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 […]
toasted marshmallow
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: 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 […]
Review: Matchstick Catalogue No. 39 (Vancouver, Canada)
This bag from Matchstick was the third and final bag I purchased from my trip to Revolver Coffee in Vancouver. On the shelf, it was listed as espresso, but the bag indicates that it can be prepared as both espresso and as filter coffee. I was so overwhelmed by the huge amount of coffee I […]
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 […]
Review: Klatch Coffee FTO House Espresso (Upland, California)
I’ve had pretty good luck trying Klatch Coffee’s espressos in the past (I liked their Belle Espresso pretty well, and I LOVED their Golden Bean Espresso of 2015), so I was excited to try another one of their blends. This time around, I opted for their FTO (Fair Trade Organic) House Espresso. Since it was […]
Review: Blue Bottle Coffee California Good Land Organics Gesha Blend (Oakland, California)
While I’ll be writing this post up like a normal coffee review, this really feels like a bit of a historical event due to the beans themselves. First off, this is going to be a giant tease of sorts because this coffee was available for a very short window of time in December and that […]
Review: Eiland Coffee Costa Rica Hacienda Sonora (Richardson, Texas)
Eiland Coffee has become a somewhat go-to coffee company for me when I’m looking to keep things local (Dallas). Not only are their coffees available at my local Whole Foods for when I’m in a pinch, their roasting facility is along a major highway which I take at least a few times a week, so […]
Review: Ritual Coffee Roasters Day Drinker Seasonal Espresso (San Francisco, California)
I had my first experience with Ritual Coffee Roasters while visiting Cognoscenti Coffee in the Los Angeles area, and I was really impressed with the quality of the beans and the flavor that I received in that cup (chocolate, plum, spice). However, I have yet to order online directly from Ritual because 1) their coffee […]
Review: Blue Bottle Kenya Embu Gikirima (Oakland, California)
Technically, I purchased this coffee at the end of 2016 and wrote up notes on it very soon after purchase, but I wanted to save the review to start the new year off with a bang, and Blue Bottle seemed like a good roaster to start this blog off on the right foot in 2017! […]