I've been on a Ethiopian tear of late, but that is because a lot of the coffees from that region are now available to buy. Lucky for you there are lots of good Ethiopian coffees out there.
Today I'm going to talk about a company, a coffee and a barista named Melissa. Peet's is known more on the left coast of the U.S. Peet's was founded by Alfred Peet in Berkley, CA in 1966. What an amazing time that probably was. The nation's campuses were full of debate on the Vietnam War. It was in the beginning or the Peace Movement, where hippies ruled the day. Sex, drugs and Rock n Roll was the mood. In the middle of all this was a simple coffee roaster creating come great roasts.
Today Peet's is known for it's high quality coffee and terrific service. This brings me to Melissa. The other day I was in Harvard Square in Cambridge. It was a bitterly cold night, and I dropped into Peet's to use their rest room...and to get a cup of decaf. One of the displays was a series of gold foil bags with the words "Ethiopian Super Natural" written on them.
Melissa was the barista at the counter. She is a fun loving woman, with wisps of purple of streaks in her hair, and various piercings. In my mind, she is the perfect person to ask, if this coffee is any good. "Do you like blueberries," she asked. I do. She went on a two minute spiel about the goodness of this coffee. While this went on the barista behind her was shaking her head no. I laughed, and said, "If this coffee is all that, why is your friend shaking her head no?" Melissa laughed too, and told me her co-worker was such a liar. Truth be told(in case Peet's reads this), no one as lying. This is the fun, playful attitude at Peet's. I bought the the bag of beans and told Melissa if I didn't taste blueberry I was coming back. She told me if I didn't taste the blueberry she would refund my money. Challenge accepted.
According to Peet's:
Processed by age-old natural methods, sun-dried beans burst with wild blueberry sweetness, complexity and unforgettable richness.
In this case the Super Natural is not referring to a coven of witches brewing coffee, but to the process of the beans - natural. It's a dark roast coffee.
When I opened the bag, immediately I was hit with the aroma of blueberry. It was like a merger of coffee and blueberry pie. Ok, who cool is that? Score one for Melissa, this coffee has blueberry.
I have tried this coffee two ways; Chemex and French Press. Melissa told me it was an awesome French Press coffee. Here I disagree with her, I preferred it in the Chemex.
Either way you brew it, this is an incredible coffee. Blueberry is where this coffee starts. Many Ethiopian coffees have a tea like quality to it. This one is more substantial than tea, but I got a tea sense to it. The dark roast brings out a lot of smokiness to it, which in this case works very well.
Sometimes, a larger coffee company doesn't offer the quality of roasted coffee a smaller company can do(Starbucks). In this case, I rate this as an excellent coffee. This is something I would recommend for breakfast, with a bit of granola and yogurt, or after dinner, with a pastry.
On our Bean Scale of Strength, this is a 3.5 our of 5. It's a strong coffee, ready to wake you up, without punching you in the face.
Peet's has something special, not only with this coffee, but with employees like Melissa. Hey Peet's give Melissa a raise....or at least a special something to thank her.
www.peets.com
Charlie
My husband and I love Kona coffee. We just can't afford Kona coffee. So we have spent a long time looking for a blend that tastes good. You would be surprised how difficult that is. Well the search is over. We discovered Don Francisco's Kona Blend.
