A CafePod flat white and an espresso brownie.

Visiting The London Coffee Festival seems to have become an annual outing. This year every family member went (not all together, Heaven forbid!) but we do seem to be caffeine fiends here. As a consequence, we have a variety of different ways we use to get that coffee hit. A French Press, an Italian stove-top espresso maker, a Tassimo machine, a Dolce Gusto machine and a tin of good instant coffee for when time is of the essence. Something for everyone, you might think? Not always so. If you have the espresso makers you can craft your own coffee, but I don’t have a steamer so I rely on the machines to make me a latte, cappuccino or a macchiato. That’s where I sometimes have a (very First World, middle class I admit) problem. As there are tie ins to coffee shops and brands the coffee flavour profiles tend to be very safe and a little similar.

This is where CafePod come in. Having met the team behind the brand at The London Coffee Festival I was so pleased to find that they produce compatible pods for Nespresso and Dolce Gusto machines, and one of their lines is for a Flat White. My favourite and not a drink produced by any other coffee pod maker for the Dolce Gusto I have yet to find. Choice is, after all, the way to tempt customers in

I bought a box of the Flat White pods to try whilst at the show and have been very kindly sent a box of the Americano and Flat White pods to top up my supply. Coffee should not simply be seen as liquid fuel. That may be it’s role but you can at least enjoy the different flavour profiles as it speeds you onwards during the day. The American CafePod has a rich and full-bodied blend of Sumatran and Southern Indian coffees with cocoa, hazelnut and red berry hints. The Flat White is a South American, Indonesian and Indian blend, with notes of chocolate, warm spice and a slightly smokey finish.

If you’d like to try these pods for yourself CafePod have very kindly offered readers of Mintcustard a 20% discount off their first order (except subscription) until 31st July when you enter MINTC20 at checkout.

I’ve used a little of the Americano coffee to make a batch of coffee brownies using a recipe from Lesley Waters. I used this recipe as it differs from most brownie recipes by creaming the butter and sugar together rather than melting the butter and chocolate. I’ll let you know how it went.

I bought my first pack of Flat White Cafe Pods at the London Coffee Festival and was then sent two packs by the company to review. I was not asked to write a positive review. All the words and images are my own.

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