Saturday, October 25, 2014

Review 2 - Second Cup: La Manita




Today I will be reviewing Second Cup : La Minita Tarrazù.
This coffee is exclusive to Second Cup in Canada and is one of my favorite brews.  At 14.95 for 312g is it moderately priced.  The bean is grown and picked in Costa Rica and is a light roast.
 
 
As with most coffee I drink it has been prepared using filtered water and brewed in a French press.
 
 
Nose:
 
The freshly ground coffee brings forward a fruity and earthy scent.  Once brewed more of the earthy tones come out.
 
 
Colour:
 
This brew is rather light.  It creates a light yellow brown coffee when poured alone.
 
 
Palate:
 
Taste is mild with medium acidity.  With some cream some of the acidity goes away and you are left with a pleasant mild coffee.  I find this to be rather mild in flavor but a very easy drinking brew.  The acidity in this coffee matched with the flavor gives of citrus notes.  Let this coffee linger in your mouth and breathe out of your nose and you will be greeted with fantastic flavor.
 
 
Finish:
 
The finish lingers for a bit leaving citrusy fruit.
 
 
Overall:
 
Here again I go reviewing one of my favorite coffees.  I am not sure of the availability in the US but this can be found in any Second Cup coffee shop.  Till next time thanks for reading!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Review 1 - Starbucks Reserve: Sun Dried Ethiopia



Hello,
 
This will be my first review and I will try to be doing coffee and whisky reviews as I thoroughly enjoy drinking both and both can have complexity in the nose and palette.
 
Today I will be reviewing Starbucks Reserve: Sun Dried Ethiopia.  This coffee is from Starbucks reserve line which releases specialty beans from different countries.  I have had this coffee in the past and I truly love it for its complex nose and flavor.  At $20.95 Canadian for 226g it is on the higher price range for most coffee drinkers.
 
As with most coffee I drink it has been prepared using filtered water and brewed in a French press.
 
 
Nose:
 
The freshly ground coffee bring a nice note of fruit and tart.  Once brewed the scent of roasted beans takes place over the fruit bringing with it a floral note.
 
 
Colour:
 
This brew is quite dark.  It creates a very dark brown coffee with a slight red hue that I don't normally see in most coffee.
 
 
Palate:
 
Taste is slightly bitter and the acidity is low.  With some cream this brew opens up a little to bring out some of the fruity flavors.  I recommend not putting too much cream in this as it can dilute the flavor.  There is a slight wood note in there as well.  Most dark roasts are not very acidic this tends to be an exception.  I do find most dark roasted coffee tends to lose some of the beans natural flavor.  This one seems to be more intact and that makes it a very flavorful dark roast.
 
 
Finish:
 
The finish lingers for a bit leaving traces a woody flavor.
 
 
Overall:
 
This is one of my favorite coffee's dark and robust but still lively and acidic.  If you get a chance to pick one of these up at your local Starbucks give it a try!  Please note that not all Starbucks stores have the Starbucks Reserve line, make sure to check the Starbucks website to see if your local store has them in stock.