Review: Monarch Coffee Colombia Finca El Cajon (Kansas City, Missouri)

Monarch Coffee on Broadway Blvd. was the final coffee shop I visited on my trip to Kansas City. What a gorgeous space! I didn’t take any photos while I was there but you can get an idea of their aesthetic via their Instagram account. This roaster/cafe has quite the pedigree: The owner is a licensed […]

Review: Oddly Correct Colombia Miguel Cubillos Honey Process (Kansas City, Missouri)

I had another one of my brief audition-related coffee hiatuses recently and the first coffee shop I went to when I was able to start up again was Oddly Correct. I don’t remember how I first heard about this roaster/shop (probably from one of those online lists of “best coffee roasters in Kansas City”), but […]

Review: Olympia Coffee Burundi Long Miles Reserve (Olympia, Washington)

This is the second coffee I picked up from Fleet Coffee in Austin. Olympia Coffee is a roaster I’ve seen before in my travels but I somehow had never gotten around to trying. I had high hopes though, given that I’d seen some rave reviews (most recently, a glowing review of Olympia’s Little Buddy Blend […]

Review: Parlor Coffee Colombia Los Angeles (Brooklyn, New York)

A quick trip over Spring Break gave me a chance to pop by Fleet Coffee in Austin. I had been given a heads up by a friend that it was the sort of place that would have roasters I like, and he was right! Choosing coffees to take home was hard as they were all […]

Review: Sparrow Coffee Kenya Iriguini (Chicago, Illinois)

I’ve written up a bit more detail regarding Sparrow Coffee in my review of their Ethiopia Guji, but for anyone unfamiliar with them, Sparrow is known for being one of Chicago’s most exclusive roasters, providing custom coffee blends for a long list of Michelin-starred restaurants. I picked up this single-origin at their roastery location in […]

Review: Sparrow Coffee Ethiopia Guji (Chicago, Illinois)

I can’t even remember now how Sparrow Coffee got on my radar, but they were the one Chicago-based roaster for whom I was willing to go out of my way in order to buy their beans. I even scheduled my Friday flight to arrive in enough time that I could get to their roastery before […]

Review: ManLao River Coffee Munroe Butterfly Espresso (Kunming, Yunnan, China)

This is the second bag I had the pleasure of trying from ManLao River Coffee; for more details about them and about the coffee industry in China, check out my previous post. ManLao River’s description of their Munroe Butterly Espresso sums up their goal with this espresso blend better than I could, so I’ll just […]

Review: ManLao River Coffee China Nagy Peaberry (Kunming, Yunnan, China)

When you think of coffee-growing countries, what places immediately come to mind? For me, I think of Ethiopia, Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, and Guatemala. China wasn’t even on my radar as a coffee origin at all until last year, but the coffee industry in China has been quietly and steadily growing for decades. Tea is still […]

Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Honey Badger Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)

During my short visit to Chicago in February, I popped into Intelligentsia Coffee’s Monadnock location and picked up this bag of their Honey Badger Espresso. They had lots of really fresh beans that day, but I was curious to see if I would like this better than their Black Cat Classic. Whole bean: Fresh, fruity, […]

Review: Ipsento Coffee Roasters Wildfire Espresso, now known as Cascade Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)

Ipsento Coffee Roasters is another Chicago-area coffee roaster I wanted to visit on my trip, but when I discovered I could order fresh beans from Ipsento via Javaya, it was a no-brainer. Since I purchased this bag of Ipsento’s Wildfire Espresso, they’ve apparently renamed the blend and are now calling it their Cascade Espresso. As […]