Despite the current trend in specialty coffee leaning toward fruity, juicy light roasts (which I love!), I think that a really good medium/medium-dark roast coffee is a thing of beauty, and it is something that goes under-appreciated these days. There’s something supremely comforting about a cup that has toasty, fragrant notes of chocolate, nuts, and […]
chocolate
Review: Ceremony Coffee Roasters Thesis Blend (Annapolis, Maryland)
I’ve had the pleasure of trying coffee from Ceremony Coffee Roasters before; in addition to their single-origins, they offer blends with nerdy names, and I had made a mental note that someday, I wanted to try their Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis blends. The packaging makes it appear that the Thesis is light, Antithesis is dark, […]
Review: Klatch Coffee Hawaii Rusty’s Ka’u (Upland, California)
The Ka’u district of Hawaii is the largest and southernmost district of the Big Island, with the North and South Kona districts bordering it to the west. Coffee from Hawaii (Kona coffee in particular) is world-famous for its smooth, sweet flavor profile, but it’s rare to see 100% Kona coffee being sold, as it fetches […]
Review: Tweed Coffee Two-Step Decaf, Sugarcane Process (Dallas, Texas)
Most of the time when I’m doing coffee tastings, I have to evaluate the coffee first thing in the morning because caffeine lingers so long in my system, I can’t sleep properly if I consume caffeine later in the day. It can be a little hard to properly enjoy the coffee if I’m bleary-eyed from […]
Review: Turntable Lab Coffee for Records Blend 1 (Brooklyn, New York)
I’ve never visited the physical Turntable Lab location in Brooklyn, but I’ve shopped on their website a few times for records and accessories. While browsing their merch tab, I happened to see that they offer coffee, and it intrigued me enough to buy their Blend 1, which is a medium roast coffee from Oaxaca, Mexico. […]
Review: Roseline Coffee Oro Seasonal Blend (Portland, Oregon)
Every now and then, I come across a coffee that I feel like virtually everyone will like, that will please a wide variety of palates and make folks happy to drink every morning. This is one of those coffees! On their website, Roseline has this description for this blend: When coffee has been processed and […]
Review: Black Diesel Coffee Guatemala Huehuetenango (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
This is the second bag of coffee I received from Black Diesel Coffee. Black Diesel is a craft coffee company dedicated to quality, community, and coffee education. I haven’t had a chance to visit their shop in person yet (not surprising, since I live in Texas and the global pandemic is still going on!) but […]
Review: Simple Beans Guatemala Jovenes (La Jolla, California)
Chocolate lovers, you’re gonna want to check this out! I will sometimes get asked by friends for help with finding a new coffee. For those people that really enjoy chocolaty, nutty, sweet black coffees, I usually think that grabbing a medium-roasted Guatemalan, Brazilian, or Mexican coffee is a good place to start (just check the […]
Review: Drum Coffee Luigi Blend Traditional Italian Espresso Blend (Missoula, Montana)
When I started getting into specialty coffee, one “rule” I heard a lot was that you do not need an “espresso” blend to make espresso. This is true. I’ve had some amazing espresso shots pulled from single-origin coffees, and I’ve had terrific drip coffee made from beans marketed for espresso. However, not all beans are […]
Review: Blue Bottle Coffee Giant Steps (Oakland, California)
James Freeman, the founder of Blue Bottle, is a former professional clarinet player, and I’ve always appreciated the occasional musical references thrown into the names and descriptions of his company’s coffees (for instance, the “Brahmsian” characteristics of Blue Bottle’s Hayes Valley Espresso). This particular blend was named after John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, and Blue Bottle’s […]