We have been wanting to do a coffee tasting for the past couple months to step outside our normal “routine”, and we finally got to do it this weekend. We had 8 different kinds to try, and it was FUN.
The coffees we tried:
Starbucks Sumatra Aceh
Starbucks Caffe Verona
Starbucks Columbia
Starbucks Breakfast Blend
Handsome Coffee Roasters San Sebastian
Coffee AM Chocolate Strawberry
Coffee AM Sumatra Black Satin
Coffee AM Jamaica Blue Mountain
There wasn’t a huge rhyme or reason to the choosing of these. All of the Coffee AM kinds were given to us by my mother-in-law (Thanks Chyrl!), and the Handsome Coffee was purchased by Stormie – read about it here.
We used the French Press method to brew them, because that is how we both normally make our coffee. We also had half and half and sugar/splenda because again, that is how we normally drink our coffee, and we felt that it wouldn’t be a good tasting if we made any major changes.
I was excited.
We each took notes on the taste of each. Mostly, we just wrote words that came to mind as we drank.
Here’s what we both thought:
Starbucks Sumatra Aceh
Stephanie – Strong flavor, very bold
Stormie – A lot of flavor, depth, bold
Starbucks Caffe Verona
Stephanie – Campfire taste, ashy, smokey
Stormie – Campfire-y, bitter, dark
Starbucks Columbia
Stephanie – Smooth, silky, marshmallowy
Stormie – Light, smooth, silky
Starbucks Breakfast Blend
Stephanie – Smooth, crisp, mellow
Stormie – Smooth, light, don’t like the smell
Handsome Coffee Roasters San Sebastian
Stephanie – Tropical fruit, citrus, acidic, unpleasant smell, worse with each sip
Stormie – Smells the best, sharp, tangy, tropical, tart
Coffee AM Chocolate Strawberry
Stephanie – weak, light, tastes like strawberry wafers, dessert-like, neopolitian ice cream
Stormie – light, sweet, wouldn’t drink on a regular basis as “coffee”
Coffee AM Sumatra Black Satin
Stephanie – A bit weak, mild flavor, very mellow
Stormie – Slightly acidic, weak
Coffee AM Jamaica Blue Mountain
Stephanie – Very dark, woodsy, ashy, will put hair on your chest!
Stormie – Strong, ashy, bitter
Stephanie’s winner of the day: Starbucks Columbia
Stormie’s winner of the day: Starbucks Sumatra Aceh
We are so glad that we did this tasting, and we will for SURE do another one! Have any suggestions of coffees to try for the next one?
Chyrl
Mar 6, 2012 -
I can tell you are Starbucks addicts by your preferences! I can not believe you thought CoffeeAM was acidic because I don’t think so. It must have something with the water that the coffees are made in. Ft.Wayne water makes CoffeeAM a gret cup to drink but the Starbucks here is bitter and acidic when brewed at home. Haven’t done them in a French press so you may need to adjust the grind and amount used. In a reg. pot I use one scoop per cup.
I also think you got your Jamaican Blue Mt. and Sumatran mixed up.
Interesting to see what you thought. Maybe you should do it again with more people sampling with not knowing what they are drinking.
Pearl
Mar 6, 2012 -
I use to drink the Caffe Verona and like it but soon grew tired of it. I like the Columbia and the decaf for those evening so I can sleep. But lately I’ve been drinking the Dark Espresso Roast….YUM! Yep I luv the dark stuff! May I suggest trying “truvia” or “stevia” (same thing different name, stevai is way cheaper) I think you’ll like it much better then splenda. I don’t know how to explain it but, it seems to make things taste better, enhances the flavor and its better for you.
yo mama
Mar 7, 2012 -
You gotta add a local brew in just to be local-cool. C’mon give Boyer’s a chance. http://www.boyerscoffee.com/ They have Rocky-Mountain-Thunder. And a 5280 blend. Buy them and give them to me if you don’t like them. ;)
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