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 […]
cocoa
Review: Kuma Coffee Ethiopia Suke Quto (Seattle, Washington)
I had last tried beans from Kuma Coffee back in 2015, not long after I had started this blog. I remember liking their coffee for its fruity, bright notes, but I also remember struggling a bit in my first tasting because I was picking up on a papery taste from the unbleached filter I was […]
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 Ethiopia Yirgacheffe (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
I’ve enjoyed drinking coffee for decades, but I still remember the one coffee that changed everything, the one that awakened my senses and introduced me to a world I never knew existed. The coffee was a natural-processed Ethiopian, and I remember marveling at its sweetness, the blueberry aroma, and how much I enjoyed drinking it […]
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 […]
Review: Taylors of Harrogate Tim Peaks Coffee (Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England)
People from all walks of life are fond of their caffeinated beverages, but I feel like the most creatively inclined people I know have a disproportionate level of interest in the quality of their coffee and tea. Perhaps it’s an occupational hazard (work that’s rife with attention to detail!), perhaps musicians and artists are just […]
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: 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 […]