I’m very excited to talk coffee here on Sage & Serendipity with a product review of the Hamilton Beach FlexBrew 2-Way Coffee Maker, carried exclusively at Wal-Mart stores. As a brand ambassador I received this product to review, as well as run a giveaway for my readers which is at the end of this post!
This coffee maker is unique because it allows you to make both standard drip coffee as well as a k-cup; it truly is a flex-brewing system! As someone who usually brews for one, it’s nice to have the flexibility to make a pot for leftovers or when guests are over. What I love is that the unit is lightweight and its footprint is small considering that it brews both pots of coffee and single cups. As with all of Hamilton Beach’s products, the dials and buttons are clearly marked and easy to navigate.
The design of the water compartment on the top is wide enough so it does not cause drips onto the counter when pouring water in; this is a problem I have encountered with other coffee pot makers. The unit uses basket filters and the water gauge on the side helps determine how many cups you want to make. I was happy with the pots of coffee I brewed with this coffee maker.
The compartment for the k-cups is a bit tough to remove and insert at first, but this improved after a few uses. You also have to make sure to press down before brewing, otherwise the k-cup will not puncture and you’ll just run through a hot cup of water! To be completely honest, I struggled a bit the first time to load my k-cup despite the quick use diagram included with the brewer.
My k-cup mug of joe was dispensed a bit inconsistently, and the distance between the dispenser and the cup led to a few splashes outside the cup. This could have been rectified by flipping the metal piece to shorten the distance; chalk that one up to user error! The coffee itself tasted fab.
The other thing to mention is that the k-cup side can also make ground coffee using the handy included reusable single filter!
I recently visited Seattle (recap posts to come!) and picked up a few bags of coffee from my favorite coffee houses. I decided to test out the coffee maker with my favorite iced coffee mix!
Dreamy Iced Coffee
Prepare coffee by flash brewing; brew a concentrated cup of coffee with 10 ounces of water and 1 ounce of coffee grounds. Prior to combining over ice stir in 2 tablespoons of agave nectar; this will meld better with the hot coffee versus chilled. Filter the mix over 7 ounces of ice to yield two cups of coffee.
Fill a glass 1/3 of the way with ice and pour over approximately 2 ounces of coconut milk (Trader Joe’s light version is the bomb). Top with the sweetened coffee and stir to mix.
Flash brewing avoids the flavor breakdown that occurs when sticking a hot mug of coffee in the fridge to cool. Plus this is a quick way to get an iced glass of java!
Now for the best part; enter to win your own brand new Hamilton Beach FlexBrew! Simply follow the prompts in the Rafflecopter widget below and you’ll be entered to win!
The details:
-This giveaway will run from Wednesday, May 6th (12 AM) to Saturday, May 9th (11:59 PM).
-To clarify, you are entering to win a brand new Hamilton Beach Flex Brew 2-Way Coffee Maker. I will coordinate with the winner and Hamilton Beach to have the coffee maker shipped directly to you from their distribution center.
-Using the Rafflecopter box below, log in and leave me a comment below. Tell me your favorite way to get caffeinated in the mornings!
-You can also follow me on Twitter (@loganmer) for extra points to win!
-Make sure you have clicked the link for this particular post so that the comment box shows up.
-Rafflecopter will randomly select the winner, who I will reach out to next week.
Good luck!
Update: this giveaway is now closed and a winner has been randomly selected. Thank you to all who entered and for checking out Sage & Serendipity!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
