Victoria Spring 2011 - Single Serve espresso from Nespresso Pixie · Saturday May 14, 2011 by colin newell
Had the pleasure of getting a 1 week loan of the Nespresso Pixie from Weber Shandwick of Vancouver – thanks to the lovely Nicole G. for turning me loose on this new coffee maker.
The Nespresso Pixie is a fast heat-up single serve espresso pod brewer. And when I say “Fast Heating” – I am not kidding. I did not measure the time exactly, but after power up, the unit appeared ready to brew in under 2 minutes. Great if you are in a hurry in the morning.
I have done some other reviews of ESE “Easy Service Espresso” – which is different than the pod over here and here
The ESE machines I have used have been awesome – and a tad more eco friendly.
I might as well get this out there right now – The Nespresso system is downright ecologically unfriendly – using plastics and tinfoil in the pod product. Over the life of the unit this would amount to a boat load of waste products. Personally, I cannot support systems like this and would try and steer folks away from POD systems on this basis alone.
If not for that, what of the flavor?
I am not entirely sure how Pods are manufactured or whether or not they are flushed and sealed with nitrogen to keep the coffee even remotely fresh – I suspect not. Pretty sure that ESE’s are, at least, partially staled prior to packing and shipping. POD’s could not possibly be too fresh because the pods would burst open without a method of de-gassing. And the pods do not appear to have 1-way valves.
Flavor – at first spin, the flavor of the pods are not too jarring – depending entirely on “stopping” the shot prior to the full brew cycle. Bottom line here is: the dose of the pod is not nearly high enough for a decent single – that is, a 1+ fluid ounce shot of espresso… it’s close, but it is not quite enough.
As a result, every long pull pod serving is hopelessly over-extracted and watery… and, well… bitter.
Weber Shandwick was kind enough to send me around 10 Pods to sample – some of them were Decaf – which I blended in double shots during my evening photo shoot of the product. Overall impression over the course of brewing the different “espresso flavors” was one of, ahem *Meh. Hate to say that but I have to be cruelly honest about this. Even if the Nespresso system was not a complete Eco pig, it will still come down to trying to get too much flavor from too small a dose of coffee. Fix that and the pod manufacture materials and maybe Nescafe might be on to something.
If you are the kind of person that does not mind playing 50 cents per shot of coffee and are willing to double-pod your morning experience and short pull all your Pods, this might be the baby for you.
For me, not so much. Thumbs down on the Nespresso Pixie Pod system.
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Victoria Spring 2011 - What Spring · Saturday May 14, 2011 by colin newell
I am not alone in making this declaration:
Here in Victoria B.C. (YYJ for you twitter types), the weather has been utterly kicking my ass. And I am pretty sure that unless you live in a cave and you are used to sleeping with bats under dripping stalagmites, then you too are suffering the effects of the Victoria Winter of 2011 that will never fucking end.
The Sun has come out for about 7 days (not in a row or even in any sequence) over the last 4 months. We have not had 2 days of clear skies. We have had week after week or gray. Light gray. Dark gray. Green gray and several shades of blue gray.
Seasonally effected? I have had the luxury of cranking my lab light up to a cataract inducing 50,000 LUX or so… and even a touch more if I need it. And if you don’t know the significance of these numbers… Google it. Not quite Super Nova levels but pretty damn bright. I pity people that work in near windowless offices or spaces that have heavily filtered light. We go to Hawaii once a year for an infusion of Sunny goodness and it usually lasts a couple of months – well that sweet nugget of goodness ran out months ago – and it has been entirely miserable since January.
So, trying something different. Popping Omega-3 Fish oil and 1000 unit Vitamin D tabs twice a day – and thankfully I have a buddy who is a family doctor who said “OK” to this – because it does say on the bottle – “Medical supervision…” Thanks Doc.
So. How are the rest of you coping with the shitty Victoria weather?
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Victoria Spring 2011 - Canadian Gas Prices · Saturday May 14, 2011 by colin newell
I have spoken on this issue in the past – about gas price fixing in Canadian markets.
Which I am now preparing to reject. No, not preparing… It’s done.
Let me clarify: I do not believe that the markets are fixed in Canada.
For Gas. Or Coffee. Or Chocolate. Or anything for that matter.
And you’re wondering… “Who are you? Who took our Colin away?”
Here is the thing – 1st year University economics at work. We live in a free market system. That means that the markets set themselves. There are no wage and price controls at work in Canada or the U.S.
As a result, the market moves around to suit the vendors, the suppliers, the executives, shareholders etc. It is the system we have embraced.
And we vote for governments that support the open market agenda.
Actually, all the governments that are available to be elected are all for open markets – there are no socialist parties or active communist parties in Canada (or America). And the ones that are professing to be socialist are dreaming – or digging for votes.
We live in an open market society. Everything is up for grabs. Everything is for sale. And this includes petrol, oil, gas, coffee, water, pork bellies, all manner of food stuffs – anything that can be bought and solid for a profit.
Our governments negotiate and sign trade agreements with other countries that are not as developed as our own – that gives manufacturers the upper hand in maximizing profit for executives, owners, shareholders, etc. It is in the best interest of the free market system to get products made as cheaply as possible to get the most payback for the vested interests.
Gas is no different. The raw materials come out of the ground and are processed and distributed for profit. Yes, I know the raw materials are free – it comes out of the ground after all. But there needs to be an infrastructure for it to end up in your tank as high octane gasoline. That costs money.
And sure, oil companies like banks make obscene amounts of profit – so what. It is a free market system. Is this profit wrong? No. It is a free market system. We live in this system, support it and vote for governments that have a pro-business agenda.
We totally get what we pay for folks.
Coffee (a subject that I know a little bit about) is one of those highly traded commodities.
Imagine every coffee bean produced in a year – Got that picture? Good.
Well, that mountain of coffee changes hands anywhere from 50 to 100 times a year. And most of those folks that profit from coffee, big time, have never even seen a coffee bean or a coffee farmer. Is this wrong? Technically no – I mean, coffee brokers are not in the business of knowing how Juan Valdez is doing with his family in Nicaragua – or whether he and his family have education or health care. Brokers and traders are in the business of flipping product for profit.
Back to gas. Any government that says they are going to “look into high gas prices” are being utterly cynical. This has been happening in the U.S. lately. Obama has stated that high fuel prices need to be looked into. Additionally, one of the most stupid men in America, Donald Trump, uttered some shallow platitudes about taking Saudi by the short and curly and giving them what-for. Actually, considering that Trump is playing a joke on all of us with his Presidential run, he is actually being more honest than Obama.
When we consider that the fuel that goes into our cars comes from a finite supply, and that it is considerably more expensive in Europe – it is likely that the price in Canada and the U.S. is too low. I know, I hate paying $50 to fill my Honda Civic with this stuff – but I am not alone. And if I was in Holland it would be twice that much.
Summary: We live in a free market system where anything goes. Our new Conservative government in Canada plans on throwing Foreign ownership rules to the wind (which I strongly disagree with – but who am I.) Which means that more Canadian stuff is going to be on the vending block – which will increase the cost of living to average Canadian.
And as much as I would love to live in socialist utopia where I did not have to worry about food security, the integrity and safety of my water supply and the roof over my head… I am now ready to face the facts… that this is the society in which we live: A society where everything is for sale and speculation. It is what the majority of Canadian’s appear to want – so we get the results.
Victoria Spring 2011 - Islandnet under attack · Thursday May 12, 2011 by colin newell
My ISP (client since 1995) has been under a cyber-attack since yesterday – taking down the entire operation several times over the last 24 hours – disrupting thousands of customers and hundreds of webpages.
For the time being all is calm.
Islandnet.com was contacted by the attackers who ordered that the web site in question be taken down.
Islandnet.com has capitulated. And in their words.
“UPDATE 3:12pm: we have been contacted by a group claiming to be behind the attacks. They identify the target (a customer of ours) and demand that the site in question be shut down or the attacks will continue. As much as I hate to capitulate, we can’t afford to stand up for the rights of one customer at the expense of all the others, so the site has been shut down.”
Not sure how I feel about this.
So. It was not the website I thought it might be. For all intents and purposes, it could have been my blog – which regularly speaks out on some sensitive international issues – pleases me to no end that my opinion is not so valued somewhere that I would be attacked over it. That said, I am not sure how I would feel about my Canadian ISP giving me the boot over the whims of a foreign power.
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