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 […]
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Review: Ceremony Coffee Roasters Antithesis 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: 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: 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: Kona Roasted Coffee Gary & Valerie 100% Kona (Kona, Hawaii)
This offering from Kona Roasted is named for Gary and Valerie, the farmers of this varietal. Gary and Valerie moved from California to Hawaii in 2005 and, with the knowledge they’ve built over the past fifteen years of coffee farming, have cultivated a crop that earned a 92 from Coffee Review in 2020! Whole bean: […]
Review: Blue Bottle Coffee Summer Blend (Oakland, California)
Blue Bottle Coffee offers seasonal blends, and I was fortunate enough to pick up a bag of their Summer Blend while it was still available. I first was alerted about this blend through Blue Bottle’s email list, where Blue Bottle’s quality control director, Ben Brewer (really? Is there a more spot-on surname for someone working […]
Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Black Cat Analog Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)
The first time I tried Intelligentsia’s Black Cat Analog Espresso was in a coffee shop. I was in Northern California for work back in 2015 and had a beautifully pulled shot at Vero’s Coffee Bar in San Jose. I enjoyed it so much, I use the photo of it that I took as an example […]
Review: Taylors of Harrogate Ecuador New Wave (Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England)
I chose to purchase this coffee at the same time that I ordered Taylors of Harrogate’s Tim Peaks Coffee. As I noted in my other review, Taylors of Harrogate sells their coffee in smaller bags than standard in the US (their bags are 120 grams in size, which is a bit over 4 ounces), so […]
Review: Pallet Coffee Roasters Guatemala Santa Clara Estate (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Pallet Coffee Roasters had topped at least one list I had seen for “Best Vancouver Coffee Roasters,” so I spent the time in between checking out of my Airbnb and checking in at the airport navigating public transit to get myself to Pallet’s one cafe. It was raining and I’m sure I ended up walking […]