I had a mocha latte breve, because to me if it doesn’t have cream it just isn’t worth drinking. It was delicious. The last time I was there I felt the espresso was a little watery which made the latte a little flavorless. This time the flavor was rich and full, although it was almost too sweet when you got to the bottom. The barista attempted a design with the steamed cream and it wasn’t bad, although practice is needed if he wants to head to the international competitions.

The decor is awful at this point but I am hoping that it is a matter of moving in. The furniture is in a jumble and there is too much of it.

They have also started serving gelato, and there seemed to be some unique flavors. He asked if I wanted a sample and then forgot to give it to me so I can’t tell you how it tastes. But they advertise the following:

• Red Velvet Cake
• Roasted Almond
• Cafe au Lait
• Pumpkin Cinnamon
• Oreo Cookies and Cream

The gelato is mad fresh in small batches, and is made with ORGANIC sugar and whole milk. SCORE! Now, if only they would get organic coffee!

What I loved:

• Friendly
• Latte was great
• Real cups!
• Gelato sounds interesting
• Organics
• It’s indy

What I didn’t love:

• Decor looked like a storage shed

Scale from 1-5 They get a 3.5 which could end up being a 4.5 if the decor changes significantly. I personally have a very hard time relaxing in a mess.

Should you go? Sure! The prices are good, the coffee is good, and hey, they have gelato!

image:sxc

Post from: Kettle and Cup

I got a bag of beans in the mail yesterday.  When you open the bag the aroma of the beans jumps out at you in an in your face, friendly Texan way. Spicy and rich, the scent is faintly licorice. The flavor is bright with citrus and herbs in the foretaste and a very faint peppery flavor that lingers like an old friend saying goodbye.

I think Alamo Joe is a great name for this coffee. Friendly, easy to like, with all of the upfront honesty of a West Texas cowboy. This is a blue jeans and boots kinda brew; laid back but with some fire in the hearth.

I am giving it a 4.0. Would have liked the roast to have been a touch darker, with a little more experience to go along with that passion. My guess is that if you just like good, hot coffee in your favorite mug that this will be one you like a lot.

Check out my other Kohana Cofee reviews:

• Antigua Bella Carmona
• Rockin Like Austin
• Panama
• Hawaiian Prime
• Hawaiian Select
• Kona Estate

Coffee images and image collage: Marye Audet

Boots image in collage:SXC

Flag image in collage:SXC

Post from: Kettle and Cup

Kohana Panama is silky smooth with  flavors of smoky cinnamon toast and rose.

The one thing I can say about Kohana coffee, at least so far, is that the coffee is unique. I think at this point I could pick out a cup of Kohana in a blind taste test.  The aroma is smokey and slightly exotic…You guys know how weird I am when it comes to personifying coffee, right? Well this coffee is a mysterious, wealthy traveler on the Orient Express. Very Art Deco. Miss Scarlet in a game of Clue.

Panama is a coffee for curling up in a comfy, slightly faded chintz chair, by a fireplace on a chilly autumn day. Pair it with a good mystery and slice of fresh brioche, toasted and  slathered with butter.

On the Marye Coffee Scale Kohana Panama gets a 4.75 out of a possible 5. I love the uniqueness of this coffee.

images:Marye Audet

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The tea is a nice amber, almost diluted cola color with a pinkish tinge. The flavor is what is outstanding. I used a little sweetener and it brought out the complex flavors. I am really not sure whether to describe this as cherry coke or chocolate cherry or something in between. Fruity and sweet with just a slight tang…I think I lean toward cherry coke. Not the chemically cherry coke of the 21st century but the old fashioned cherry cokes where you mixed coke and a little cherry juice. I am pretty sure that this is going to be the next popsicle flavor at our house.

I really liked the strength and flavor of this tea, and the kids liked it as well. It would be a great base for punch, mixed with club soda for Italian sodas, or even slushees. Give it a try and see what you think. I am not a big fan of green tea but this one is superb.

image:maryeaudet

Post from: Kettle and Cup

Now, y’all know here in Texas we KNOW smoked.  We smoke almost anything here..Brisket, ribs, roadkill…..

No..not really.  Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Anyway I never thought of smoking coffee.  I never heard of smoking coffee. So when I read the description I wanted to try it.

The way they do this is the coffee is first custom blended and then roasted.  The roast coffee is then taken to a local smokehouse and slow smoked.  What happens then is some sort of magic.

This bean was aromatic coming out of the bag.  It had presence like Angelina Jolie in a bikini at a burkha fashion show.  You just noticed it.  Beans were nice and plump, dark and shiny.  Yes I know I am easily pleased but I like beans to look nice.  Maybe the company has read some of my other reviews and oiled the beans individually before sending them, I don’t know..But I do know they were wonderful.

The brew was every bit as aromatic as the beans were.  It was difficult to distinguish what the aroma was because it was different than what you expect from coffee. The smoked smell was definitely there.

The first sip is intriguing.  Full bodied and rich coffee with a taste you can’t identify…and then the full smokiness of the coffee hits you in the aftertaste.  Very smooth, very nice, with notes of ripe fruit.  Think of eating ripe  muscadine grapes while sitting by a campfire and you get the idea of the feel of this coffee.

It is the lapsang souchong of the coffee world, but not as in your face at the tea.  I could not believe how subtle this was, and yet how intense.

Would pair well with fruit, cheese, and other fresh flavors.  I see it as more of a tryst coffee…one that you flirt with on occasion for variety and excitement,  but not something you are going to brew for breakfast.

Excellent coffee. I will be using this company in the future.  Coffee Bean Direct.

image:Marye Audet

Post from: Kettle and Cup

The company describes it this way:

Reminiscent of the rich, darker coffees in Europe, Boca Villa has a heavy body that finishes with a hint of spiciness. Its robust, intensely satisfying flavor evokes memories of coffee served at the finest cafés in Paris.

Here is my take on it:

Beans are, as I said, oily and beautiful.

The aroma from the bag is slightly spicy, with definite herbal notes.  These coffees are somewhat lacking in intensity when it comes to aroma, They smell great but they don’t fill the room with their scent.

The flavor is perfumy and quite astringent.  I would say that there are serious herbal notes here, somewhat like brewing dried alfalfa.  It isn’t unpleasant exactly, but not my favorite.

I found that the astringency covered up any layers that might have come up after the initial taste.  I would say that this is a masculine coffee, suited for camping trips and hunting lodges.  It is as up-front as a used car salesman, with about as much complexity, in my opinion.

Should you try it? Eh. I am not going to say don’t.  But if you are trying to decide between this and the South Beach Rhythm then go with the South Beach.  Much better stuff.

images:maryeaudet (c)2009

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In fact, almost before I had the post published that announced I had found this intriguing item and was asking for samples..well Shari had emailed me agreeing to send them.

They got here the very next day.  You know, I have worked with several companies. Some are fun to work with because of the real-ness of the people involved.  Some prefer to be a *corporation*.  JazzyBird is a fun company….and they are generous.

Have I mentioned how much I like generosity in a company?  I do.

So, I got numeorus samples.  Each small cup is filled with fresh espresso and then frozen.  You run the little cups under hot water, release the espresso ice into a cup, and microwave until hot without boiling.  You then have an espresso shot..

Which you can turn into a latte by adding 1/2 cup milk or cream….and a little sugar….and….

Really, whatever you would like.

Also, this stuff is going to be fantastic for recipes like tiramisu…

O.k…so…how does it taste?

This is truly some of the best espresso I have had.  I like it alot.  For about 45 cents a serving you don’t need the expensive espresso maker, you don’t need the timer, you don’t need anything except a freezer, a cup, and a microwave.  This is a great idea and a great coffee..and I imagine that it won’t be long before JazzyBird is available everywhere.

What can you do? Contact JazzyBird and let them know that you are interested and where you are.  Contact your local Wholefoods, or specialty store and let them know that this product is out there and you want it.  Companies rise and fall based on consumer opinion.  Let’s start supporting the small companies and let the big corporations know we are tired of the junk they serve us.

I will be publishing an interview with Shari in the next few days.  I think you will find it interesting.

images:marye audet

Post from: Kettle and Cup

Starbucks recently introduced what may be the biggest set back for coffee drinkers since it was being boiled with eggshells over open fires by men named Slim, Cookie, and Billy Joe.

Starbucks Via is their newest foray into grasping at straws….  Short for Very Icky Aroma.  So, brace yourselves..because we’re goin’ in..

O.k.. the packaging is nice.  I like it.  Slimline, nice colors…good deco/upscale look.

But it goes down hill from the moment you open it and the scent of the coffee spills out.  If you have ever walked in to one of those pancake houses where the Bunn has been sitting on the burner with the same coffee in it for three days…OR if you have ever had the coffee at the OCmpany B mess hall at the Presidio of Monterey then you will have experienced the exotic aroma that wafted up from the package upon tearing it open.  And I hadn’t even added water yet.

I poured a little out on my hand.  It was a beautiful, dark, microgrind.  I tasted it. After my tongue uncurled I felt read to go on to making the coffee.

Pouring the package into the water was easy.  Stirring it, yep, easy.  It was the drinking that was tough.

The odor of carefully and methodically  scorched coffee intensified until it permeated my room.  The liquer is murkyand dark and if you don’t get it all stirred in you have sort of a sludge buildup on the sides of the cup.  Nice.

Taste is bitter, scorched, and stale.  If you have a fantasy of becoming a 1930s style journalist with a cigarette, a fedora, and a cheap suit then this is the coffee for you for sure.  If not, go ahead and donate it to the displaced cowboys society of Wyoming or something.

On a scale of 1-5?  Let’s not go there.  This is on equal footing with the Duncan Donuts coffee I reviewed.

Image: Starbucks

Post from: Kettle and Cup

The beans are dark and shiny, small and plump, without a lot  of broken or cracked coffee beans in the mix.  The aroma was about average on opening the bag, deep coffee scent but without any depth or complexity..you smell coffee.  Which is good, I mean you wouldn’t want to open a bag of espresso and smell hay, or asparagus, or something, right?

But I mean that there were no secondary notes.  Just coffee.

The coffee brewed up nice and dark.  We did almost double the amount of coffee we used.  I am wondering if it is the Arabica beans that they use, if we got a batch that was not as fresh as it could have been, or if they just roast a less robust coffee?  This was my one disappointment with Silver Joe’s.  The advertising is very extreme but the coffee is very couch potato.  Not a bad coffee at all, very good in its own way…but not extreme.  Nothing unexpected, no depth or edginess.  A little flat.

I do recommend trying the Silver Joe’s Coffee.  It  is a nice coffee.  Just don’t expect to get swept off to exotic places as you drink the cup… Maybe Iowa.

Image:Silver Joes

Post from: Kettle and Cup

When we got the box from Silver Joe’s we just automatically started with the mocha java.  No real reason, it was what we pulled out of the box first.

I really like the look of the bags.  I have some touch sensitivity issues…o.k…a LOT of touch sensitivity issues which get worse all the time.  I thought the bags were going to bother me but they didn’t.

The coffee beans were uniform in size and the aroma that came from the bag was earthy and rich.  The beans were a bit drier than I expected them to be.

The brewing aroma was nice, not amazing.  Understand, that with the size of our house it takes something AMAZING to make the kitchen smell amazing…we have something like 300 sq ft for a kitchen..maybe more.  And then there is the 11 ft ceilings, so I tend to be more surprised when the coffee makes the kitchen smell than when it doesn’t.

Anyway.

The coffee was dark with a nice sheen to it.  The earthy complexity was a bit more pronounced.  It did not have the heavy bittersweet chocolate notes that I expect from a mocha java but it was good; smooth and  full bodied.

I suggest that you brew this coffee a little stronger than you are used to brewing, however.  We liked it better when we used more coffee to water ratio than normal.

I used a big image so you can see how cool the bags are.

image:Silver Joe’s

Post from: Kettle and Cup