The Aroma

Any guesses?  Yup, that’s right, Gloria Jean’s Hazelnut K-Cups smell unmistakeably like hazelnut.  The aroma is by far the strongest I’ve encountered in a hazelnut blend (whole bean, ground, or otherwise).  It’s the first hazelnut K-Cup I’ve tried so it’s too early to see how it compares to others in the Keurig family, but man…it’s potent, and a bit daunting for a guy less than enthused about a mouthful of nut-scented coffee.

Drinking it Black

The first thing I noticed about the flavor of Gloria Jean’s hazelnut was the relative lack of hazelnut flavor.  It’s not that it was absent, rather it just wasn’t as powerful as the aroma had led me to believe it would be.  It’s not unlike the aroma vs. flavor experience I had with Green Mountain’s French Vanilla.

Acidity fall right into the moderate range; not flat, not cheek gouging either.  I found it to be slightly bitter, and truthfully, not all that enjoyable (again, not a hazelnut guy).

With Cream and Sugar

On my first try, I added cream and Splenda (which is what I usually do).  Unfortunately while the coffee did sweeten up, and become more drinkable, there was an unpleasantly harsh, syrupy aftertaste, accompanied by some less than welcome back of the the throat burn.

The 2nd time around I decided to go with actual sugar.  Clearly this was the right move as the flavor improved, the nuttiness was more pronounced, and the syrupy burning was non-existent.  This isn’t really all that unusual for me.  Some blends take well to Splenda, for others sugar is really the only way to go.

While definitely nothing I’d crave, or even seek out, with cream and sugar, I found Gloria Jean’s Hazelnut tolerable.  Although it did leave me with a bit of belly burn a few minutes later.  It’s wasn’t so bad I needed to go see a Doc or anything, but it wasn’ pleasant either.

Final Thoughts

If you’re a fan of hazelnut blends, definitely give Gloria Jean’s a try.  From my not-a-fan-of-hazelnut perspective all I can definitively say is that it’s better than the same variety from DD, and is the better of the two K-Cup hazelnuts I’ve tried (I haven’t reviewed the 2nd yet, so mum, is for now, the word).

Shameless Plug

Keep this thing going; support my sponsors.  In this case it’s Keurig, which should make it remarkably easy.  If you already own a brewer, you’ve already done it, so just keep buying coffee for it, which I’m guessing was your plan all along.

For those of you who don’t own a Keurig Home Brewer, don’t you think it’s about time you got on board?  Still buying and grinding beans?  Seriously?  Do you do laundry with a tub and a washboard?  Do you cook dinner over an open flame?  Quite frankly, if you don’t own a Keurig brewer, you’re probably so far behind the technology curve, that I doubt you have the computer required to read this (I don’t think it’s Commodore 64 accessible).

Seriously though…if you don’t want to make the $100-$200 commitment just to try a Keurig, he’s my suggestion; find a lawyer, a doctor, a car dealer, somebody who has one in their office.  Believe me, there’s an office near you that has one.  Try it for free, that’s how I learned about Keurig.

While you’re here visiting Qwowi, check out the growing list of reviews that are part of The K-Cup Challenge.

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