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 […]
milk 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: 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: 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: Rare Earth Coffee Bold Roast (Fresno, California)
This is the second of two coffees I received for testing from Rare Earth Coffee. The first, their House Roast, was roasted quite darkly in my opinion for a medium roast, so I had anticipated that this Bold Roast, which is labeled as a dark roast, would be significantly darker. However, I was in for […]
Review: Abacus Coffee Roasters Algorithm Blend (Chicago, Illinois)
I bought this bag from the folks at Javaya, whom I’ve written about before. I had a short trip to Chicago planned back in mid-February and I initially thought I might be able to make time to purchase this from Abacus directly, but I soon figured out there was no way I’d have the time […]
Review: Cuvée Coffee Stella Cometa Espresso Blend (Austin, Texas)
This bag came from a trip to our local Whole Foods. I continue to be really grateful that they feature freshly roasted beans from local and local-ish roasters like Cuvée. Whole bean: These beans were roasted very evenly and I’d classify it as a light-to-medium roast. I sometimes get questions regarding espresso roasts, as if […]
Review: Volcán de Fuego 1895 Single-Estate Coffee (San Diego, California)
When the folks at Volcán de Fuego reached out to me about trying some of their beans, they won me over quite quickly mainly because of their very clear dedication to freshness and quality. The fact that I’m quite fond of Guatemalan coffee didn’t hurt either! Volcán de Fuego’s 1895 (named after their processing plant […]