Green Mountain Cafe – The Green Mountain Coffee Blog

For now through April 1st, all Cafe EXPRESS members will save $2.50 per box of K-Cups instead of our usual $2 discount.  That means the typical the 4 box order will save $10 plus receive FREE Shipping.  This is our best offer yet, so act now.

If you are not a member of Cafe EXPRESS, now is the perfect time to join.  If you are a member, sit back and enjoy the extra savings.  If you are a member and your next order is scheduled to ship in April, change your next order to February or March.  And if you are a Platinum member, you’ll save $3 a box.  What’s Cafe EXPRESS Platinum?  Click here to learn.

We hope these extra savings make Cafe EXPRESS that much more of an enjoyable experience.  We think it’s the most convenient way for Keurig brewer owners to buy K-Cups.    Cafe EXPRESS is free to join, offers better prices, greater variety and the freshest direct-from-the-roaster taste.  Click here to read how current members love Cafe EXPRESS.

And over the next few months, we’ll have even more innovative K-Cups to choose from.  Stay tuned!

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One of the amazing benefits we have at Green Mountain Coffee is our CAFE time. We have 52 hours of paid time-off per year to volunteer. One of the challenges with this though, is finding a volunteer activity that fits with your work schedule and taps into your passions. Two women decided to create their own opportunity, building on their love of knitting.  Below is their story.

Written by Jeannine Simpkins and Trish D’Arcy:

“Comfy Creations was born from a desire to meet with other people who love to knit and crochet, and to produce items for people in need.  A little research proved that as long as we were creating items for a 501C3, non-profit organizations, we could utilize the Café Time program that is offered by Green Mountain Coffee.  This program allows employees to donate time to a non-profit during their working hours, up to 52 hours a year, and be paid while volunteering. This hobby was the perfect opportunity for us to utilize Café Time and bring in more people who had the same desire to knit & crochet items for those in needs.

Our initial projects were making warm winter items for The Salvation Army and for Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation.  Our current effort is to make 7 by 7inch squares which will be sewn together into afghans for WorldCare.org, for the benefit of Haitian earthquake survivors.

We currently have volunteers from our facilities throughout the country (Vermont, Washington and Massachusetts)!”

Hear it in their own words:

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Once a year, Green Mountain Coffee employees get the chance to try out for the Tasting Team, a group that provides a second level of scrutiny for quality assurance and new product testing in our Coffee Lab.

As someone who tried to prep for it, let me tell you: it’s a test you can’t prepare for – no flashcards, mnemonic devices, or cramming will help your nose pick up on the subtle earthiness of green peas or your tongue define the intensity of a salty slurry. You can help yourself by avoiding the urge to put on musk cologne that day or eating an onion pie the night before, but when it comes right down to it, this is a test for your senses and nothing else.

While you can’t study for it, you do get to know exactly what’s on the exam. The screening itself tests the sensory sensations of olfaction and gustation (smell and taste for those not accustomed to organoleptic jargon).  You taste sour, salty, and sweet slurries to rank intensities, identify solutions, and determine the ratios of blends.  You also take the French based tool kit called “Le Nez Du Café” (the nose of coffee), where you identify a fragrance (from vanilla to rubber) in a blind exercise.

In order to pass the screening, you must get a passing grade for each of the three graded sections (100% being one passing grade for the first taste test).

Eek.

Oh, and did I mention? There’s no coffee involved in this test.

Double eek.

Despite my initial concerns, this was one of the most entertaining and edifying tests I have ever taken.  In under an hour, my taste buds were completed saturated and my nose a twinge runny, but my mind was a buzz with a new mantra: “Tasting Team. Tasting Team. Ra, ra, ra!”

So it should not be unexpected that I jumped for joy when I received my results: I made it.

As a new member of the Tasting Team, I’ll be learning more about coffee, teaming up with other members of the company, sharing ideas and insights on our coffees, and actually impacting product decisions.

If that’s not a perk of working here, I don’t know what is.

Take a look at the Tasting on our Flickr account for full descriptions here or in the slide show above.

-Kristen

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2/4/2010 Update:  I am told by our Production folks that we can expect Hot Cocoa products to be available by March 1st.  Wahoo!  A big THANK YOU to all our Hot Cocoa k-cup loyalists who have waited so patiently for these products.

1/20/2010:  It pains me to type this, but I’m afraid all of our Hot Cocoa K-Cup products are out of stock.  Due to incredible demand, we’re told we will not have any Hot Cocoa K-Cups to sell from our web site until mid-February (at best).

Let me assure everyone that we are NOT discontinuing these products.  We love these products – and clearly you do, too!

On a personal level, my two kids ask me everyday when I’ll be able to bring home some new Hot Cocoa.  Hopefully, in a few weeks, I’ll have good news for them and you!

These are the Hot Cocoa K-Cups that are out of stock:

• Café Escapes® Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa
• Café Escapes® Cafe Mocha
• Café Escapes® Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa
• Green Mountain Coffee Hot Cocoa

-Ken

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If you’re one of our Café Express members, we’ve got a great limited time offer for you. Purchase any Donut House ™ Coffee K-Cup® with a delivery date before 3/5/2010 and get an extra $1.00 off your existing discount. Sign in to your account or join Café Express today to receive great member benefits.  Share the Donut House discount with a friend when you Drop a Donut House on a friend.

Our Donut House™ coffees  are good, straightforward coffees that remind you of the days when you could just order a “regular” cup of joe and never be disappointed.  These coffees offer rich, bold flavors and a little kick to get you going.

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Even though the holidays have passed, the winter wonderland continues with web sales everywhere! Well, Green Mountain Coffee is joining the chorus! Some of our stylish mugs, sleek equipment, and tasty treats are on sale now,  just for you, at up to 50% off.*

*Cafe Express Members: Discount will be combined with your 10% Cafe Express Membership discount. Non-coffee items cannot be added to your recurring Cafe Express shipment.

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I want to to briefly note that, yes, we *are* experiencing some technical difficulties with the Green Mountain Coffee web site today.

It seems a routine publish event got a lot less routine and a lot more unruly. We expect to have things squared away quite soon… meanwhile, we suggest a lovely cup of coffee. :)

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