Back in 1990, when I was working at the Orvis San Francisco store, we had to order an item in for a customer. Normally they just ship them in a box with packing slip when shipping a special order to a store. This one came in a box like you would get as a customer and had a number of ads in it. One was for a free Norelco 12-cup coffeemaker with an order for 2 bags of coffee. Then they would send 2 more bags each month until you cancelled your subscription. Our coffeemaker had died, so I sent it in the order and fully expected to cancel the subscription before the next shipment.
Gevalia was the brand of coffee and its origin in Denmark. They use a 150-year old blend for their "Traditional Roast" and then offer a slew of other blends, single source, and everything from the "Mild Roast" to the very darkest roasts. I've tried a lot of the different ones and some are quite excellent, but their "House Blend" sucks. Still their Traditional Roast is my favorite. I have been buying Gevalia since 1990 and I have a subscription through Amazon for it as Gevalia stopped subscriptions when they changed to the 12-oz yellow bag that made an appearance in some supermarkets. I get five 12-ounce bags each month from Amazon and about every 4 or 5 months I'll have them skip an order that month.
I drink a LOT of coffee. I typically fill 3 travel mugs from the 10-cup Ninja coffeemaker in the morning (fills about 2-2/3 travel mugs) and will fill my "Ember" heated cup with that. I can set the temperature I want to hold the coffee at in that Ember mug. I usually put it at either 135° or 138°. My daughter gave me that Ember mug last Christmas (they are spendy). In the afternoon one or two of the travel mugs will be empty but the Contigo travel mug will still be warm. I just put that coffee in my Ember mug and it heats it back up to my set temperature. Since I spend a lot of time at my desk, I keep my mug charging base there and use it to hold my cup. I can take the mug from there and go watch a 2½-hour movie before the mug runs out of charge. I like it a lot and find that using the mug to bring it up to temp from the travel mugs yields far better coffee than cooking it for more than 2-hours at 180° at the Ninja coffeemaker.
I also have a small manual DeLonghi espresso machine and will often make one of a number of different espresso drinks with that typically after dinner. And yes, I'll use the Gevalia in that, though I have been known to use
"illy Classico Blend" for espresso too. I will follow that espresso dink up later with my normal Gevalia.
Back in college from 1968-1970 I became very aware that coffee wouldn't keep me up. I'd fall asleep while cramming for tests with a cup of coffee in front of me. Was not good! I once told a doctor that I thought I drank too much coffee and I admitted to drinking between 8 to 10 cups per day. She asked if it put me on edge or made me jittery or nervous?...No. "Does it upset your stomach?"... No. "Does it keep you awake at night"?...No. "Then you are not drinking too much coffee." I never asked another doctor about "too much coffee" after that for fear they would say I should stop. I rarely drink alcohol and never too much; I don't smoke pot; and I don't do drugs; but I DO drink a LOT of coffee.
It's been over 40 years now since that first order and Gevalia Traditional Roast is still my favorite. Ninja Coffeemaker makes it just how I like it; and my method of storing the newly brewed coffee in my travel mugs, gently re-heating it with my Ember mug, yields great coffee all day long, holding it at the temperature I like to drink it.
