On my recent trip to San Diego, I was wandering through the Little Italy Farmers’ Market when I spotted a sign outside of the Frost Me Cafe and Bakery, proudly displaying the Ritual Coffee logo. I may have squealed a little bit… I quite like the beans I’ve tried from Ritual (their Day Drinker Espresso […]
dark chocolate
Review: Café Grumpy Heartbreaker Espresso Blend (Brooklyn, New York)
Café Grumpy calls their Heartbreaker blend their signature house espresso blend. Like a lot of blends, this one appears to rotate components based on availability and current flavor profiles. Right now, this blend is a combination of Guatemalan and Ethiopian (Kochere) beans, so I guessed that I could expect chocolate and perhaps some fruity/berry and […]
Review: Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters Colombia Huila Timana (Denver, Colorado)
I first came across Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters while in San Clemente, California last October. While there, I visited a local coffee shop called Bear Coast Coffee that was right near the beach. I was honestly just looking for any coffee at all (I wasn’t being picky) so stumbling across a cafe that served craft […]
Review: Two Guns Beach Blend (Manhattan Beach, California)
I picked up this bag from the Two Guns Espresso location in Manhattan Beach at the same time that I got a bag of the Two Guns Espresso Blend. Both of these bags are roasted by Dillanos Coffee Roasters in Washington. I don’t think it’s possible to buy Two Guns-branded beans online, but you can […]
Review: Two Guns Espresso Blend (Manhattan Beach, California)
Credit goes to the Yelp app for helping me find the Two Guns Espresso cafe in Manhattan Beach! This coffee shop is located just minutes from LAX airport, and when I read that it is a shop founded by two New Zealanders, I hightailed it over to the shop as fast as I could. I […]
Review: Weekend Coffee Roasters Mexico Organic Altura Finca San Carlos (San Jose, California)
I was recently contacted by the nice people at Weekend Coffee Company, based out of Northern California. I like that they’re a family-owned company, and they received the “Editors Choice” award in the 2017 Metro “Best of Silicon Valley” issue. At this time, they’re an online-only business (they don’t operate a storefront/brick-and-mortar coffee shop), but […]
Review: BeanFruit Old Route 4 Dark Roast (Jackson, Mississippi)
Hey there, dark roast fans… this one’s for you. I am personally not a fan of dark roasts, but I know a lot of you out there are so I’m taking one for the team! I find that people that have a strong opinion about the roast level of their coffee seem to be generally in […]
Review: Stumptown Coffee Roasters Sleigh Ride (Portland, Oregon)
I almost never buy “holiday blends,” but this bag was a nice surprise at a Whole Foods location in Phoenix during the Christmas holidays. Impressively, it was only 4 days off roast when I bought it! That’s exceptionally fresh coffee for retail, especially considering that the nearest Stumptown roasting facility is in Los Angeles. I […]
Review: Redroaster Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Aricha (Brighton, England)
I had the great luck and pleasure of being able to spend just over a week traveling in southern England earlier this year. One of my destinations on this trip was the seaside city of Brighton, and the weather really was idyllic during my visit: sunny, breezy, and comfortable. My sunglasses got a lot of […]
Review: MauiGrown Coffee Company 100% Kona (Hawai’i)
Hawai’i is the only state in the USA that grows coffee, and Kona coffee in particular has a reputation for being both very mild in flavor and very expensive. It’s hard to get your hands on 100% Kona coffee on the mainland; finding blends is much more common. Certain roasters do offer fresh-roasted Kona beans […]