Review: Commonwealth Coffee Colombia Carlos Muñoz Nariño (Denver, Colorado)

When I visited Oak Lawn Coffee in Dallas and purchased beans recently, I got a free to-go cup of drip coffee. That cup of drip was so tasty, I turned right around and walked back into the shop to demand (nicely!) to know what it was, and it turned out to be this roast from Commonwealth. On […]

Review: Tweed Coffee Foxtrot Blend (Dallas, Texas)

I usually buy bags of Tweed from Houndstooth Coffee in Dallas (their home cafe), but I happened to come across fresh bags for sale while visiting Oak Lawn Coffee, so it was a win-win situation. For anyone not familiar with Tweed Coffee, they are a major player in the local craft coffee roasting scene here in […]

Review: Flat Track Coffee Roasters Guatemala La Libertad (Austin, Texas)

When I travel, I make a special effort to seek out microroasters. On my recent trip to Austin to see Ride perform at the Fun Fun Fun Festival, I didn’t think that I would have time to visit any Austin-area coffee shops, but to my delight, I spotted this sign on the festival grounds: As I […]

Review: Boxcar Coffee Roasters Burundi Rugoma Lot 5 (Boulder, Colorado)

This bag comes to me courtesy of my awesome friend Ebonee. Thanks, homeslice. 🙂 Boxcar was founded in Boulder, Colorado and now has a second cafe location in Denver. Since they are located at such high elevation, water has a lower boiling temperature, and Boxcar has developed an intriguing brewing technique they call the Boilermakr to […]

Review: Kuma Coffee Guatemala Finca La Folie (Seattle, Washington)

Whenever I come across a roaster whom I’m not familiar with, I like looking at the “About” section of their website to get an idea of what makes them tick. Kuma Coffee’s story is interesting to me, as the founder is the son of American missionaries that moved to Kenya when he was a child. During that time […]

Review: Verve Coffee Roasters Guatemala Los Santos (Santa Cruz, California)

Verve. This might not be a word I associate strictly with music, but it’s the name of a once-legendary record label, as well as a pretty good now-defunct band from the UK (who later had to change their name to “The Verve,” which still sounds odd in my head… it’s like saying “The Vivacity” or […]

Review: Stumptown Ecuador Cariamanga Organic (Portland, Oregon)

This bag of Stumptown beans was an impulse buy; it ended up being the final bag of coffee beans I purchased while in Seattle. I had never tried beans from Ecuador before but the description on the bag sounded good, and the beans were extremely fresh. Incidentally, almost all of the cafes I bought beans […]

Review: Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters Rosemont Crest blend (Dallas, Texas)

Time to review another OCCR offering! I don’t typically drink a lot of coffee blends, but this was the freshest option I saw at my local Whole Foods, at 6 days post-roast. When I’m tasting a new coffee, I attempt to not look at the tasting notes ahead of time, so that I don’t get influenced by […]

Review: Intelligentsia Black Cat Classic Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)

(Guest post from David Cooper, principal horn of the Dallas Symphony!) There is nothing better than a good friend showing up at your door at 10 pm with freshly roasted Intelligentsia coffee! Saturday night after my concert I had just made it home and was sitting on the couch when my good friend Margaret Fischer […]

Mini review: Stumptown Guatemala Finca El Injerto Bourbon (Portland, Oregon)

Got a little sample of this lovely Guatemala Injerto from an equally lovely friend yesterday! I may choose to do a full review of these beans someday, as I definitely liked what I tasted (when brewed in a Chemex) and would be curious how it would taste in other applications. Generally speaking, I enjoy the […]