Saturday Morning Cup: Lively Columbian

Saturday Morning Cup is a weekly feature where I share my experienced opinions on coffee :)

Lively Colombian K-Cups
Folgers Gormet Selections
Medium Blend
100% Arabica Beans
Purchased at Bi-Lo

From Folgers.com:


The distinctively rich and full-bodied taste of 100% Colombian beans will help you come to life in the morning. Wake up with the Mountain Grown^®aromas and fresh Folgers^® taste of Lively Colombian coffee. Or let this medium roast revive you after a well-deserved night's sleep. Look for Folgers Gourmet Selections^® K-Cup^® Packs, available where you buy groceries. 

My Thoughts:

This is one of my favorite K-cups. It's the perfect cup of coffee in the morning. It's not acidic, or bitter, but it is full of flavor! Lively is a good description of the body this coffee has. It's not heavy or overbearing, it's perfect. I really love it, and I highly recommend it!

Saturday Morning Cup: Keurig Special Edition Brewer

Saturday Morning Cup is a (somewhat) weekly feature where I share my experienced opinions on coffee!

I got a Keurig for Christmas! So instead of coffee I'm going to share my thoughts on my new toy :)

Image from keurig.com

Keurig B60 Special Edition Brewer

Received as a Christmas Gift
All thoughts are my own, no compensation for post

From keurig.com:

Blending luxury with convenience, this single cup home brewing system offers upscale style and convenient features. Includes a bonus 12 count K-Cup® variety box.

My Thoughts:

I absolutely LOVE this machine. I really enjoy different kinds of coffee so at any given point there are more than half a dozen open bags of coffee in my freezer. With the Keurig I don't have to worry about the freshness of my coffee! the individual cups are perfect. The machine is so fast that I can make a cup as I'm running out the door and it's so easy to use! Granted, I had been using my mom's for a while so I already knew how it works, but it is so easy!

This machine has an LCD display that shows the time and the brewing status. There are three cup sizes to choose from, 6oz, 8oz, and 10oz.

The 10oz wasn't quite enough to fill my 16oz travel mug and I like to make my drinks last. A friend has one and says that she uses her K-cups twice because she doesn't mind the 2nd cup being a little weaker. I didn't love that idea, but in the mornings I will run one K-cup through the 8oz brewing twice and it fills my mug without sacrificing on the taste! I love it.

I recommend it completely. If you're shopping for one you can find great deals at wholesale retailers. This model sells for $149.95 on the company's website. My mom found it at Sam's Club for $119.00 and it was a bonus pack that came with 36 K-cups, a My K-Cup (so I can still buy ground coffee), and a water filter. It was a great deal!

Saturday Morning Cup: San Francisco Blend

Saturday Morning Cup is a weekly feature where I share my experienced opinions on coffee :)

I have been slack on letting you all know what I've been drinking lately! Sorry so busy :)

For those of you who haven't tried or maybe even heard of New England Coffee brand coffee I'm going to give you a little background. My mom loves New England Coffee. She keeps so much of it in her house, but it's all either decaf or flavored. As I've mentioned before I'm not a huge fan of flavored coffee in general and this brand is no different, and of course I don't completely understand decaf coffee (oxymoron?) Anyway, I didn't even realize for a while that New England Coffee had regular blends available. I never saw them in the store, only the flavors my mom buys and the decaf versions. So a few weeks ago the brand was on special and I actually found two different blend that weren't flavored and weren't decaf. WIN! So I chose the San Francisco Blend. It boasted of being a slightly darker blend and I was looking for that.

San Francisco Blend
New England Coffee
Medium Dark Roast
100% Arabica Beans

Description:

Rich, aromatic French roast with the distinct flavors of medium roasted coffees from the East Indies and Central America.


My Thoughts:


I really enjoyed this blend. It was bold without being acidic. It had a very full flavor too and I quickly went through the entire bag. My co-workers seemed to enjoy it as well. I only brewed a single cup to try a stronger brew, but it was so bold that was a little much for me. Even then though it wasn't acidic so for someone who enjoys really really strong coffee this would be a blend that would still be smooth and easy to drink. Obviously as with most darker roasts you can easily get away with using a smaller amount of coffee grounds and still get a great flavor.

I would definitely recommend this blend to someone who enjoys a bold flavor and distinct personality in their coffee.

Saturday Morning Cup: Kahlua Original Blend

Saturday Morning Cup is a weekly feature where I share my experienced opinions on coffee :)

While I was visiting my parents a few weeks ago I got to test their new Keurig. They had K-cups of the Kahlua coffee and I loved it so much I bought my own bag and tried it out at home. I'm not usually all about flavored coffee, sometimes the flavor is too much or takes away from the coffee itself. I really liked the Kahlua though. The flavor is very smooth, much more subtle than some of the more "in your face" flavors I've had in the past.

"Kahlua Coffee Liquer combines the delicious notes of rum, vanilla and caramel wrapped in roasted coffee flavor from handpicked Arabica beans."

This coffee blend is 100% Arabica beans and is imported, roasted and packed by the White Coffee Corporation in Long Island City, NY.

I am always impressed when I brew coffee to be a little weak and the flavor is full bodied enough to carry it. That was definitely the case here. When it was blended "just right" ((1/3cup ground coffee for full pot) it was amazing. I could drink it all day long. I really do love this coffee. The aroma is so wonderful! While it is brewing it fills the whole apartment with the scent and I really love that.

I will say that when I used too much ground coffee it got a little bitter. Not too acidic, but it really took away from enjoying the coffee.

I was a big fan of this blend. I will continue to have it on a regular basis.

Saturday Morning Cup: Fresh Market Blend (Medium Roast)

Saturday Morning Cup is a weekly feature where I share my experienced opinions on coffee :)

This week I tried out a blend of coffee from The Fresh Market's Daily Brewings line. I bought "The Fresh Market Blend" in a medium roast. It is described to be "smooth, bright and aromatic with a unique rich flavor". This blend is made from 100% Arabica beans and is distributed from The Fresh Market in Greensboro, NC.

For the environmentally conscious you will be glad to know that this blend was roasted in a LEED Silver Certified Facility!

So I was a big fan of this coffee! I'd bought it a while back on a whim because I kept picking up things from my friend's husband who works for The Fresh Market. I was feeling bad that I'd been there three times in a short period and hadn't bought anything. Since you can never have too much coffee I decided to pick some up.

This blend has a really great flavor. As promised, I brewed it at three different strengths. When I brewed the "weak" pot it actually wasn't too bad. It still tasted like coffee and definitely had a good flavor. The "as recommended" pot was incredibly strong, but it wasn't bitter. Generally speaking, what I consider to be "too-strong" coffee has the same effect as straight alcohol. It makes me purse my lips and make a face because it almost burns going down. I know that "burns" isn't the right word, but it's more than just a 'bite'. Anyway, this blend didn't have that effect at all. Even though it was stronger than I prefer you could still taste the flavor of the blend and I was able to actually drink it as opposed begrudgingly sipping as I would the aforementioned "too strong" varieties.

When it was "just right" though? I loved it. This blend was very smooth, just as it claimed to be. There was a rich quality to the flavor but it wasn't heavy. It was perfect not only for my morning cup, but also in the afternoon with a sweet treat. I actually heated a cup one evening before bed and it was still full of flavor and not at all bitter. (Yes, I will re-heat a cup of coffee as opposed to making a new pot the same day. I'm frugal like that.)

It was a great blend. I will definitely be turning to this brand on a regular basis and will likely try out more of their lines.

Saturday Morning Cup

I have always been an avid coffee drinker. I love a wide variety of coffee and there is nothing more relaxing than sitting down with a good book and a hot cup of coffee on a Saturday Morning... or a Sunday Afternoon.... or Monday Evening. 

Anyway, you get the idea. So in an effort to tie the coffee in with this blog I am going to start a feature called "Saturday Morning Cup". Because all of my friends and family know that I love coffee I am constantly given new kinds of coffee to try out and evaluate. Each Saturday I will share a new blend with you and give you my opinion. I'm not a connoisseur or any kind of official expert, but I do love coffee. I worked as a Barista in college and I'm no stranger to the many different roasts, countries of origin, or extracts used to flavor the dark nectar of the gods.

Today, instead of evaluating my first coffee blend, I'm just going to talk about my coffee preferences, and how  I usually brew my coffee. All of us coffee drinkers know that can make a difference. As a rule, I use 1/3 cup or 3/8 cup of ground coffee to brew a full pot. I drink my coffee black, without any cream or sugar, and this is the strength that I prefer my coffee. If a coffee has a good flavor I can drink it a little weaker, and because my father and grandfather were auto-body workers, you can imagine the fiercely strong (and sometimes stale) coffee that I stomached when visiting with them at work.

When evaluating a specific coffee I will brew it my way once, the way that the bag suggests once, and a good bit less strong once. That way I can give a well rounded opinion about the flavor and strength of the coffee.

I drink all types of roasts, but my personal preference is a good medium roast. Most of the coffee that I own falls into this category, but I have some light and dark roasts as well that I will try to touch on.

As far as acidity, I prefer a smoother coffee without too much of a bite. A well known coffee establishment (Starts with a "star" and ends with a "bucks") serves very strong, very acidic black coffee. I tend to only get mochas there because the coffee is just too bitter for me to really enjoy it. So if you love their coffee, just know that we have different tastes.

Of course some people have major preferences on where their beans are grown. I'm not really a bean snob. I prefer Arabica blends and Colombian coffee but it's always fun to see what my friends bring me back from their travels to different places.

So, for purposes of evaluation in this feature I plan to cover the following:

Flavor
Roast
Acidity
Bean Origin

Is there anything else you like to know about your coffee? I plan to post my first feature next Saturday and I'd love your input! Have I left anything important out?