Grinds Coffee Pouches Review

I’m always looking for a new smokeless alternative out there and I recently ran across Grinds Coffee Pouches. (In all fairness, I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now and I’m just now getting around to writing it…)  Grinds Coffee Pouches are just that… coffee in a small pouch.  Each can contains 20 pouches and there are currently 3 flavors available: Cinnamon Roll, Mocha & Mint Chocolate.

Each can of Grinds Coffee Pouches contains the same amount of caffeine as 4-5 cups of coffee making each pouch roughly 1/4 cup of coffee.  I’m a 2-3 cup per day coffee drinker so this was right up my alley.  In addition to the caffeine content, Grinds touts additional “B-Vitamins” and “Energy” when describing their product.

Initial Impressions – I was very impressed with the packaging from a relatively new player in the smokeless alternative market.  I was pleasantly surprised at how moist the product was.  I was anticipating something along the lines of a Skoal Bandit but this was MUCH moister.  The can lid has a built in “pouch saver” (At least that’s what I think it is…)  While the concept of re-dipping is super disgusting and completely foreign to a non-dipper, I think it’s safe to say that most of us have done it.  If this is in fact a pouch saver then kudos to Grinds for getting it right.

Cinnamon Roll – Right away when I popped open the can I got a great smell.  The “roll” flavor really coming through.  This isn’t a typical cinnamon substitute.  It’s really got that “bakery” flavor/smell to it which is nice.  It reminds me of the cinnamon rolls that I used to get at Ikea back in the day.  Outstanding spitability with this flavor and I caught a nice little caffeine buzz as well.  This is the first of the “energy/caffeine” alternatives where I can say that.  Good longevity – I kept it in for a good half hour or so with little/no flavor loss.  This may be a little on the sweet side for those of you that like a more traditional chew but this is a very nice chew.

Mint Chocolate – A simply OUTSTANDING smell coming out of this package.  Smell and taste really reminded me of those little green/brown chocolate mints with the silver wrapping that you find in restaurants.  Just as with the Cinnamon Roll flavor this one had great spitibility with a long lasting flavor.  However with this one I’d say the flavor profile left me wanting “more”.  I really got the concept of a flavored coffee coming through here which, let’s face it, is what we’ve got here.

Mocha – I’d heard good things about this flavor before I tried it and I was in fact impressed.  Got a good amount of chocolate smell & flavor coming through here which is nice.  Like the others, good longevity, spitibility and caffeine buzz.  No lack of flavor profile here as I’d consider this one the most “robust” of the bunch.  This is THE coffee alternative product out there for serious coffee drinkers.

The Pros

• The concept of a “pouch” is very appealing to me these days.  I was never a pouch guy (I never felt like I was getting enough nicotine… *slaps head*) but now that I’m looking for flavor and less of a mess, this is great.
• Nice moist product.
• Nice caffeine “pick me up” (IE, buzz) – great for late night cramming!
• Tremendous, long lasting coffee flavors.

The Cons

• If you’re not a coffee drinker this most likely isn’t for you.
• Pouch – this isn’t for everyone.  If you’re looking for something that’s super close to loose smokeless tobacco you won’t get it here.
• Availability has been an issue and can only be purchased in a 3-pack.

Overall

I think it’s super cool that what you’re actually doing when you dip this product is “brewing” coffee in your mouth.  The product IS coffee… no nicotine and no tobacco.  If you don’t want caffeine and you don’t like coffee then this probably isn’t for you.  Are you a late night dipper who has problems falling asleep to begin with?  The caffeine in here probably makes this product out of your league.  However, if you’re a coffee fan you’ll fall in love with Grinds from the word go.  For all of my tests, I threw in 3 pouches at a time which made for outstanding flavor profiles, great spitibility and a long lasting chew.  The pouch didn’t hold in all the product as much as I would have liked, but having coffee floating around in my mouth isn’t nearly as bad as tobacco bits.  All 3 flavors tested offered a very strong coffee flavor with a nice lingering aftertaste.

I’d like to offer special thanks to Patrick Pezet for sending along samples for this review.  You can find Grinds on the web at getgrinds.com or on Twitter you can follow user @getGRINDS.

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Have you tried Grinds yet?  Let us know what you think and we’ll add your review to the site!