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.