So I've been on a bit of food crunch blog posts lately, and I'm continuing that with one of the most popular beverages in the world: coffee! I first had my taste of coffee while being an orientation leader for the University of Denver's freshman orientation week my sophomore year. I would go to bed at around 2 am, and then have to be somewhere the next day at 6:30 am, so I was in desperate need of caffeine that week. First tasting coffee, I started with lattes, and quickly progressed to drinking black coffee since I love the taste so much. And that's important to me - I drink coffee because I really enjoy the taste, the caffeine is just an added benefit!
This summer, one of my roommates had a Keurig K-cup brewer, and I've been wanting to try some new coffee flavours for a while now. So I went to Amazon and found a 20-pack of all different flavours and brands of coffees and had it immediately shipped to me. Below, I break down the coffees, what I thought, and taste notes, along with a "coffee bean" rating on how much I liked it on a scale of 1 to 5 coffee beans. Check them out, and find something new to try!
Brown Gold Brand:
Flavor: 100% Brazilian Extra Bold
Hot/Iced: Iced
Buy Again?: Maybe
Taste Notes: Definitely an extra bold coffee, almost black when brewed. I definitely think it would have been better as a hot coffee. Was a good dark blend, but nothing special with the taste.
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yes
Taste Notes: Another coffee with nothing too special in terms of flavor, but has a really fresh and just-ground taste. Actually pretty bold for a medium roast.
Caza Trail Brand:
Flavor: Donut Shop Brand
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yup
Taste Notes: Good, more bitter coffee, very strong flavor. It has a nice balance of being a bitter coffee but not super bitter to the point where you need to add more creamer than you have coffee.
Flavor: Kona Blend
Hot/Iced: Iced
Buy Again?: No
Taste Notes: There's barely any flavor to this.
Flavor: Coastal Blend
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yes
Taste Notes: Was pretty doubtful of this flavor since I wasn't a huge fan of the one above from the same brand, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The flavor is really good and it mixed well with my French Vanilla creamer.
Coffee People Brand:
Flavor: Black Tiger
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Maybe
Taste Notes: Actually not that strong of a coffee smell when brewed, but the coffee is VERY bitter - almost too bitter for me, and that's including creamer. Coffee is very crisp, not much of an aftertaste, but just really bitter.
Donut House Brand:
Flavor: Cinnamon Roll
Hot/Iced: Iced
Buy Again?: No
Taste Notes: The smell is fantastic, it smells like you have cinnamon rolls baking in your house. But when tasting it, there's barely any coffee taste, it's just like a punch in the face from the cinnamon. I've found that Donut Shop has very strong coffee flavors, but this was too much for me.
Flavor: Original
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yes
Taste Notes: Another one of my favorite coffees in this pack. A really nice, clean, and smooth medium roast that was a bit sweeter, which I really liked. I also would have really liked to try this coffee iced, so I guess I'll have to buy more!
Emeril's Gourmet Coffee Brand:
Flavor: Big Easy Bold
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Maybe
Taste Notes: Basically, if you want bold coffee, this is it.
Green Mountain Coffee Brand:
Flavor: Breakfast Blend
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yes
Taste Notes: I'm biased to Green Mountain Coffee, I generally really like their coffee and I've had this one before this experiment, so I knew I was going to like it. Nothing special coffee flavor, but I really liked waking up to this.
Grove Square Blend:
Flavor: Hazelnut Cappuccino
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yes
Taste Notes: The smell was not so much coffee as it was the hazelnut. Nice to change it up from bitter coffees with this sweeter one. The hazelnut flavor was not as strong as you would have thought from the smell, but it's just enough. I wish I had it iced though.
Flavor: Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: No
Taste Notes: Good spicy flavor, but don't really get any of the coffee flavor. Actually a pretty watery flavor to be honest. The spices are the dominant flavor, and they're pretty overpowering.
Flavor: French Vanilla Cappuccino
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: No
Taste Notes: Can't taste the coffee in this one either, and it's way too sweet. You can only taste the vanilla flavor.
Marley Coffee Brand:
Flavor: Medium
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yup
Taste Notes: Very strong aroma, I thought this one was going to be pretty bitter, but it wasn't, it was a really good medium roast. Nice balance since it wasn't sweet but wasn't overpowering bitter.
Flavor: Light
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Maybe
Taste Notes: The flavor is good but not as good as the medium roast. I like stronger coffee flavors, and this wasn't my favorite, but still not too bad.
Martinson Brand:
Flavor: Dark Roast
Hot/Iced: Iced
Buy Again?: Sure
Taste Notes: Very strong aroma, and a strong flavor to match. Good for wanting coffee, but not wanting all the sweet crap that coffee shops put in their drinks.
Flavor: Vanilla Velvet
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Yup!
Taste Notes: Smells like a coffee shop, and it tastes awesome! Little bit sweeter than a regular coffee (obviously, it has vanilla in it), and I think it would be really good iced as well. This was I think my favorite coffee in the mix.
Flavor: Pumpkin Pie
Hot/Iced: Hot
Buy Again?: Maybe
Taste Notes: I had higher expectations for this coffee since I liked the vanilla flavored one, but it wasn't too bad. Maybe it was because I was drinking pumpkin coffee in August? Might give it another try in the fall when the flavor is more in season. But there was definitely a nice mix of coffee flavor and pumpkin and spices.
Newman's Own Organic:
Flavor: Newman's Special Blend
Hot/Iced: Iced
Buy Again?: Maybe
Taste Notes: I really liked the flavor of it - but I definitely think it would have been better hot than iced. Actually a pretty bold flavor for it not being titled "extra bold" or anything.
Tim Horton's Brand:
Flavor: 100% Arabica
Hot/Iced: Iced
Buy Again?: No
Taste Notes: Smells like cheap coffee. Tastes like cheap diner coffee.
Kim
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