From time to time I review what I lovingly call grocery store coffee(whole bean). We had run out of coffee, and I needed to get an emergency coffee. Mark told me, "Get Eight O'Clock if you have to." I did. I noticed, in addition to the new packaging, there are different varieties to choose from. I saw one marked Central Highlands, so I grabbed that one.
This is a dark roast coffee, so already I am thinking it might have a burnt taste. Since more and more store coffees are putting best of dates on their label, I am using that to judge how fresh it might be. I passed on the bag which had a date of 2/1/2014. Poor coffee. It's been out there a while. This one had a June date, so I figured it was "fresher."
Eight O'Clock describes this coffee as a blend of coffees from the mountains of Central America. 50% of the beans come from Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee, which made me wonder the rest came from. They say this coffee has subtle cocoa notes, and a mellow, spicy finish. Can it be mellow and spicy? I made some this morning.
When I first sip, the overriding taste is a bland burnt taste. Once it's in my mouth a few seconds, I begin to taste something chocolate like. The aftertaste is stale. I do get a sense this is a strongish coffee, but I think the roasting and the age have zapped it of a lot of it's flavor. On our Cher slapping scale, this is a 4, you're aware it's coffee, but it's not waking you up.
I did say this was emergency coffee, but I would not recommend this if you wanted to serve it to friends. Friendemies maybe, but your friends.
Charlie
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Music, Coffee, Breakdancing!
A friend of mine share this with me today. I think it's been on various coffee sites. I have also see it at Daily Coffee News, but for those who haven't seen it.....
Music and Coffee
This morning as I read about the passing of folk legend Pete Seeger, I thought about the connection music has to coffee. When I lived in Nashville, our cafe had a weekly songwriters night. This is when aspiring musicians, and some more famous ones try out new material on an audience.
Coffee houses for generations have been places of performances. Think back to the hip scenes in 1950s movies or TV shows, and there were people dressed in black, singing, or reciting poetry. It's not untypical to see a sound system in a coffee house, as they are welcoming to performers.
So why coffee houses? No doubt the free space, or at least limited rental price is an attraction, but there's something more. Coffee and music have a communal nature. People come together over both. I remember during the songwriters nights how performers would interact with each other. There was a fellowship, a bond, which made the whole evening feel like a party in your living room. The audiences for these nights were also very relaxed, and pleased to be around each other. I loved standing behind the counter and taking in the sight.
Pete Seeger popularized songs like "This Land is Your Land" and "We Shall Overcome". He wrote "If I Had a Hammer." The musicians he inspired included John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Rufus Wainright, and so many more. No doubt at some point, the musicians brought their music, and their sense of community to a local coffee house, just as Pete Seeger did.
This morning I raise a cup in honor of Pete Seeger.
Charlie
Coffee houses for generations have been places of performances. Think back to the hip scenes in 1950s movies or TV shows, and there were people dressed in black, singing, or reciting poetry. It's not untypical to see a sound system in a coffee house, as they are welcoming to performers.
So why coffee houses? No doubt the free space, or at least limited rental price is an attraction, but there's something more. Coffee and music have a communal nature. People come together over both. I remember during the songwriters nights how performers would interact with each other. There was a fellowship, a bond, which made the whole evening feel like a party in your living room. The audiences for these nights were also very relaxed, and pleased to be around each other. I loved standing behind the counter and taking in the sight.
Pete Seeger popularized songs like "This Land is Your Land" and "We Shall Overcome". He wrote "If I Had a Hammer." The musicians he inspired included John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Rufus Wainright, and so many more. No doubt at some point, the musicians brought their music, and their sense of community to a local coffee house, just as Pete Seeger did.
This morning I raise a cup in honor of Pete Seeger.
Charlie
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Three Beans Coffee Review: Whole Foods on a Budget
Typically when you think of Whole Foods grocery stores, you smirk and think, "Whole Paycheck." Today I'm going to tell you that isn't always the case. There's another store out there challenging Whole Foods for the organic/specialty/natural food market - Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's has decent whole bean coffee they offer at a fairly low price. I've reviewed a couple of those coffees in the past. This week I learned Whole Foods offers low priced whole bean coffee as well - Three Beans is the name.
Typically Whole Foods promotes their Allegro Coffee, which is coffee they source and roast. On my latest trip to the store, I notices the cans of Three Beans. The cans cost $5.99. The typical Allegro Coffee is $14.99-17.99 a bag. Since I have had the canned beans from Trader Joe's, I thought I would look this over.
In this case, I selected the dark roast. Here is the description from the can:
Our Three Beans Coffee is crafted from some of the most loved coffee around. It's them ultra-deep roasted to deliver that famous West Coast roast style many of us have come to love.
Once I opened the can, I saw some dark shiny beans in there. The aroma had a typical smokey dark roast smell. Nothing smelled burnt like some dark roasts do. Then I brewed some via the French Press.
The result? The coffee tastes as smokey as it smells. There is a full bodied flavor. Nothing tea-like in taste. I'm not sure I tasted hints of anything in particular, because the roasting seems to have taken that away from the coffee. On our Cher slapping scale....this is a 9. This coffee WILL wake you up, but won't tell you to "Snap out of it!" The "best by" date listed 11/6/2014, so I will assume this is a relatively fresh batch of coffee. There were cans which had a "best of" date listed as 3 weeks from now. Those were never options. I thought the taste was ok. I could tell this was not the best quality of coffee. Who knows, maybe this is left over beans from when Allegro roasts their coffees.
Still if you are on a budget, I would recommend this. My friend Kris shared a comment a friend of hers made on Facebook about Folgers, and how bad it was. In the note, she said she was going for value. There is no value in bad coffee. If you want to spend less on a decent coffee, I recommend Three Beans Coffee.
To be honest though, the better value is still a pricier, better coffee, when you do the math, you get a lot of value from a $14.99-$17.99 coffee.
Charlie
Typically Whole Foods promotes their Allegro Coffee, which is coffee they source and roast. On my latest trip to the store, I notices the cans of Three Beans. The cans cost $5.99. The typical Allegro Coffee is $14.99-17.99 a bag. Since I have had the canned beans from Trader Joe's, I thought I would look this over.
In this case, I selected the dark roast. Here is the description from the can:
Our Three Beans Coffee is crafted from some of the most loved coffee around. It's them ultra-deep roasted to deliver that famous West Coast roast style many of us have come to love.
Once I opened the can, I saw some dark shiny beans in there. The aroma had a typical smokey dark roast smell. Nothing smelled burnt like some dark roasts do. Then I brewed some via the French Press.
The result? The coffee tastes as smokey as it smells. There is a full bodied flavor. Nothing tea-like in taste. I'm not sure I tasted hints of anything in particular, because the roasting seems to have taken that away from the coffee. On our Cher slapping scale....this is a 9. This coffee WILL wake you up, but won't tell you to "Snap out of it!" The "best by" date listed 11/6/2014, so I will assume this is a relatively fresh batch of coffee. There were cans which had a "best of" date listed as 3 weeks from now. Those were never options. I thought the taste was ok. I could tell this was not the best quality of coffee. Who knows, maybe this is left over beans from when Allegro roasts their coffees.
Still if you are on a budget, I would recommend this. My friend Kris shared a comment a friend of hers made on Facebook about Folgers, and how bad it was. In the note, she said she was going for value. There is no value in bad coffee. If you want to spend less on a decent coffee, I recommend Three Beans Coffee.
To be honest though, the better value is still a pricier, better coffee, when you do the math, you get a lot of value from a $14.99-$17.99 coffee.
Charlie
Friday, January 24, 2014
I'll Have a Vanilla Hazelnut Peppermint Cherry Flavored Coffee
There are coffee people out there who gasp at the thought of putting Splenda and Soy Creamer into coffee. I sometimes call those people snobs. They're the folks who take coffee black, so they can taste all the natural taste they can out of it. They thumb their nose at anything that isn't the pure coffee.
I don't consider myself a snob, but there is one thing I hate - flavored coffee. It doesn't matter to me what kind of shot you put in the coffee, I think it just ruins the coffee. To be clear, I'm not talking about coffee drinks like lattes, or mochas. I mean coffee.
So what's the problem? Years ago, when I was Cappuccino Maker to the Stars, the cafe where I worked brewed Hazelnut coffee. It smelled fine. I like the smell combination. The taste? O!M!G! That was some nasty stuff. It tasted like brown hazelnut flavored water. If you let it sit a bit, it tasted even worse - like brown hazelnut flavored water, with a hint of cardboard.
If you need all those flavors covering the flavor of the coffee, why are you drinking the coffee? You have lost what is unique about coffee. When you put something in the coffee, I think it should be to enhance, not cover the flavor. It's like makeup(you ladies will understand this), you want to enhance your beauty, not cover it to the point you look like Tammy Faye crying on TV.
That farmer in Costa Rica, Brazil, Indoneisa or Ethiopia would be shocked at what we do to the product they worked so hard to cultivate. My suggestion? Back away form the syrup. Sugar, sweetener, cream, milk, soy creamer, are fine, or just simply black. My other suggestion? Have some coffee with your extras, and savor the coffee.
Charlie
I don't consider myself a snob, but there is one thing I hate - flavored coffee. It doesn't matter to me what kind of shot you put in the coffee, I think it just ruins the coffee. To be clear, I'm not talking about coffee drinks like lattes, or mochas. I mean coffee.
So what's the problem? Years ago, when I was Cappuccino Maker to the Stars, the cafe where I worked brewed Hazelnut coffee. It smelled fine. I like the smell combination. The taste? O!M!G! That was some nasty stuff. It tasted like brown hazelnut flavored water. If you let it sit a bit, it tasted even worse - like brown hazelnut flavored water, with a hint of cardboard.
If you need all those flavors covering the flavor of the coffee, why are you drinking the coffee? You have lost what is unique about coffee. When you put something in the coffee, I think it should be to enhance, not cover the flavor. It's like makeup(you ladies will understand this), you want to enhance your beauty, not cover it to the point you look like Tammy Faye crying on TV.
That farmer in Costa Rica, Brazil, Indoneisa or Ethiopia would be shocked at what we do to the product they worked so hard to cultivate. My suggestion? Back away form the syrup. Sugar, sweetener, cream, milk, soy creamer, are fine, or just simply black. My other suggestion? Have some coffee with your extras, and savor the coffee.
Charlie
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Drink Local
The other day at work, I was told we were going to create an event, which would involve local coffee people. I was excited, as this was something I suggested a couple years ago, but of course was now being told how it was the bosses idea(isn't that always the case). I suggested some local coffee roasters we could approach to work with, and was told the following:
"Well _______(name withheld) thought the Starbucks down the street would be great, or that shop near you might work."
I said, those were hardly local artisan of coffee, and anyone could get those coffees. The response to that was, "They're local."
What is ironic is we have events with local beer brewers because we want to highlight local craft beers, but when I said there were local coffee roasters who would love to participate and highlight their coffees, I got nothing.
My issues with the bosses aside, going to Starbucks is not drinking local. That money is not staying in this community. A place like Bee Coffee Roasters who live here, work here and grow their business here, ARE local, and should be given the opportunity to thrive. Just because your friends' teenage daughter is a barista at Starbucks, doesn't mean it's a local business.
To be fair, Starbucks does try to be a good local partner in communities. I appreciate them for that. I just think if you are going to think locally, you should do it LOCALLY.
Charlie
"Well _______(name withheld) thought the Starbucks down the street would be great, or that shop near you might work."
I said, those were hardly local artisan of coffee, and anyone could get those coffees. The response to that was, "They're local."
What is ironic is we have events with local beer brewers because we want to highlight local craft beers, but when I said there were local coffee roasters who would love to participate and highlight their coffees, I got nothing.
My issues with the bosses aside, going to Starbucks is not drinking local. That money is not staying in this community. A place like Bee Coffee Roasters who live here, work here and grow their business here, ARE local, and should be given the opportunity to thrive. Just because your friends' teenage daughter is a barista at Starbucks, doesn't mean it's a local business.
To be fair, Starbucks does try to be a good local partner in communities. I appreciate them for that. I just think if you are going to think locally, you should do it LOCALLY.
Charlie
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
News From Around the Coffee World
I wanted share three news items which caught my eye this morning.....
1) Intelligentsia is about to release three coffees almost all of us have never tried. Sprudge interviews Intelligentsia co-founder Goeff Watts about the coffees, where the came from, and how they were developed. Now I got to find $50 to try this.
http://sprudge.com/cafe-inmaculada.html
2) Hawaiian coffee school? Sign me up. Daily Coffee News introduces us to a new coffee school. Let's see....coffee....Hawaii....coffee.....Hawaii.....ok, I'll go.
http://dailycoffeenews.com/2014/01/21/hawaiis-daylight-mind-launches-coffee-school-concept/
3) Ethiopia Coffees Rule Good Food Awards. According to Daily Coffee News, 9 of the 14 winners of this year's Good Food Awards Coffee division were coffees from Ethiopia. I notice a trend.
http://dailycoffeenews.com/2014/01/20/here-are-your-2014-good-food-award-coffee-winners/
Charlie
1) Intelligentsia is about to release three coffees almost all of us have never tried. Sprudge interviews Intelligentsia co-founder Goeff Watts about the coffees, where the came from, and how they were developed. Now I got to find $50 to try this.
http://sprudge.com/cafe-inmaculada.html
2) Hawaiian coffee school? Sign me up. Daily Coffee News introduces us to a new coffee school. Let's see....coffee....Hawaii....coffee.....Hawaii.....ok, I'll go.
http://dailycoffeenews.com/2014/01/21/hawaiis-daylight-mind-launches-coffee-school-concept/
3) Ethiopia Coffees Rule Good Food Awards. According to Daily Coffee News, 9 of the 14 winners of this year's Good Food Awards Coffee division were coffees from Ethiopia. I notice a trend.
http://dailycoffeenews.com/2014/01/20/here-are-your-2014-good-food-award-coffee-winners/
Charlie
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