I started this blog back in 2015 intending it to basically be my coffee diary. As I delved deeper into the world craft coffee and learned about the subtle differences between origins, roasts, brands, etc., I knew I’d want to have a way to keep a record of everything, and in the back of my mind, I remember thinking, “when I find THE BEST coffee, I’ll just start up a subscription to that roaster so I don’t have to keep searching.”<\/p>\n
Well, it’s now been over two years, and at the risk of sounding like a player, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to settle down and commit to one coffee roaster. I really enjoy seeking out new roasters and being surprised by the great diversity of flavors out there. Is it inconvenient? Yes, at times. I always have to keep in mind when I’m running low on beans so that I can order some online or buy some in-store (which usually means a special trip). Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with work and I realize too late that I’m out of coffee at home. The horror!!<\/p>\n
Subscription services, of course, are a great answer to this dilemma, as they will ship freshly-roasted beans straight to your door on a schedule of your choosing so that you will never stumble into your kitchen in a sleep-deprived state only to discover that there is no coffee in the house. Many roasters offer subscription services, but it can be overwhelming choosing between all of the available roasts and origins, especially if you’re new to the craft coffee scene.<\/p>\n
Enter Tack and Jibe. I was contacted by this coffee roaster\/subscription company and was immediately impressed by several things about their business model:
\n1) They ship only freshly roasted, whole bean coffee. No pre-ground beans.
\n2) They have five categories of beans with short initial flavor descriptions to allow for easy selection, especially for newbies.
\n3) They allow easy changes (bean selection, shipping frequency, etc.).<\/p>\n
I chose a sample bag of their Ethiopian beans to review. They roasted and shipped these beans to me on a Friday, and I received them the following Tuesday (that Monday happened to be a holiday, so who knows, maybe otherwise it would have\u00a0arrived sooner!).<\/p>\n
Whole bean: The beans looked very small – similar in size to many of the heirloom varieties of Ethiopian beans I’ve tried. There was no information on the bag other than “Ethiopia” but I would have bet $5 that these were definitely heirloom beans (and I found out later that I was right). The roast level was not as light as I am used to seeing with Ethiopian coffee, but was barely what I’d classify as a medium. Somewhere between medium-light and medium, perhaps. The beans had a creamy aroma but nothing particular stood out. I couldn’t tell for sure how it was processed but my guess was that the beans were washed because I didn’t detect any fruity\/berry scent.<\/p>\n
V60: At a 2:40 extraction, this brew was smooth on the front, like milk chocolate, and a bit like rum on the finish. Interesting! As this coffee cooled, it started emanating an aroma a bit like scotch – I associate scotch with the smell of shoe leather so it turned me off, but if you’re into that, hey!<\/p>\n
AeroPress: Smooth and a little smoky. Pleasant to drink but there’s no way I would have ever guessed this to be Ethiopian coffee.<\/p>\n
Chemex: My batch of this was slightly underextracted because I guessed wrong on the grind size, but it was a nice cup. It smelled like sweet vanilla. The taste wasn’t quite as sweet as the smell.<\/p>\n
French press: This was my favorite of the four brew methods I tried. Lovely, rich texture and flavors of vanilla with a hint of cherry on the finish.<\/p>\n
Summary<\/strong>: This particular Ethiopian single-origin coffee was roasted a bit darker than I am accustomed to, so I didn’t taste a lot of the distinctive flavors that I am used to finding in various washed and dry-processed Ethiopian coffees (floral, berry, citrus, chocolate, etc.). People sometimes complain to me that light roasted coffee tastes sour or weird or too much like stuff other than coffee, so I think this particular roast might be nice and approachable for someone new to single origins. I can’t speak for the other four coffee varieties offered (Brazil, Mexico, Sumatra, decaf), but the Ethiopia was roasted very evenly with lovely heirloom quality beans, they shipped fresh from the roaster, and they can come straight to your door. Worth checking out!<\/p>\n From the roaster:\u00a0Roasted on the lighter side. Hibiscus, marshmallow, and herbal notes. Bright, juicy, and floral<\/p>\n