The at-home coffee secrets worth waking up for

0:00Home is where connections are made. Memories are formed and ideas are born, and no one knows home better than NFM. Thanks for tuning in to I Am Home, the podcast that goes deeper than trends and dives into what it means to make your house a home. Hello and welcome to I Am Home, the Home Life Best Life podcast. I'm Tyler Wisecup, joined by my co-hosts, who's never better. Oh, we smooth. It's Becca Sudden. Hi, Tyler. Hi, Becca. And our other co-hosts too needs no caffeine to bring the energy. It's Hillary Waldematt. Hey, Hillary. We all know coffee is the stuff of life, and we all have our preferences for rose for temperature, for flavor, but sometimes it's tough to achieve the perfect cup of Joe at home. So today we're diving into upgrading the at-home coffee experience,

1:01and to help us do that, we've got a panel of experts, some NFM friends joining us who are baristas in another life. We've got Jen Lutz, Operation Support Assistance. Jen, thanks for being here. You've been on the podcast before. I have. Yes, thanks for being here. We've also have Crystal Heron, our countertop project coordinator. Hi, Crystal. Hi, Crystal. Hi, of course. And then Jennifer Carter, our graphic designer. Hi, Jennifer. Hello. Hi. So I'm excited to get into this, but before we do, let me tell you why we're even doing this podcast, and that's because NFM is more than just your everything home store. We're in the business of improving life styles because your home life should be your best life. You can learn more at nfm.com. So I was wondering as I was pulling this episode together, like what's the first like natural question to ask everyone? And I'm curious if you have like a standard coffee order. If you go out, you're getting getting anywhere that you can. You can all the fixings or all the special flavors or magics or things that you would go. Like, do you have a standard order that you

2:04would typically do? Yes. Cold brew in the largest size it comes. If it cut, dunk in when they came out with the bucket size, I was so excited because I thought it was going to be a permanent fixture. Yeah. And no, it was just for a special engagement and they were that so fast. I don't even know if they came to Omaha, but that is the amount of ice coffee that I would like. Yes. Okay. Okay. That's is that heart attack level or not really? No, I think I think I'm so immune to caffeine at this point that it takes that much to even get a little pep in my stuff. Got it. Okay. Largest amount. This is a solid stir. Yeah. Jennifer, what about you? My standard order is I order hot all the time even in the summer. Yeah. Last few weeks, so it's been questionable. We start 90 degree weather. But yeah, a standard hot mocha like tall. I see. Mocha tall. Okay. Yeah. I'm with you. I like a hot drink. I feel like

3:07that's what coffee should be. I mean, I will do a cold, but like I like a hot cup in the morning. So some Pataco. Crystal, what about you? So I'm different. I used to always even in the dead of winter. I did an ice white mocha for years and then got into hazelnut, started adding that to the white mocha and it is too diverse. So good. I love it. I love it. Hopefully. Okay. Lar, do you have a standard order when you usually go? I do a couple of different things. I like an espresso drink over like a drip coffee or brewed coffee. So I like either an Americano hot or cold or I like a traditional macchiato hot. Yeah. I don't love a lot of milk in it. I like an espresso for a drink hotter cold. Yeah. That sounds nice. These are good picks. In Becca. What's stressing me out? I'm not drink coffee. So I guess, you know, you just don't. You don't.

4:11No. Okay. Becca, why? Well, I just never, like my parents never drink coffee. So like, I don't know. Sometimes I feel like you like girl, like my parents drink coffee. I'm just starting. I know one in my house ever drink coffee. So I just never started. And then I decided I don't really want something that I have to have to like wake up in the morning. And then I'm like, well, I'm already this old and I haven't started. I'm not going to start now. And it stresses me out, like hearing all these things. Like how do you know all of these? It's like a foreign language to me. Yeah. That's fair. And it's stressful. It's fair. Yeah. You go to the line and all the different types of things. I mean, we're at Freestas. Like, do you agree? Was that like ever intimidating to you? Or was that like, oh, no, I ordered online for so long when I was like getting into it. That's a good idea. That's a good idea. Yeah. The drive through and sound don't. Yes. Are they asking questions? Yeah. I don't know. I still to this day going to Starbucks. I don't like saying their sizes. Yeah. Because it's yeah, whatever. But yeah, it can be intimidating for sure. Yeah. So I worked

5:12for the siren before we had mobile ordering. And we were still writing on cups because like stickers haven't come out yet. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, you just had to memorize the entire menu. But this was also at a time where like, if you had five modifications, like you were a high maintenance customer, the customers at the siren are different now. There's so many customizations. I can't imagine that they can actually taste the differences. That's what I think. Like, what? How does all that stuff make a difference? It's great. If it's like, you know, two or three, like white mocha and toffee nut was my go to. I loved that. But when it's like, you get one one pump of every single serve that they have. Right. Right. I think going to the gas station. It's like getting every. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. I like. I don't know. We didn't we didn't have we didn't have enough room on the

6:13boxes for all of those. So we didn't get those. Yeah. Okay. Well, I've heard your your orders. The highest level that you can get when you're at home, do you have do you mix it up or you like trying to emulate that like high level order? I mean cold brew. Yeah. I have a cold brew maker. Do you have a full bucket at home that you fill up? So I know I can't wait to hear this. I have a 32 ounce main ginger. And that is my cold brew. Yeah. Cup. Yeah. We're done. I'm just gonna say I can medium. Yep. I didn't say I only fill it up once. Yeah. Yeah. It's not. And do you just want it like just cold brew nut like adding? Oh no, I add like I'll add vanilla and creamer. Okay. I'm I used to be like a black coffee snob like, I'm better than you because I drink black coffee. And then I realized who am I trying to prove?

7:15Like that's ridiculous. It doesn't matter what you drink. Enjoy your life. And yeah, a little sweet. A little sweetness is it's enjoyable. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. All right. Jim, kind of what do you think? Well, usually my cup of Joe in the morning that I'm making for myself is very non-fancy. Yeah. It's just the drip coffee, skim milk, and then the stevia packet. Okay. And it's just the one cup. Yeah. I can't do the bucket. Not a bucket level. That's fair. You know, most people. Hey. All right. Hey, listen. They wouldn't come out with a bucket if there weren't people begging for a bucket. And they had to find and on how many people could get them. Yeah, it was a safety issue. I think. Crystal, what about you? Are you trying to match your your anywhere order? I'm trying something new every day. I would call myself a DIY. Burys set home with all the different syrups. I love to go to like T-Jay Max.

8:16Oh, yeah. There's syrups because they have, I just got one, Picon Pie. And that one is phenomenal. And like you can make it so easy with getting the like coffee me cold foam to add to it and a nice cup and all sorts of things. You can make it feel like a local coffee shop. Coffee and very easily. Love that. Okay. Well, I would love some advice. We've got some picks that I want to go through on things that we might be able to do to like amp up or if you like these picks, if you want to add to them, if you have different things that you want to suggest to make it even fancier than what we're selecting. But I'm really excited about these. These are coming from our gift guides. And so, Scott, if you've got that, you've already got that cute up for us. Perfect. Okay. I'm going to start with our first pick, which we're calling our pick for the everyday coffee drinker. This is the Ninja 12 cup coffee maker. Pretty standard.

9:16It on sale right now for $69.99. Great everyday option. It's reliable, consistent, easy to use. This has like custom brew strength. It keeps it hot for four hours without burning. Jen, you said that you're like it sounded like just like a drip coffee drink or standard. Like when you when you're thinking about an everyday coffee maker, are you looking for something specifically or you're just like whatever as long as it's black and it's coming out of the pot, it's fine. I've been using like the pod system for a lot of years now. It kind of works because it's just my husband and I, you know, so we just want the one cup and you get the one cup. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, my doctor's like, no, you don't need to have any more coffee. And after the three cups a day, I'm like, okay, okay. But yeah, the one cup. Okay, we've got a pot pick. I'll ask for more questions there. Okay. Anyone that does like the standard, okay, do you like, have you

10:18tried to compare too much between the different options for the drip or the things that you do to try to like amp up? Not really. I would say with a drip one is mostly having the features of like making it ahead, setting the timer to be able to go off in the morning. My husband and I both drink coffee in the morning, hot coffee in the morning every day. So features like that make it easier to make at home. So I would say that more than anything. Yeah, anything that allows you to kind of prep it before and so just like ready to go. I have my wife really likes to like, she, she tastes the difference. I'm like, I don't, I don't have a sophisticated palette, but like she likes to grind the beans. Yeah. Instead of like using just the grounds. Yep. So when you grind them right before you make them, the like oils haven't evaporated. It's a fresher. It's a fresher taste. It's a thing. A better palette. Okay. All right. So when I'm just like, Sarah, I'll take the dry dusty grounds. Yeah, she's saying. Yeah, because the dry dusty grounds may have an expiration day, but

11:20you don't know when they were ground. They were ground a while ago. It's better if you grind them. Is there any validity to putting it in the freezer? I've don't think I've ever heard of that. Yeah, I can't remember who's who did that, but they like kept it in the freezer till like keep it fresh. Yeah, I don't know. It's so fresh. Doing anything at all. Yeah. I mean, maybe. Okay. An experiment maybe for a later. Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to test that and bring it back to the pods. See if we can get the panel together. Just a sample. And then that's when we have the samples for Becca to try. A heart rate monitor. Yeah. Test her. Yeah. Okay. I wouldn't move on to our second pick. This is our pick for convenience. It's the Ninja single serve pods and ground maker. It's got a few before to the next slide. It's 99.99 on sale right now. So pods when you're in a hurry grounds when you have more time.

12:20Different brew sizes give you flexibility. What I like about this one is the parts are dishwasher safe. Sometimes the coffee makers that they're like, you can't do it. And then it like stay it like I actually dishwasher my at home and ruined them. So I like that these are dishwasher safe. But panel have convenience focused machines gotten good enough that you don't have to sacrifice quality. I feel like sometimes people are like, oh no, like I want to ground it and like it's it doesn't seem fancy enough. But I'm curious from your perspectives. I have an espresso and I love it. But I would also love it if it could do ground. Yeah. And the different sizes. Because it does make an excellent cup of coffee out of a pod. It's confusing how their technology works. But absolutely nothing is dishwasher safe. And it's sort of a pain to clean. But you know, when I use my espresso pod, I have a

13:26a frother that heats the milk and frost. And it also does cold foam so it can froth without heating it up. And so I make my own like lattes and foam to my coffee. With your pod drinks. Yeah, interesting. Okay. So they're good enough now where like 100% you're like, oh yeah. Those are the magic cups. I mean it depends. There's a large brand that doesn't make a very good cup of coffee. But yeah, I think anything that's a little bit a little bit step above of like a $40 pot of maker. Yeah. And I agree having like the ground options for this this model super helps. You add you add like a lot of serps and you're making fans are speaking of like do you use any of the pods or experiments? I don't. I have I grind up my own espresso beans and do it that way. So I have not used the pod. I've tried it and I would agree that it tastes just great. Yep. But I grind it. Yeah. Yeah. Jen, do you have like a

14:35do you have this model or a similar one? Do you have this model or a similar? I don't have this. But I do have the a pod system and I do ground my beans. Oh, I got the reusable one that you put in there. That's kind of nice because then you can change it up rather than trying to like have to use up all the locked into one maybe like kind. A couple dozen of them. For sure. Yeah, I will say the reusable pods for Nespresso are not great. I haven't tried it. They're not don't just don't. And that's a bummer because Nespresso pods are an expensive cup of coffee. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. What? You know, if it tastes good, I mean, it's it they put the magic in the cup. They figure it out. Yeah. Kudos to them. Yeah. Okay. Um, where we at? Third pick. Um, oh, this one is the big one. It's our pick for the at home barista. This is the Jura E6. I'm just got it from

15:36before to the next slide. We can see it. That's that's the big guy right there. That's um, this this model is pricey. 100%. But it's for somebody who wants to take their cup, their coffee seriously. The Jura brings more of that coffee shop experience home. The big takeaway on this thing is it's got that like you can't really see it in this image. It's kind of small, but it has that touch screen. So you can kind of just like slide through and it's like super easy to grab all of the fancy pre program drinks. And it's and it's just a wizard magician makes it beautiful and like there's a tiny barista inside. I think there is. Yeah. What do you think, um, panel like Hillary, you talked about espresso and like really enjoying that like between basic coffee and espresso like like what is the difference for you and having something at this level where you're able to like have an espresso drink versus a coffee?

16:39I think it gives you a lot of flexibility. You can use it to make an americano, which essentially takes espresso and turns it into like a cup of coffee. But I like the taste of espresso better than drip coffee. To me, it's like less bitter. It's smoother. And when it's brewed, I'm not a barista. So you can correct me. But the like is it crema at the top? Like the foamy layer is like really night. It gives like a nice texture to it or consistency to it. It just I really like good tasting coffee. And so I like the option of having to start with espresso. And then whether you want a hot cold iced, you want milk, no milk, yeah, sweetener, no sweetener. Um, I kind of get locked in on like one way. I like my coffee until I like can't stand it anymore. And then I try something different. So I love it. And espresso machine gives me the those options and have a espresso too and

17:45love it. Would love to have like a full blown espresso maker, but the convenience of just like dropping a pot in and hitting the button is really nice. And the morning as somebody who's like perpetually running late. 30 percent. But my parents have a bureau like a big, big one that it's at least 15 years old. Oh, wow. Yeah. And as used every every day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think they have like one warranty issue addressed. But um, yeah, I think they had it maybe when I was in high school. So it very well could be over 15 years old at this point. So expensive. But I think it's there worth it. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of top of the line. Great appliance. Yeah. Have any of you have the pleasure of trying a machine at this level? It made me drool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm right there with her. I'm like, okay, that would be a nice to have. Yeah. I would

18:45try it out. My year. Go ahead. No, you did your summer gift guides. That one should have been on there. Yeah. Right. Right. This is fair. This one, I think, you know, tried to keep some of the pricing levels a little bit more reasonable for a summer gift. But, um, you know, if you've got that rich uncle, we all have that rich uncle. Really? Probably. My dad and stepmom have, I don't know if it's that model, but something very similar with the touch screen. Yeah. Um, I will say if you have a dog sitter that is in their 80s, biome of regular pot, Mr. Coffee. So they can make coffee when they're dogsiting because I listen to my stepmom, try to explain the coffee machine for 20 minutes. And she ended up just door dashing her some coffee because she could not get the machine to work. So maybe the manual leave detailed instructions. Yeah. There's a certain point where

19:49we all know what we know. Like when you move something, like when you're driving and like, where's the building that I used to see? I don't know where I'm at. I feel that way as a 39-year-old. So every time Apple comes up with something new and they put something in a new spot, I'm like, I don't want to learn new technology. Yes. Yes. It's 100% fair. Okay. Well, I'd love to wrap things up if we could with some tips and tricks. Like any advice just generally from all of you of like the biggest mistake people make when making coffee at home. Like, do you have a thing that you do that just like elevates it that folks might know about? Let's say start simple. Get a syrup you can bank on probably liking. And it can be super easy. Like I grind all my espresso ahead of time and have it ready to go because convenience is going to be the thing that separates you from staying at home or going out because of it becomes too long or too tedious. I'm like, oh, I'll just stop on my way. So start easy. When I

20:55started with espresso, I actually started with an espresso gold instant coffee instant espresso and started with that cold foam. Can we game changer that can elevate it to where it's like, oh, I made this and I'm proud of it and tried it from syrup. It's so fun. I feel like the cold phones like new. It's like when it's in the last few years, those are I change it every day. I've stuck with the same brown butter chocolate chip cookie coffee mate cold foam. Oh my gosh, I've stayed with it for weeks. So that's telling me. Okay. But just try. Serums go a long way. So start. Serums. And that's easier to like do like we're saying like I do see that like for some folks, some of the machines like, I got to do like thing and then I got to like do a one myself like, I'm not going to not going to do any of that. So that's a that's a great tip. I love that. What do you think anything that you'd add? I actually talking about syrup. So I found a fun fact.

22:00So Toronto Serums because I googled it because I wanted to make sure I pronounced it correctly. They they're syrup was in the first flavor of latte. It was vanilla orange latte made in San Francisco and they called it the Fantasia in 1983. 83 1883 vanilla orange pretty adventurous. Yeah. Like not like basic. Yeah. The flavor that I would have assumed that would be the first. But wow. See, you know, this podcast isn't just about like we all learn something. Well, and Toronto is a lot like NFM. The grandchildren of the founder are still very involved in it. Interesting. They also have 150 flavors, which is a lot of flavors of syrup. So if you can't find one, you like, you might have some really out there taste. Yeah. Imagine all 150 and one. Yeah. Yeah. That would be a homestead up. Okay. I would love to wrap with my game. We only have

23:10minutes left, but I want to do this game because it's pretty fun. In pop culture this week, Frankfurt, Candy and Oreo teamed up on a new fall tree. It's chocolate goes filled with Oreo pieces and cream. And the internet really loves new Oreo flavors. They've they've they've really responded to this one. I got me thinking about popular fall coffee flavors. So, you know, thanks from Pumpkins, Bice to Apples and a Min or I've heard about this one Blackberry Coplar is is trending up this this year. So off that list, my question is tell me what you'd like to taste what you would toss and what you want to take home this fall. Take home and this is going to be maybe my new go to Crystal, do you want to start? Same like you were reacting. The positively. So the ones that you set. Yeah. Yeah. Or if you haven't if you have different flavors, no, I will take home the Blackberry Coplar. You will. Okay. Yeah. What were the other ones?

24:12Yeah. I had an apple cinnamon and pumpkin classic pop pumpkin spice. Tossed apple cinnamon. Really? Okay. Not a big apple person has to be very particular. Yeah. Okay. And then what was the so with the pumpkin? Pumpkin spice. Yeah. Taste. Taste. Yeah. Taste. Just give that a taste the season. Yeah. You're going to try something new. Yeah. I think I could trust say like the Blackberry Coplar. Yeah. That one another drooling moment. I love that. Check Carter. What do you think? I would definitely incur Blackberry Coplar. That sounds really good. Yeah. Yeah. I would keep the pumpkin spice, but yeah. Also toss the apple. Toss the apple. We're not apple fans. No. Fall flavor. Okay. Interesting. Sun apple and coffee taste weird. I've tried them. I'm good. It just doesn't work. Toss that. Yeah. I'll taste the Blackberry Coplar. You're going to taste it. You're like that's a big commitment to like take them all fall. Yeah. I'm taking home pumpkin spice.

25:15Really? The minute pumpkin spice drops at the siren and it should be maybe that's not. I get the biggest one. I get the big one. Weird. And I get. Yep. Give me a big gulp of pumpkin spice called brew. Yeah. And I do have a bone to pick with anyone who says, I don't want to taste like pumpkin. It's pumpkin spice. The colorate orange. There's no pumpkin. There's no pumpkin and pumpkin spice. You're complaining about cinnamon and nutmeg. They're very normal coffee flavors. That's interesting. I love that. You know, a lot of hate, I think, for pumpkin spice because they got cheap popular and we just hate things like it too popular. So I think that's fair. Hillary, do you have an opinion? Retweeting what Jen Lutson. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'll try the blackberry cobbler. I like a couple of the pumpkin spice just to get into the fall spirit. But, uh, yeah, apple cinnamon, maybe in a tea, but not coffee. Yes. Definitely.

26:15Interesting. Becca, do you want to know what? It's just like, take them all. It's toss all of them. Take them all home. Is it? I mean, I don't, I smell them. I don't feel like the apple cinnamon would be great in coffee. I'm going to agree with all of you. Okay. And I don't, I don't have anything against the pumpkin spice either. I'm sure that's great. Yeah. Nice candle. Yeah. Yeah. A candle. This red color sounds pretty good too. I don't know. A toothpaste pumpkin spice toothpaste, maybe we can get you into a dress. I don't know about that. Someone's got to have made that by now. Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. I'm not sure about that. Well, any who, I appreciate this. This has been fun. Thanks to our coffee experts for being here. Thanks to my co-host Becca and Hillary and to our producers and Scott, Megan and Danny and for all of you listening, don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and send us your questions at iamhomepodcast.nfm.com. Until next time,

27:16here's to making your home life your best life one story at a time. Thanks for joining us today for iamhome with Tyler Weiska, Hillary Waltemath and Becca Sudbeck. No one knows home quite like nfm. So if you'd like more information on home design at nfm, please check out nfm.com and leave us a review on the podcast platform of your choice.