Product Review: On-Tech's Self-Heating Single-Serve Coffee

When I eyed this product on the shelf at a local Walmart I slowed to take a look and thought what a ridiculous product. It's a gimmick. It can't be any good. I passed it and kept on walking. About twenty feet later I stopped, turned around, and went back. This will be fun to try, I thought. A self-heating single serving coffee. I still thought it wouldn't taste very good. After all, they had to get the heating part right, the safety part right, the marketing part right and the coffee taste right. That's a lot to expect from a brand new technology. So I thought it wouldn't be any good but fun to try. It was on sale for $2.50 for a 9.5 oz. serving. I was looking for mocha flavor but they didn't carry it. They only stocked Double-Shot Latte and French Vanilla. I bought the Double-Shot Latte. Later on I found out that On-Tech does make a Mocha flavor and also a Hazelnut flavor. They also make two kinds of cocoa and two kinds of soup using the same single-serve self heating container technology.

My 9.5 oz. container of coffee weighed in at about 1.75 lbs. The heating process takes from 5-8 minutes and is started by pulling a tab on the bottom lid and depressing a button on the double-walled can. That releases water into the heating chamber which contains quicklime. A chemical reaction between the water and quicklime creates the heat which and the coffee is heated without ever touching the quicklime or water.

The lid wasn't hard to open and you can't miss the button that had to be pushed. I pushed it with my thumb. It took some a good bit of force to push it down. It went all the way in with a clunk so I knew I had done it right. Following the directions, after 10 seconds I turned the container right-side-up. I waited. No sound whatsoever, no feeling of warmth at all on any part of the can.

Following the directions, I was supposed to watch for a spot on the can to turn color from pink to white. The trouble was I didn't see anything on the top of the can that looked like a spot that would change colors. I re-read the directions and looked again. In the very center of the top of the can was a 1/8 inch circle of what looked to me like metal. It was a lot more silver than pink, but I decided that this was spot to watch since I couldn't see anything else that looked like a spot on the can. It wasn't until later on and I went to the On-Tech website that I realized the pink circle was on the side of the can and is located on the user instructions panel. By the time I found it, the circle had already turned white.

Four minutes, nothing happening yet. Still no noise from the can. The can still felt cool to the touch. After 5 minutes though, the can itself started to get warmer and at 6 minutes the can was hot enough to know that whatever was inside was getting really hot. I decided it was done.

Turning/twisting the top part of the cap to align with the opening so it would open was a little challenging but I finally figured it out and only made a very minor mess of the job. I didn't shake the can up before opening but nothing in the directions said I was supposed to.

Now for the taste test. I grabbed the can and took a sip. Hot. Really hot. A "be carefull" kind of hot, but not un-sippable hot. The coffee had a strange over-taste to it which at first I didn't like, but then I did. I liked it. No bitter after-taste, not super strong, not weak, a tad syrupy/buttery, but just a wee-tad-not nearly as bad as I expected. It 's actually not bad at all. Four minutes after I opened the can the coffee was just as hot or hotter than when I opened it. I liked that a lot. In three minutes I had finished off half-the can so I guess I liked it. In fact for what it is, it's good. I'd buy it again and would prefer this to what I usually buy in a gas station in the morning.

On-Tech has a website that takes a while to load but provides a Frequently Asked Questions section on product usage which is helpful, but only if your trying the product for the first time in front of your computer. There is a promise of an on line coupon "coming soon" at the site as well as all the usual company/ product information like where you can buy it I got mine at Walmart. The coffee itself is made by Hillside.

Nutrition wise it's average for a double-shot latte. 165 calories of which 38 are fat calories. Total carbohydrates 29 grams, with 27 of those grams beinf sugar. No protein of course. Double-shot lattes are not the healthiest thing I can think of to drink.

On a 1-10 scale I would give it an 8. Ten minutes after opening the can the coffee was still very hot. The bottom of the can tasted good and just like the top of the can. I'll have to try the Mocha flavor next.

SOURCES:
Ontech.com