08.09
A good friend of mine recently met Tim Duren at the farmer’s market in Tuscaloosa, AL. Tim’s normal fare are Snapdragons (the flowers) but he recently began roasting coffee to sell at the farmer’s market. This is great news for anyone in West Alabama, because it’s a coffee desert otherwise, with the closest quality roaster 70 miles away in Birmingham. So my friend kindly sent two roasts my way to try out, and to sum things up, Tim has a bright future ahead of him. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this new roaster, but Tim’s El Salvador is one of the best cups I’ve had since being in NYC this spring.
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Tim’s Custom Roasted Coffee: Organic El Salvador
Whole Bean
Coker, AL
205-333-1234
Aroma: The ground beans were rich as Fort Knox with a sweet scent of chocolate and a handful of nuts. Once brewed the aromas became more complex and very sweet. Caramel and hints of vanilla were very present and the dry nutty scent was blended into the creamy aroma of peanut butter without the jelly.
Taste: My initial sip was met with a lively brightness, like a spoonful of grapefruit on a quite Saturday morning. The shine of the first sip smoothed into a nutty aftertaste that evolved more and more into dry cocoa as it cooled. A very pleasant and smooth, full body swells from the cup, filling my mouth as a warm marshmallow would after roasting lightly on a camp fire.
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I’m generally not a fan of Colombian coffees, and while this was more enjoyable than most, it was still kind of boring.
Tim’s Custom Roasted Coffee: Colombian Valencia
Whole Bean
Coker, AL
205-333-1234
Aroma: The dry grounds were surprisingly floral with hints of fruit and nuts. After being brewed the aroma was surprisingly dull without providing much of anything aside from a slight hint of orange peel. The cup became very flat and unexciting to me.
Taste: Though the aroma offered no enticement, my first sip was pleasantly accented with a citrus zest followed by slightly salted walnuts washed down with a nice slightly sweet finish. As the cup cooled the brightness was more pronounced and the flavors became much more complex with chocolate and a dry wine finish that rounded out this medium body brew.
02.01
Great Lakes Coffee: Fair Trade Organic Brazil
Whole Bean – $12.98/lb
Bloomfield Hills, MI
www.greatlakescoffee.com
Bean: These tiny beans give off a powerful scent as strong as the summer air. Cherries, butterflies, and swing sets in the park fill my head as soon as I opened the bag. A consistent but alternating hue to the beans creates a nice colorful depth, but leaves me with questions of this single origin roast quality.
Aroma: I close my eyes and find myself strolling through urban gardens of Rio de Janeiro. A bright explosion of floral consumes my senses, drawing my attention from the littered streets and the shaking tangas of Mardi Gras, to a place full of exotic flowers I’ve never known. A smoothness without any distinguishable peaks vying for attention dance from my cup. The arrangement works in harmony to produce a beautiful and enjoyable experience, much as a well designed bouquet would be seen as a whole and not a sum of its parts.
Taste: A medium to darker body—like those sun-kissed by the excess exposure Brazilian swim suits provide—carries itself in a surprisingly mellow fashion across the tongue. There’s a slight acidic sting that hits the back of your throat like the chill of a cold winter day, but this adds excitement to a mild mannered entrance. After the spark of this celebration ignites, it rolls into an incredibly rich and full bodied finish that leaves you feeling like you’ve just found the baby in the King Cake.
01.15
Dear Red Diamond,
This was meant to be a review, but I found your coffee unreviewable. I chose to reframe my efforts as an open letter to your company instead, which claims to be one of the three oldest coffee companies in the US. If this is true, I must know, how can you be so terrible at what you do?
Maybe you’ve grown content over all these years and swept aside all concerns of quality and reputation. Maybe you built your company on unbreakable contracts with diners, drive-ins and dives that continue to generate revenue, despite the poor quality of your product. Or maybe in light of the current economic conditions, you’ve cut back on expenses by collecting your beans from the remnants strewn among the putrid floors of international shipping warehouses. I could speculate all day.
The size and shape of your 100% Arabica beans can’t even maintain the illusion of consistency and their leather brown skins are speckled with leprosy. I should have known that paying the price of a medium coffee for an entire 12oz bag of beans would yield mediocre results; but I never imagined coffee could leave the same taste in my mouth as the morning after vomit from a night of heavy drinking.
I will however give you credit for infusing your roast with an aroma that could convince a child they had a mug of Swiss Miss hot cocoa in front of them. The sweet smell of caramel coated s’mores is endearing—enticing even—but as soon as said child takes his first unsuspecting gulp of nostalgic winter comfort, he’d be kicked in the mouth with a carbon footprint flavored beverage unworthy of the shadiest gas stations.
While you offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee of your product, for $2.99, it’s not worth the check you’d print my refund on. The only thing that would satisfy me is never having to taste your coffee again. I also exhort you to remove the distinction of “the south’s finest” from your bags; this title belongs to one of the other fine Birmingham based coffee roasters.
Thank you for ensuring that I truly appreciate every cup of coffee I have after yours.
12.28
Colombia Starbucks VIA
Single Serving Micro Ground – $Free
Seattle, WA
www.starbucks.com
Bean: Micro ground to a powder as fine as Colombia’s other well known pick-me-up.
Aroma: After deciding to mix with hot water instead of snorting, I hovered, wafted and inhaled a somewhat surprising aroma. It was subtle and earthy, comforting like Grandpa’s sweater, but much more pleasant than the Folger’s he consumed. There was a hint of brightness that occasionally poked through the soft undertones of Mexican chocolate, like oranges married with a ripe hamper full of dirty clothes. I was convinced enough to give this blasphemous convenience a fair chance.
Taste: Sipping from a mug surviving the days when Starbucks actually used them, I was immediately impressed by the smooth, low acidic taste presented by this magical concoction. The shock of burnt grinds never came and the lack of flavor that most Kuerig cups embody was trumped by, well, flavor. The delicate tinge of chili powder seasoned every mouthful of this liquid trail mix, highlighting the rich presence of walnuts. If only it provided the same protein and essential fatty acids, I’d have myself a meal.
However, after my enjoyable stroll through the peanut gallery subsided, a pungent aftertaste took hold. Flashbacks of an older brother stuffing dirty socks in my mouth leapt to the forefront of my conscious. I was forced to drink more just to mask the unsettling memory.
Overall, I am thunderstuck (cool word huh?) by the texture and taste of this instant coffee, one whose marketing budget may rival Avatar’s. I would prefer a cup of this over a fresh one of Pike Place any day, but that’s not saying much.
*I tried the Italian Roast as well, barely making it through half the cup. It tasted, as I imagine a musket full of gunpowder would; sharp, abrasive, and capable of fueling rockets during a Chinese New Year.
12.17
Primavera: Peru Norte
12oz Whole Bean – $10.99
Birmingham, AL
www.primaveracoffee.com
Bean: A spirited, medium size bean with a creamy milk-chocolate hue. These could easily be substituted for semi-sweet chips in all of your holiday cookies. What could be better than a caffeinated peanut butter blossom?
Aroma: Once I brewed these medium roasted niblets, I was wrapped in a scent as soothing as a snuggie, and deliciously warm as a Cinnabon. A vanilla undertone smoothed things out like a bowl of grandmother’s cake batter waiting for me to taste the moment she wasn’t looking. I couldn’t wait to indulge.
Taste: My first sip was met with a light but vibrant cinnamon zest followed by lively hints of vanilla. The next taste enveloped my tongue like a cupcake, sprinkles and all, stuffed in my mouth. A well balanced flavor helps illuminate the quality of the beans and inspires daydreams of tomorrow’s cup.
There’s a low acidic creak in this medium bodied brew, but its no more severe than a sound eeked from beneath the floorboards of your childhood home—endearing and somewhat sentimental. A cup of this could tuck me in after dinner as easily as it lured me from bed this morning.
You can pick up a cup (or bag) of Primavera at my favorite cafe in Birmingham, Urban Standard.
