Zabar's Blog

Guess the Beans and win!

Nope, we didn’t shrink a lb of Zabar’s coffee, nor is that a child’s size mug – it’s a French press to fuel quite a group of coffee lovers!

Join our contest on Facebook to win a free lb of Zabar’s Coffee, a Zabar's Mug and a coffee scoop. Just guess how many beans are in this French press and we’ll choose the nearest answer. (In the case of a tie we’ll select a random winner.)

HINTS: the French press’ height is 17.3 inches and the circumference is 29.9 inches.

The contest runs today and tomorrow; just comment on our Facebook Wall and we’ll select a winner on Wednesday, May 18th.

Serious Info about the Jura Capresso Automatic Coffee Station + Watch the Video

I promised all of you a bit more technical information about this ENA-4 Jura-Capresso Automatic Coffee Station that we are featuring right now, and I'm going to be as concise as I can since this is a blog post.  However, if you have more questions about it please do not hesitate to email us at mezzanine@zabars.com, or call the store at 212-787-2000. You can, of course, always stop in to speak to us in the store; we've helped many, many people with coffee makers over the years, and we'd love to help you, too!

OK!  So I was thinking about what kind of information is important for people to know about this machine before welcoming it into their kitchens, so I did a lot of research, and came up with the following:

How do I use the machine? It really is easy; if you've already loaded it with water and beans, you just push the button on the top of the machine, and out comes fantastic coffee.  It grinds, tamps, and brews coffee into the cup you set under the adjustable-height spout. Then you turn that same button to tell the machine how much coffee to make for you, and how strong you want it.  There is also a place for adding preground coffee, which is great for when you want the occasional cup of decaf (or vice versa!).    

It's (almost) all about the grinder.  If you talk to enough baristas and coffee experts, you will learn that your grinder is a really, really important factor that can make or break your ability to make great coffee.  Or even good coffee.  The fineness of the grind and how consistent the particle size is have a significant impact on the flavor, texture, and aroma of the finished product.  Happily, Jura-Capresso understands this and has equipped their ENA-4 with a commercial grade, solid steel conical burr grinder.  It is capable of producing that fine, even grind that is critical to a great espresso.  You can easily spend hundreds (and hundreds) on just a grinder of this quality, so it's a sweet deal to get it for this price in a machine that also makes your espresso for you with the touch of a button!  You should also know that the grinder is calibrated by hand during assembly in Switzerland.

This machine is like a refrigerator.  By that I mean that it is a kitchen appliance that you should expect to use and enjoy for years and years rather than something disposable. Jura-Capresso makes top-of-the-line automatic coffee centers and their customer service is excellent, and anybody who loves great coffee, or, believe it or not, would like to economize if they frequently buy coffee out. OK, so that wasn't technical information but it's a really important thing to realize.The size is also great; it packs all this excellent technology into a slender, beautiful 14"h x 9"w x 17"l.

It can save you money.  Yes, really!  Here's how:The average American spends about $30 per month on retail brewed coffee. If you invest in an automatic coffee station like the ENA-4 is, it will pay for itself in only 6-7 months. Plus, the coffee will almost certainly taste much better and there's no standing on line every. single. morning. Just the time savings alone should bump up the timeline, right?

I hope I've given you useful information, and remember, you only have until April 25th to also get all of your free gifts with purchase (use coupon code JURA4U), and it qualifies for free ground shipping in Zabar's Home Zone.  Wouldn't your office staff/friends getting married/spouse love one of these?  

Check out this video where David Lopez gives us the rundown on why this machine is so great: 

One Week for Free Gifts + 40% off Jura-Capresso Automatic Coffee Station!

Hey everybody, some of you may have seen my hinting about this upcoming promotion on Twitter (follow me @ZabarsHouseware) and now I am absolutely thrilled to finally share this sweet deal the Housewares Department here at Zabar's has put together for you.  

The ENA-4 Jura-Capresso's ENA-4 Automatic Coffee Station is the perfect solution for anyone who wants to make excellent espresso at home with just a touch of a button. Grinding, tamping, and brewing is all automatic, and you can tell the machine how much coffee to make and how strong you want it, all with the turn of a dial. It even has a highly effective water filtration system for great taste, and will let you know when it needs more water, beans, or to be put through a cleaning cycle. Of particular note is the quality of the grinder, which is one of the most important parts of any automatic coffee maker (more on that in my next post).        

Now for the math; if you buy 5 premium coffee drinks during the work week and switch to making them at home, this machine will pay for itself in about 7 months; even faster if you include the weekends.  Consider this as a great gift for any coffee-loving person (Mother's Day and Father's Day are both on the way).  Employers, consider that by setting one of these up in your office, you can both show your employees how much you appreciate them and keep them alert!   

We are offering Jura-Capresso's ENA-4 Automatic Coffee Station at an incredible 40% discount.  This machine usually sells for $1,350 but you can get it from us for $799.98.  We are ALSO offering, for one week only, a collection of excellent free gifts (total value over $150!) with the purchase of this ENA-4 Automatic Coffee Station, only from www.zabars.com:

• 3 Clearyl Water Filter Cartridges 
• 1 6-pack Cleaning Tablets
• 1000 ml Steam Wand Cleaner Liquid
• 1 Cleaning Container
• Care instructions
• Set of 2 porcelain cups with saucers
• One pound of freshly-roasted Zabar’s Special Blend coffee 

It's everything you need to keep your machine in great working order. Just enter coupon code JURA4U at checkout. And remember, with the purchase of this item you get FREE GROUND SHIPPING within Zabar's Home Zone. Click here to find out if you qualify.

Coming on Thursday: We get technical about this Automatic Coffee Station, and we'll hear what David L., Zabar's Housewares Dude Extraordinaire, thinks about it.

Last Days for Aerobie Aeropress Espresso & Coffee Maker Web-Only Offer!

This is just a quick reminder that our fabulous web-only Aerobie Aeropress Espresso & Coffee Maker special offer expires on April 3rd at midnight.  That's this Sunday!

In case you missed the details...

When you purchase an Aerobie AEROPRESS Coffee and Espresso Maker ($29.98) from Zabars.com, we’ll include for FREE: 

• One Pound of Zabar’s Coffee
• Zabar’s Coffee Mug
• Small “Go Green” Zabar’s Shopping Bag
• Zabar’s Coffee Scoop
• Zabar’s Coffee Brochure
• Enter coupon code ZHGIFT at checkout to get all the freebies.

Remember, we offer FREE GROUND SHIPPING on orders of $49 or more to many locations within 150 miles of our store in Manhattan!  Head to www.zabars.com to see if you qualify.

Check out some recent blog posts about the Aerobie Aeropress and why I think it's so nifty. 

 

Today's News: Aeropress Press & our next shipment!

BREAKING NEWS:  Hey, everyone, your response to our Aerobie Aeropress promotion has been so enthusiastic that we are currently SOLD OUT of our entire inventory! We have lots more on the way, though, and we expect to be able to start shipping them again on Monday, April 3.  Of course, we will honor any promo code (ZHGIFT) orders we receive this week and will include all of the great free gifts in the order the moment we receive our shipment from Aerobie.  We apologize for the wait.

The least I can do for those of you who will wait a little extra time for your Aeropress and free gifts is to increase your anticipation by telling you about what the press has said about it. 

It seems that more and more people love The Aeropress as time goes on.  Even though the Aeropress was introduced back in 2006, it continues to gain devotees and garner positive press.  There is even a World Aeropress Championships brewing competition (this year’s will be held in Bogota) and there are local, informal competitions going on around the world.   Also, just before we launched this web promo, a story about the Aeropress was published in the Los Angeles Times.  So, I feel very confident that the Aerobie Aeropress will not only live on as time passes, but will become known as a great coffee brewing tool that every coffee lover should own.

There's just 6 days left to take advantage of this promo!  Click here to see if your location qualifies for free ground shiping on orders of $49 or more (enter your zip code into the top banner).

The Aerobie Aeropress, Coffee, BPA (free) and Health

I am food- and cooking-obsessed.  I think about ingredients and recipes and cooking tools and  techniques all the time.  I read about food history and food science. I travel for the purpose of experiencing the local cuisine.  I research nutrition too.  Pretty much everything having to do with food and cooking is interesting to me.   

So, now I’ve turned my particular attention to coffee, since I’ve recently joined the fraternity of coffee drinkers. It really wasn’t on my radar very often before now except in a somewhat sporadic, peripheral way.  Now, I find myself wanting to know more, to delve deep, to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge about my newest personal food discovery.  Could I possibly work at a better place than Zabar’s if I wanted to learn about coffee?  I don’t think so.   

There’s so much written on the health benefits of and issues surrounding coffee that I couldn’t possibly go into it all here.  One of the newest discoveries, however, seems to be about the oils present in coffee, which some people decide to avoid.  Paper filters remove these oils, and there are many brewing methods which use the paper filters.  It gets a little trickier, though, when you want espresso-style coffee.

Enter the Aerobie Aeropress Espresso and Coffee Maker that I’ve been writing about lately.  It makes smooth, rich espresso and it uses a paper filter!  The customer service provider in me loves that there is a great product that fills that niche so we can send customers off happy that they found just the right thing that meets their needs.  Maybe the Aerobie Aeropress is just the right thing for you or someone you know.  

Other customers have wondered about the plastics that Aerobie Aeropress is constructed from and I'm happy to inform everyone that it is entirely BPA- and phthalate-free.  BPA, or bisphenol-A and phthalates have been in the news lately due to possible health effects.  You can read more about the materials used in the Aerobie Aeropress here.

There’s just 9 days left of our web-only Aerobie Aeropress promotion on www.zabars.com, which runs  through April 3, 2011. Remember, it’s only $29.98, and we’re throwing in a bunch of freebies, including a free pound of Zabar’s amazing coffee. (Just enter coupon code ZHGIFT at online checkout.) We also offer free ground shipping on all web orders of $49 or more shipped to most locations within 150 miles of our store. 

How I learned to love coffee with the Aerobie Aeropress Espresso & Coffee Maker

I have a confession to make.  I am not a regular coffee drinker.  (At least, I wasn’t.  More on that later.) 

I know, I know.  “How,” my friends and coworkers and family say with amazement, “can you not drink coffee?”  “I like it OK,” I answer, shiftily, “I do like a good cup of coffee now and then, honestly.  I just like tea more than coffee.”  They usually turn away from me then, with pity, shaking their heads.    

Believe me, it takes a certain amount of courage to admit this on the Zabar’s-we-sell-8,000-pounds-of-coffee-a-week-Blog, of all places.  And we do sell fantastic coffee, of that there is no doubt.  It just isn’t so much my thing as it is the rest of New York City’s thing.  (Or so I thought. Again, more on that later.)   

So, it was with a certain ambivalence that I began my testing of our current featured Zabar’s Housewares web special, the Aerobie Aeropress Espresso and Coffee Maker - we’re running a great web-only promo deal on now through April 3, with lots of freebies (enter coupon code ZHGIFT at checkout).

Anyway, just to let you know, in the course of my career in the specialty food biz, I’ve picked up some coffee knowledge and some tasting skills, so despite what I’ve said, I do have a pretty good idea of what to look for in coffee, flavor-wise.  I also had my husband, who is a coffee lover (to put it mildly) along to give feedback as well.

Some of what we discovered is below, in convenient bullet point form: 

• Brewing at a 175° was a revelation.  This water temperature produced a very smooth coffee flavor without any harsh bitterness.  The flavor was very balanced and more nuanced than with other methods, and I even detected hints of sweetness.  So if you want less bitterness in your coffee, this is a good tip.
• Pouring just-boiled water into a cold mug(s), and then waiting about a minute brought the temp down to the correct range, so I then just used the water in my cup to brew.  This was a great hint from the FAQ on the Aerobie website and it worked perfectly, especially because the Aerobie comes with a funnel for easy pouring.
• This is a very, very fast method of making really good coffee.  It really does only take 30 seconds once your water is ready.

I'm sure you’ve seen this coming, but another result that surprised me is that I’ve somehow started to drink more coffee at home now that I am using the Aerobie.  Like almost every day.  It’s sort of snuck up on me.  I’m still not sure if I’m allowed to be in the “coffee drinkers club” while also drinking copious amounts of tea, but for now I am happy to say that I like coffee just as much as I like tea, and it is in part due to the Aerobie Aeropress (the other part is due to Zabar's Coffee).  I’ve been converted. 

Here’s a video of me showing how easy the Aerobie is to use (and to clean). My new favorite kitchen toy:

If you decide to give the Aeropress a try, remember that we offer FREE GROUND SHIPPING on orders of $49 or more to many locations within 150 miles of our store in Manhattan.  Head to www.zabars.com to see if you qualify.

Aerobie AeroPress Coffee Maker Offer at Zabars.com

LIMITED TIME WEB-ONLY OFFER From ZABARS.COM

When you purchase an Aerobie AEROPRESS Coffee and Espresso Maker ($29.98) from Zabars.com, we’ll include for FREE: 

• One Pound of Zabar’s Coffee
• Zabar’s Coffee Mug
• Small “Go Green” Zabar’s Shopping Bag
• Zabar’s Coffee Scoop
• Zabar’s Coffee Brochure
• Enter coupon code ZHGIFT at checkout to get all the freebies.

Remember, we offer FREE GROUND SHIPPING on orders of $49 or more to many locations within 150 miles of our store in Manhattan!  Head to www.zabars.com to see if you qualify.

This offer good for web orders only.  Valid through 4/3/11.  Limit one offer per order.  Cannot be combined with any other discounts or offers.  

About Aerobie
The Aerobie company is based in California that designs high-performance flying toys.  So what are they doing designing a simple gadget that makes really, really fantastic coffee and espresso?  Makes sense to us!  How else do people get the energy to go running around after flying toys, except by drinking lots of coffee? 

Seriously though, the AEROPRESS, designed in 2005 by inventor/engineer Alan Adler, is the result of his years of methodical laboratory testing of brewing methods, brewer design, and prototype testing. Suffice it to say that the man did things right because the coffee produced with the AEROPRESS is terrific, earning tons of glowing and passionate reviews from all across the coffee-lover spectrum, including from us at Zabar’s.  In our in-house testing, it quickly and easily made a very smooth, rich cup with no bitterness and no grit!    

The AEROPRESS is portable, compact and easy to store, making it a particularly good choice for students, travelers, and those with small kitchens.  Coffee geeks (you know who you are) will love having the AEROPRESS in their arsenal of coffee makers to play with, and the rest of us can just enjoy delicious AEROPRESS coffee every day.   

Have a look at this short video of the AEROPRESS in action:

 

This promotion lasts TWO WEEKS, ending on April 3, so head on over to Zabars.com.

More coffee than you've ever seen!

Every Tuesday is Zabar's Coffee delivery day. When the previous day's roast arrives for sale at our store (that's right - roasted yesterday!). Today we have an amazing amount being brought into the store - right now! It's all for a regular busy season but additionally headed to Zabar's Gift Baskets & Boxes that often feature this custom roast.

Quickly loading it in!

Seriously Good Coffee - just happens to be Decaf and is Kosher

Recently at the annual event, Kosher Fest, Stanley Zabar ran into Rabbi Dovid Jenkins, the Rabbinic Coordinator for Orthodox Union, who has overseen Zabar's OU certification on Zabar's Coffee. It turns out that Rabbi Jenkins is a decaf drinker. And like many, had had a hard time finding a kosher decaf coffee he would look forward to drinking. Turns out Zabar's Gourmet Decaf has changed that. As he told Stanley, Zabar's Kosher Gourmet Decaf doesn't taste like it's decaf, it tastes like coffee! And what a relief that was.

Thanks for the story Rabbi Jenkins, glad we could help start your day!

(Photo: Rabbi Dovid Jenkins and his daughter, Esther Jenkins)