Coffee Reviews

It’s November, 2009.  And every November it’s National Novel Writing Month, or as those in the know call it, NaNoWriMo.

What does that mean?  It means there are over 70,000 new or seasoned novelists banging away at their keyboards in a frenzy this month, all trying to make the goal of writing at least 50,000 words before Midnight, November 30th.

Some are fueled by pure inspiration.  Others are fueled by alcohol or other substances.  A small percentage are fueled by tea.  But most, as is my impression, are fueled by coffee.

I’m a writer.  I know a lot of writers.  Just about all of us drink coffee like maniacs.

And this year, my own personal coffee of choice for banging away at my new novel, is this one:  Buddy Brew’s Brazil Cerrado.

It’s a perfect writer’s coffee.  They know my tastes pretty well, and fired these babies up to a full city roast.  Dark, husky, bold and smoky, it brews up black like the darkest typewriter ink, and the flavor features wonderful milk chocolate undertones and finishes with high walnut notes.  It’s so fresh that in my French Press it fizzed like seltzer when I poured the hot water in.  No joke, it was like a science experiment.  My friends, when you get a coffee that does that, you know you have some seriously roasted-day-before-yesterday coffee.

No coffee in the world tastes better than coffee roasted day-before-yesterday.

And to me, nothing fuels a manic tumbling word spilling writing session like fresh, strong coffee.

Not only do I declare the Brazil Cerrado a groovy brew, I hereby personally endorse it to be considered as the official NaNoWriMo coffee.  Not that this means anything – Dave at Buddy Brew has no idea I’m doing this – so don’t expect a discount if you all rush over there and place orders.  Do expect, however, some outrageously awesome coffee.

Here is a company that is going full blast with its internet marketing.  It seems every type of coffee they roast has a separate brand and its own URL.  No matter which URL for which brand you type in, though, they all lead you to BigCityCoffee.com.

I have liked everything they’ve sent me, but I have to tell you right now, this one I absolutely love.

Rich milk chocolaty tones dominate this smooth, mild coffee — so much so, I can’t find any other words to describe it.  Rich.  Milk chocolaty.  Smooth.  Mild.

Extremely delicious.  A winner.

If it tastes this good pre-packed and pre-ground, I can only image how delicious the fresh roasted beans would taste.  Because you know they sell it that way, too.  And, come to think of it, I won’t imply imagine it.  I’ve just put it on my “things to buy” list.

This is most definitely portion pack groovy.  I would go so far as to say that this has to be the best coffee I have ever tasted to come out of a portion pack.

No, you’re not imagining things.

This is Weasel Coffee from ThinkGeek.com.  Supposedly the raw beans are eaten by a type of weasel in Vietnam and then puked up, collected, and roasted for your drinking pleasure.

This is a rather special review as:

1) My friend Tim had to talk me into it.

2) We recorded the little adventure.

So instead of writing about it, I present it here as a podcast.  Is Weasel Puke Coffee the best tasting coffee in the world, as some purport?

Listen and find out:  Weasel Puke Coffee

I messed this coffee up!  Darn it!

Well, I don’t know for sure, because I’m still letting it steep in the French Press.  But I goofed and didn’t boil enough water, and didn’t realize that until I’d already started pouring it in.  So I quickly boiled some more and added it … which usually gives coffee the taint of what I call “dilution tang.”  In essence, it just went from fresh coffee to the equivalent of instant coffee.

We’ll see though.  I’ll subtract any negative tang away from the review.

It should be ready now…

Okay, I poured my cup.  Taking a taste.  And…

Yes, I messed it up.  I taste the tang of dilution as well as a hint of staleness.  The first one is my fault, and the second one is the risk you get when you go with a pre-ground pre-packaged coffee.  It probably wasn’t stale when they sent it to me, but truth be told, this has been sitting in my inbox for quite a while.

Also, Big City Coffee offers this blend as fresh roasted unground beans.

According to their website, this is what you should expect:  “This mellow blend delivers a flavor and aroma that will have you snapping your fingers and movin’ to the groove. The lightly spiced African beans are nicely balanced by the mild Latins. If this was a Martini, it would be shaken, not stirred. We hand select these beans and lovingly artisan roast them in small batches weekly.”

This is a laid back coffee – not quite the light flavor of Kona, it is more spicy and complex – I detect a fairly high acid spike, and a very pleasant dusky wood smoke infusion.  My impression is this would be a good beat poetry coffee, a relaxed yet jazzy combo to fuel some serious art.

Kind of like, in fact, the spunky retro-art on the package label.

Which makes me wonder, did I get that image from the coffee flavor, or subliminally from the packaging?  Hmmm.

To sum up, while I did botch the brewing, I still enjoyed the coffee, and it gave me a good idea of how yummy you can expect the freshly ground version to be.

I’ll call this groovy by default.  I’d be happy to drink it again.

I have no issues with the FCC’s new guidelines on disclosure for bloggers.  Coffee companies send me coffee to review here.  Some coffee I pay for but most I don’t.

If you see a savage review of an awful coffee (there hasn’t been many) it was a coffee that I paid for.  You don’t see them for coffee that was gifted to me because if I dislike it, I don’t review it.  It’s a fine line to walk, but … you don’t take a gift from someone then turn around and then bite them.  That just not cool.

I’m glad to say that I have never really hated a coffee that a roaster has given me.  So there’s never been a situation that I didn’t warn people away from awful coffee.

Sounds like I’m leading up to something bad, doesn’t it?  Actually, I’m not.  This coffee is wonderful.  If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be reviewing it.

This organic blend from Big City Coffee is a good morning or even all day coffee.  Because of that, it would make a kick-ass office coffee, or a perfect choice for a small cafe to use as their “standard” regular coffee.  It’s a strong, bold, city ++ roast with a nice and complex flavor featuring walnut and pecan notes.  The body is medium, lively, and has a good bite to it, but it’s not bitter.  It’s also fresh, as – unlike the prepackaged coffees this company also sells – this is fresh roasted three times a week in small batches, and sent out immediately.

That is definitely the way to do it.

I would place this as a high-standard everyday coffee and give it the official stamp of groovy.  Good stuff.  I like it!

Coffee snobs (including me) may recoil in horror at a pre-ground portion pack of coffee, but that’s only because we’ve grown used to something that’s above and beyond.

The fact remains that the majority of coffee drinkers still buy their coffees pre-ground.

So here, when I review a pre-ground coffee, I don’t compare it to fresh roasted, fresh ground coffee.  That would be unfair.

When BigCityCoffee.com sent me an assortment to try, I didn’t balk.  I’ll review it in the spirit of those who prefer packaged coffee.  Lord knows I was one of them, once.  Before I was spoiled.

I brewed this pack in my French Press.  It turned out nice, strong, and full bodied.  There’s a warm, light-chocolate wood-smoke taste to it, very inviting and laid back.  There is only a hint of acidity – at first I missed it, not thinking it was there at all.  The flavor has me constantly taking another sip.

This is a good afternoon or even after-desert coffee, and being that you can get it in portion packs, it’s perfect for an office environment.  And while it’s not cutting edge fresh, the one I sampled wasn’t stale.

It was, in fact, quite good!  I liked it and would happily drink it again.

I hereby officially proclaim Tiki Club as portion-pack groovy.

I haven’t reviewed Tanzanian Peaberry beans for about two years.

What’s happened since then?  Hmm.  I’ve moved twice.  I’ve changed jobs twice, and careers once.  And I’ve discovered this great roasting company called “Buddy Brew Coffee.”

Here’s once thing that hasn’t changed:  I loved Tanzanian Peaberry then, and I love it now.

This is a sensuous – nay, a downright sexy – warm-toned coffee, with a touch of almond in a taste that’s dominated by a rich smokiness, and underscored with delicious woody notes.  Very smooth, rich without being overbearing – a balanced, natural brew that is quite a bit different than what you’d meet in your day to day coffees.

Tanzania, where the beans originated, is an African country formed when Tanganyika, its mainland part, joined with the Zanzibar islands off its east coast. After uniting they became the United Republic of Tanzania, who not only kicked Uganda’s invading butt in 1979, but within its borders hold the remains of the earliest humans to walk the Earth.

If that wasn’t enough to make this country cool, they grow the sexiest coffee I have ever tasted.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I have to say it again because it’s important:  the folks at Buddy Brew roast your beans to order and ship them to you immediately.  It’s the next best thing to roasting them yourself.

And you know, my friends, freshness is the Holy Grail of coffee.  Because if you let these beans get stale, they’re no longer sexy.

And that would be a shame.

Kona Luna coffee in just two words:  Mellow and smooth.

I’m not a big fan of Kona beans, because in general they’re just too mellow for my own personal tastes.  But the beans Kona Luna sent are different, somehow.  I would almost say they’re bolder than I’d usually associate with standard Kona, but that’s not quite true.  Maybe it’s that they’re richer, but it’s hard to tell because the coffee is just so smooth, so laid back, it’s hard to pin that quality down.

You’d be hard pressed to find any kind of acidity in this coffee.  I did find a ghost of it but that’s only because I left it steeping longer than usual in my French press.  It’s gentle, relaxed, and mellow.  The taste is coffee, pure coffee, with a light lattice of pecan notes, and maybe — though this is probably just my imagination — a touch of coconut.

I haven’t been to Hawaii since I was 16.  At that point I was not yet a coffee drinker, so as far as the Kona beans go, the trip was lost on me.  I was more attuned to bikinis, surfing, snorkeling, and diving with whales (true story).  Also, since the drinking age there was only 18, and I easily passed for a 19 at the time, it was another entirely different type of "brew" on which I focused.

To sum up, if I were a fan of Kona, I’d be a huge fan of Kona Luna’s coffee.  And even though I’m not, I do like it quite a bit, and heartily recommend it to anyone who’s into the Hawaiian bean.