Honestly...

The coffee that I roast is not for everyone - It is expensive and it is not at all convenient.  I know it, you know, and even my 7 year old knows it.


But then again, a Lexus or BMW is expensive and those companies are bold enough to expect their owners to go through the inconvenience of firing uncle Wilbur's Backyard Auto Care service so that they might have their cars properly maintained in their further expensive Service Centers.


As I think about it, I do individually roast single-origin coffee fresh per customer, I do package each order in proper ratio to each customer's specific brewing style, and I do spend a bunch of time roasting each small batch order because I will not make or sell in bulk.  So I guess that while my coffee is more expensive than the stale stuff in the grocery store and more inconvenient than simply tossing a bag into your cart, at the end of the day there are still quite a few people who prefer to drive a Lexus or BMW.


So no, the coffee that I roast is not for everyone.

anchorbayroasts.com

Peet's Coffee

It has been quite a while since I have posted - I've been roasting but I have had nothing new to report so I have been silent. However, a few minutes ago I opened a bag of Major Dickason's Blend coffee from Peet's Coffee & Tea company. I have to admit that as biased as I am against store bought coffee this is a very good cup of Joe. It is smooth, rich, well balanced, and most of all it tastes good - very good.

While nothing beats the freshness and flavor of a self roasted coffee, this is a very good bean to have on hand for those rare days that you do not have any beans roasted.

Ugly Mug Coffee

It would seem that my latest coffee exploits have veered away from the original scope of this blog (to review my home roasted coffees) - but hey, at least I am still posting.

I tried a new coffee from the store called Ugly Mug Coffee. It's not all that great but a heck of a lot better than my Seattle's Best sample. The best part of this Memphis brew seems to me to be the packaging and the dreadful morning pictures of people that they use on their packaging and website.

Oh. The taste review? Hold on a sec while I go brew a cup...... Alright, here it is.

This roast is called "BOLD" and while it is certainly dark roasted the flavor nor the aroma calls out to me. This could be in part because the package indicates that it would have been best if used by last month but hey - that explains why it was on sale. However, the flavor is good enough that I am not trying to figure out what I can mix it with to mask any annoying attributes.

This brew does remind me of a cup of coffee that I can only get in the office break room, early in the winter morning when it is still dark and nobody else is there to disturb the few moments of peace before the work day begins. The coffee made from a mass packet of grounds that has been in the cupboard for only God knows how long and brewed with office sink water. In those moments it is not the flavor of the cup that stands out but the peacefulness and warmth of the moment.

So Ugly Mug Coffee is not exceptional coffee but it does seem to have a nostalgic quality about it.

Seattle's Best Coffee

I've not been able to roast coffee as quickly as I drink it so I have a stash of store bought coffee that I use when I am empty. I picked up a bag of something called Seattle's Best Coffee and I must say that this stuff is horrible!!! It is considered a "dark roast" which simply means that it is burned, they could be using any bean from anywhere because there is no flavor to this cup except the taste of burn. They call this sludge Seattle's Best Coffee and I cannot help but feel sorry for the folks in Seattle if this is the best that they have. The name reminds me of that beer Milwaukee's Best which is also pretty sad for the people of Milwaukee.