Law On Coffee

Mountain Thunder – Premium Kona August 4, 2009

My second bag of Kona from Mountain Coffee is their 100% Premium Kona beans. This is a step down from the Organic Kona Private Reserve I tried a few weeks ago, but still up around $30/lb. I’ve read that the beans come from multiple farms around Kona, but I don’t know that I believe it. It is strange that they’re an organic farm and these beans are not labeled as organic though…

What I do know is I enjoyed these beans much more than the more expensive Private Reserve beans. There was more of a coffee kick to them. It felt like I was drinking great coffee. Maybe not $30/bag great coffee, but great coffee just the same. I still get a deep chocolate flavor, which is what I remember from all the Kona coffee I’ve had, but the strong coffee taste is the lasting impression.

If you were to buy Kona coffee, this is a good one to try. I still think it’s too expensive for coffee, at least for someone who doesn’t have a professional coffee tongue and can tell the difference. I just picked up another bag of my beloved Counter Culture Huehuetenango at $10/bag and I couldn’t be happier.

Buy Mountain Thunder Premium 100% Kona

Mountain Thunder – Private Reserve Kona July 15, 2009

I first got hooked on premium coffee during our honeymoon in Hawaii. I’d been a coffee drinker for years but always had the normal stuff, something from a bagel shop or a Starbucks ground blend from the grocery store. It wasn’t until Hawaii that I had really good coffee, and couldn’t go back.

Coffee from the island of Kona has this mystical aura to it. It’s the only place where good coffee comes from in the USA. I remember seeing an episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike Rowe went to work at a Kona coffee farm called Mountain Thunder. I loved the episode and I wanted to support the farm so I purchased a few bags back then. I haven’t tried them in years until my wife got me a few bags for Fathers Day.

The Mountain Thunder Private Reserve Kona is a great cup of coffee. There’s a strong coffee taste to it, nothing fruity about it. I definitely taste a nice mellow chocolate sweetness to it, especially towards the end of the cup. I’m not blown away though, some of these Counter Culture coffees are much better to me.

Before you go out and start buying Kona coffee as your daily cup, check the price. This 1 lb bag of Kona was $45! It’s justifiably high, there’s only a small amount of beans that can be grown in the area and it’s a manual process, the terrain is too hilly. That would be all fine and good if the coffee was, say, twice as good as my beloved Huehuetenango, but it’s not. I can get 3x the coffee that I love for the same price. Tough sell for me.

Buy Mountain Thunder Private Reserve Kona

Burundi Bwayi Lot No. 8 – Counter Culture June 9, 2009

After a month tasting Trader Joe’s, and going through my local supply of Counter Culture, I was ready for something new. Thankfully I saw this tweet from @coffeegeek raving about a new batch of coffee from the Bwayi community of Kayanza, Burundi that he reviewed. I went right down to Southern Season and picked up a pound, no questions asked.

I’m not usually a fan of coffee from Africa. It’s usually too smoky, too fruity for my taste. This is some really good coffee. It’s still got a smokyness to it, but nothing that will overwhelm you. I don’t taste any fruityness, maybe some chocolate, but nothing too sweet. It’s just a really strong coffee taste, a taste I really enjoy.

I’d go back for another pound of this coffee. While it’s no Huehuetenango or Kuta to me, it’s right up there with the best of them.

Buy Burundi Bwayi Lot No. 8 from Counter Culture

Organic Mexico Zaragoza – Counter Culture February 27, 2009

Coffee from Mexico? Yeah, I was pretty shocked too. Guess it shows you how much I know about single origin coffee. Zaragoza is a small mountain city just east of Acapulco, outside of Oaxaca. They’re on a similar longitude as Guatemala, so the location is right for growing beans.

This coffee had a strange burnt/smoky flavor when brewed through a drip. I wasn’t quite ready for that, neither was the wife. Using a press pot though, you can taste the nice mellow tones, a spicy chocolate of sorts. There’s a fruity something, not as strong at the Yirgacheffe I wasn’t a fan of, much more muted.

I doubt I’d get this coffee again, there’s just so many other good ones to choose from. There’s nothing distinct for me to bring this to the top of a list, it’s just a good, normal coffee.

Buy Mexico Zaragoza from Counter Culture .

Trader Joe’s Organic Guatemalan February 10, 2009

I love reading my server logs, watching how people find this site and where they go when they’re here. Since this is really just a hobby for me, and I’m just a dude who likes coffee, I don’t get a lot of traffic. So it was interesting to see my previous Trader Joe’s coffee review get more visits than the entire site has received. Seems there’s not a lot of people talking about Trader Joe’s coffee, but there’s a lot of people looking to learn about it.

With that said, I decided to review my second batch of Trader Joe’s coffee, their Organic Fair Trade Guatemalan. I really love Guatemalan coffee, the Counter Culture Huehuetenango is my favorite coffee of all time. After the horrible review of their organic breakfast blend, I didn’t expect much from this Trader Joe’s Guatemalan, but I was pleasantly surprised. The coffee isn’t bad!

Sure there’s not a lot going on here. It’s a single note; smells like coffee, tastes like coffee, finishes like coffee. It’s just coffee, good coffee but nothing to write home about. I’d definitely serve this coffee in a drip coffee maker at a family breakfast, or grind some up for my French Press if I run out of the good stuff. It’s good enough to keep on hand, more than good enough at just $7 a pound.

Course, you can’t order it online, but if you’re near a Trader Joe’s, give their Guatemalan organic a try.

El Salvador Pasa – Counter Culture January 30, 2009

This Counter Culture, El Salvador Pasa was a tough coffee to review. I first bought it during the Winter break, and drank it out of a drip system every morning with the wife. It was good, but it was drip. I really wanted to taste it with a press pot so I could compare to the rest of the coffees I’ve reviewed. Not to mention, it’s the right way to drink it.

So now a few coffees later, I picked up another bag of the Pasa and can finally appreciate it for what it is, a pretty great cup. Very smooth, no beginning or end, just coffee. It’s hard to explain, but picture that point in taking a sip when you know the coffee is past your tongue and you get that aftertaste. This coffee didn’t have any of that. Like a hot Krispy Kreme glazed donut, it just melted.

There’s a nice crisp fruit flavor, but nothing overpowering like a Yiracheiffe. I get a little smokyness, but not a ton. Just a good coffee taste with a hint of fruit, very little acid and no bite. Really great cup.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see this coffee available on the Counter Culture site. Maybe I grabbed some of the last they had, or maybe it’s just not listed.

Peru Valle del Santuario – Counter Culture January 16, 2009

Back to the office after a nice 2 week break, and back to Counter Culture to start the new year off right. My friend John roasted some Peruvian greens from Counter Culture over the holidays and was raving about them, so I figured it was worth trying some pre-roasted.

I’ve never had coffee from Peru before, but I would imagine it’ll taste like most South American coffees, bright and crisp. This coffee comes from a few farms in the San Ignacio area of Peru, so while it’s not a single farm, it’s definitely single origin by my book.

This coffee doesn’t disappoint. It’s extremely smooth with subtle vanilla and chocolate flavors. There’s no crazy finish, what you get from the first sip stays with you, but the flavor lingers a bit in your mouth. It’s really nice for a breakfast cup, I would totally get this again.

Buy Peru Valle del Santuario from Counter Culture

Costa Rica Tarrazu – Uber Geek Coffee Roasters January 2, 2009

This is a weird one. My wife is big into cloth diapering for our daughter. So much so that she makes her own sometimes, knits covers and posts of message boards. The most popular way to sell your diapers or covers is using hyena cart, which is a web service that lets you set up your own store, stock it, etc. Once day cruising Hyena Cart’s site, she found the Uber Geek Coffee Roasters and got me a bag.

Talk about local roasters, these guys are as local as you can get. Not to me of course, they’re in Montana somewhere, but this is what I think of when I hear “small local roaster.” They literally roast in their backyard, and close down the business when it’s too cold to go out. Awesome.

I got a bag of their Costa Rica Tarrazu beans. It’s rated a full city but I felt it was a little lighter than that. Great aroma and color from the bag. Since I was at home for the winter break, we made drip as well as french press. I think these beans made a great drip coffee, strong coffee taste with a mellow ending. The french press however, nothing special to report. Just tasted like Costa Rican coffee, bold and rich.

I’d like to try some of their other coffees, especially their Huehuetenango since I liked Counter Culture’s so much although it is listed as decaf, so I dunno. I like the idea of helping out the little guys, and these guys are definitely little.

Learn More About Uber Geek Coffee Roasters

Organic Breakfast Blend – Trader Joe’s December 12, 2008

I wanted to take a step away from the small local roasters and try what “normal” people drink. I remember when coffee wasn’t as important, I’d chop up some beans with a blade grinder the night before, stick them in a drip coffee maker and set the timer. When I did that, I typically used Trader Joe’s beans, and didn’t know any different. Now, since I’m such a coffee connoisseur (ha), would I have the same feelings about Trader Joe’s coffee?

First off, Trader Joe’s, for those of you who don’t have one local, is a natural/organic, granola style grocery store all over California. Picture Whole Foods without the snobbery and high prices. Most of the stuff you’ll find at Trader Joe’s is house branded, so the cheese will be Trader Joe’s Cheddar, there’s Trader Joe’s handsoap, etc. Their coffee aisle is pretty vast, all styles of blends and single origins, all at great prices.

Today I’m trying their Organic Breakfast Blend. I picked up a can for $6.99 for 14oz. To put it in perspective, 14oz of Counter Culture or Larry’s Beans usually sets me back $12 or so. I remember liking this one back in the days, would I still like it now?

The beans are from South America, not sure the region though. I’d imagine there’s some generic Columbian in there. They’re roasted a little darker than Medium, but not a Full City darkness. When I brewed them, I did see some of the tan goodness that floats to the top on fresh beans, but it didn’t last long.

The taste? Pretty bland to be honest. It’s coffee for sure, but I couldn’t taste anything special. I got that fun acrid kick at the end, usually found in break room coffee at work. I’d bet this is more a result of older beans rather than low quality beans. Even though they were “nitrogen flushed” and sealed in a nice container, there’s nothing like freshly roasted beans.

This was a good reality check for me. Honestly, it kinda sucks. Like knowing that the Matrix exists, I can never go back to knowing that there’s good coffee and there’s crap. Most people would be happy drinking this Breakfast Blend, I know I was for years. But now that I have the taste for quality, I can’t drink it without knowing there’s something better.

Find a Trader Joe’s Store Near You

Idido Royal Yirgacheffe – Counter Culture December 2, 2008

Another round with Counter Culture, this time with a really unique bean. My first experience with Yirgacheffe was as a “free sample” bag added to my wife’s espresso order. It smelled great, but I put in way too much coffee for the amount of water I used making the strongest coffee ever. I spent the rest of the morning dizzy and decided I didn’t like Yirgacheffe.

Everyone deserves a second chance, so here goes with Yirgacheffe. Counter Culture has a few Yirgacheffe varieties, all from different farms in Ethiopia. This one is their Idido Royal Washed variety. One thing hit me from the first time I opened the bag, these beans are much smaller than normal beans. Here’s a pic of the Yirgacheffe next to a Huehuetenango and a Bean Martin blend. It’s almost like a Peaberry, but I don’t think they are.

The flavor is very unexpected, really fruity. It took my wife having a sip for us to identify the flavors, she has a much better palate than I do. If you didn’t know you were drinking coffee, you could swear it was an herbal or black flavored tea. That’s great if you’re in the mood for fruit, but I really want coffee in the morning, not a lemony-peach.

I’ll finish out the bag, but I don’t think I’ll order this again unless I’m in the mood for a fruity coffee. It’s pretty crazy that coffee can taste like this though, I’m sure learning a lot about beans.

Buy Counter Culture Idido Royal Yirgacheffe