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

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.

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

Hatteras Blend – Southern Season November 5, 2008

Taking a break from Larry’s Beans, I’m now enjoying this Hatteras Blend I got from Southern Season. I said I’d give a blend a try, enough of the single origin snobbery, so here goes. You know what, it’s not that bad.

This Hatteras Blend is a slightly more dark than medium roast, light city I think they’d call it. I don’t know a ton about these beans, I had thought it was a Counter Culture blend but I don’t see any mention of it on their website. Maybe it’s a local blend Southern Season had them put together for them. It’s listed on the Southern Season site at least.

Nice and smoky from the start, comes on real strong with that coffee, cocoa, aroma. The finish is nice and smooth, not a party in my mouth but not something I’d pass up. I could see myself drinking this coffee at a diner with some pancakes, scrambled eggs and corned beef and hash. It’s a good drinking coffee, nothing to write home about but it does the job with style.

Buy Hatteras Blend from Southern Season