My Final Coffee Blog Post

Okay, I'm still in love with coffee...just not enough to blog about it. I will keep this open for anyone who wants to read the reviews of the coffee shops or coffees that I had already evaluated. But, for the future, I have other interests that are consuming my time and attention.

I still blog.

If you want to read my sales blog, go here

If you want to read my Bible blog, go here

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Feel free to hit me up, though, at any of my social networking sites, to talk about coffee. I'm still very much into it. But, I've found other things to specialize in as far as blogging. If you want a great resource for coffee reviews, go to http://www.coffeereview.com/. If you want to hang out digitally and talk about coffee with others, go to http://www.baristaexchange.com/. Long live the bean! Live long and percolate! Yadayadayada. That is all.

Coffee Review: Starbucks Coffee's Columbia (Grocery)

When perusing the coffee aisle at your local grocer, you are likely to see this coffee nestled amidst the Starbucks selections. Starbucks' Columbia coffee, considered a medium in flavor intensity, is just about as close the the Everyman's coffee as it gets. It is smooth and light, perfect for a caffeine jolt in the morning without the risk of confusing your taste buds with too much complexity. This coffee is grown at an elevation of about 6500 feet and Starbucks recommends it with "Pecan pie and a window seat."

Tasting: Aroma***; sweet honey and light mahogany. Acidity***; balanced, some gentle biting on the sides of tongue. Body**; light and smooth, lingers gently and faintly. Flavor***; very nutty with slight hints of orange.

I recommend this to anyone looking for just a basic cup of Joe. It is lightly roasted and goes down easy. Good all-day coffee and would probably be decent over ice.

Keurig Revisited

Okay, so I broke down and bought a Keurig. Months ago, I wrote a post about how substandard Keurig is due to the coffee in the K-Cups being pre-ground and what not. Now, I'm eating my words. I don't know how they do it, but my Keurig Elite makes the coffee taste like it's just been roasted and ground. I'm VERY impressed.

I liked most of the coffees that came with the K-Cup sampler. Caribou's were especially good. The Tully's blends weren't that great. I also bought the 'My K-Cup' accessory, so that I can freshly grind my own coffee to use. It doesn't work as well, though. It tastes diluted compared to the K-Cups.

For my first week of owning the Keurig, I used it exclusively. When I finally got around to using my press again, it was like I was drinking coffee and falling in love with it again for the first time. Nothing beats a press! Now that I've acclimated to the machine, though, I use it about half the time and my press the other half. I will always prefer to sit down and enjoy a French press of my choosing but I've got to admit that it's nice to be able to grab a decent cup of coffee to go when I don't have the time.

Coffee Review: Stauf's Coffee Roasters' India Monsooned Malabar

Stauf's is the first roaster I have encountered so far to offer coffee from India. Of course, specialty coffee is no stranger to the country. In the past view decades, India has become an increasingly more dominant region in the world of coffee. The phenomenon of monsoons in India gives India an edge that no other growing region in the world can duplicate. Long ago, when coffee was exported from India via sailboats, the humidity of the monsoon season would cause the beans to turn from their natural green to a strange shade of yellow. Customers got used to this and now, even today when quick delivery of beans does not allow the humidity to take effect, beans from India are expected to be yellow. Now, beans harvested during the monsoon season of May and June are intentionally "monsooned." They are lain, for periods of 5 days, in buildings specially designed to allow for the humidity to naturally work into the beans. This process allows the traditional color and flavor of Indian coffee to be preserved. Most of the high-quality coffee from in India is grown in the southern peninsula, particularly in Kerala state (Malabar) and in Tamil Nadu state.

Tasting: Aroma***; heavy earthy scent peppered with sharp spices. Acidity*; very little. Smooth and well-rounded. Body*****; heavy layers cake on the tongue and leave an enduring aftertaste. Flavor***; dull mint, buttery cream, slightly sweet, and heavily spiced.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good Asian coffee. It has all of the characteristics with perhaps not as much of the harsh earthy undercurrents of a Sumatra. Great dinner coffee. Good for fall and spring seasons.

Stauf's Coffee Roasters in Columbus, Ohio

Stauf's Coffee Roasters in is a micro-roaster headquartered in Columbus, OH. It has been around since 1988 and services wholesale, retail, and mail-order customers country-wide. Stauf's uses Arabica beans from over 20 different countries and roasts its coffee to order on gas-fired roasters. Its main retail outlet is located in the Grandview Heights district near Ohio State University, but it also services Cup O'Joe and MoJoe stores throughout Columbus, along with many other coffee houses throughout the country.

Stauf's has probably the greatest amount of floor space that I've seen in a coffee shop. Upon entering the doors, I was immediately impressed with the atmosphere. The shop was divided into two sides: a retail area and a dining area. I entered into the retail side and was impressed by the array of merchandise. There was so much brewing equipment along the wall to my right (coffee makers, french presses, grinders, accessories, etc.), that it made Bed, Bath, and Beyond look like a dollar store. There was a large table in the middle with Stauf's branded merchandise including hats, shirts, mugs, and tumblers.

Immediately ahead was an enormous display of too many bins of coffee to count, behind which was an area for baristas to measure and grind the beans. Some of the coffees included Tanzaia, Zimbabwe, Kona, Yemen mocha, India monsooned malabar, Kenya AA, Nicaragua SHG,Guatemala SHB, Costa Rica Terrazzu SHB, Java Estate, Brazil Santos, Papua New Guinea, and Stauf's famed proprietary Baba Budan Blend.

As I entered the dining area to my left, I noticed about 20-25 tables, at which a diverse range of clientele were eating lunch and talking vibrantly. There was some nice coffee house music playing overhead, nice vintage decor, and beautiful hardwood floors. It seemed like a great place to hang out and socialize for anyone from a 15 year old teenage hipster to a middle-aged corporate professional. Fairly crowded and a very conversational vibe.

The menu was pretty full for a coffee house. I was a little late to see the breakfast offerings but the kitchen did serve breakfast. For lunch, it offered: house, caesar, and spinach salads, black bean, turkey bacon, and italian sandwiches, as well as wraps, croissants, paninis, and grilled cheese. Also, there were of course the coffee house classic pastries: bagels, muffins, scones, cheese cakes, coffee cakes, cookies, biscottis, and several vegan offerings. The coffee menu included classics like espresso, americano, cappuccino, french press, and machiatto, in addition to specialty drinks such as Milky Way, Almond Joy, Buckeye, White Chocolate Latte, and Oregon Chai, and cold drinks such as iced lattes and Chillers (blended beverages) including mocha, caramel mocha, peanut butter mocha, vanilla, caramel, and chai flavors.

What I had: I had to try it. I got a french press of the Baba Budan Blend. It was magical--one of the top blends I've ever tried. It was a full-bodied dark roast blend with heavy notes of cocoa and honey, subtly spiced and earthy, smooth, creamy, and balanced. I also had a House salad containing mozzarella cheese, Roma tomatoes, and Portabella mushrooms topped with citrus vinaigrette. For the road, I grabbed a Flex-Fit (greatest hats ever) Stauf's branded cap and a half pound of whole bean India Monsooned Malabar coffee for a future tasting.

I cannot recommend Stauf's highly enough. If you live in central Ohio and do not visit regularly, shame on you! If you're going to be in the area, please stop by! It was an amazing experience.