A Little Something For The Registry

By now, most of you will have heard of the new Tassimo Hot Beverage Systems that began selling in Canada last year after three successful years in Europe. An innovation of Kraft Foods, Tassimo is a five-in-one hot beverage system combining the benefits of a high quality espresso machine, cappuccino machine, coffeemaker and tea kettle into one easy-peasy little package. It looks super-sleek on the kitchen counter, will astound and amaze your guests (always important!), and brews up some mean drinks.

Why am I spouting off about this little machine? Because I recently purchased one, and oh! J'adore!

Tassimo works by using "T-Discs", small pod-like containers that contain precisely measured amounts of your drink of choice. Just insert the T-Disc, select a cup and press the button! Tassimo’s "smart technology" reads the bar code printed on the T-Disc and automatically calculates the amount of water needed, brewing time and temperature. Once you push the button, you can brew your choice of hot beverages in about one minute. An inverse flow of filtered water guarantees optimal flavour extraction. The best part? All the brewing happens inside the T-Disc, so you can brew a different beverage immediately afterwards with virtually no flavour transfer! You'll be like a regular Starbucks, whipping up a hot chocolate for your friend, a cappuccino for your husband, and an earl grey for yourself ... all in less then five minutes. Craziness!

Like I said, I love mine. I wish I had had the forsight to put it on my registry when I got married, but it had just come out and I wanted to see how it did in the market first (you can never be too sure!). Of course, I started kicking myself for not listing it mere hours after my gift opening when I realized I was doomed to merely offering plain 'ole coffee to house guests as opposed to luxurious hot drinks-of-choice-at-the-touch-of-a-button. Damn you, my you-can-never-be-too-careful attitude, damn you! I eventually bought one on my own (of course), and its been a mainstay in my kitchen ever since. I used to only purchase the items available at my local grocery store, but recently discovered that you can also buy them online directly from www.tassimo.com , which opened up a wealth of new flavours to try.

Simply put, this is a fab machine. And at approximately $199 CND each, its not going to look ridiculously over-priced on your registry, either. Win-win, ladies. Win-win.