Hawaii Kona

First thing this morning, I opened up this nice pack of Mykona coffee labelled Hawaii Kona, the farm where the beans were grown is called "Tokie Farm". I loved how the trace information was actually mentioned on the outside, showing the info means it is usually grown by respected farms or owners.

Some random information on this coffee, there is a story to this coffee, I will not bother you with the details on how it is grown, but we will be starting off by stating a fact. Kona is a protected name, to be used solely on hawaii. They have sued farmers in the past for abusing the name/brand.
It is also the only coffee grown on American soil (USA soil, not the continents).
From what I read, Nasa lets its' astronauts drink Kona on flights in outer space, it would also appear this is the coffee they drink in the White house. President Barack Obama is supposedly a lover of Hawaii Kona.

A few years ago, they found dangerous beetles on the island of Hawaii, beetles that could potentially destroy up to 90 percent of crops, I am not up2date on the current status, but at the time of this news breaking, it was expected that this coffee would become even more expensive.
Right now, it is rated at 80 euros per kilo, which is not cheap at all. Alongside some other Grand-cru coffees, this is considered to be one of the best coffees in the world, I am looking forward to trying the Guadeloupe Bonefieur coffee, which is apparently a very similar coffee bean, but grown in Guadeloupe of course (the name probably gave that away, didnt it)

On to the good stuff, smelling and tasting this very expensive luxury coffee, will it live up to its fame?

First impression, smelling the beans.
Right after opening the package, my nostrils went into overdrive... I almost mistook the beans for chocolate, the smell is that intense, I would say this is the most peculiar coffee I smelled so far.
Mind you, this is not a bad thing, it is a really good thing even, I tend to be a fan of the special tastes/aromas and this one fit the bill completely!

Second impression, smelling the freshly made espresso.
a little less intense than the beans, the odor of a fresh cup of coffee became more clear, I was ready to take a first nip :) This is the Extra Fancy Kona and I had a hunch that "top grade" wasn't just a marketing slogan.

Third impression and usually my favourite, the tasting!
I got a little skeptical, because of the clear chocolate smell i had as first impression, expecting it to be really present in the taste as well, but I was lucky! A mere touch of the chocolate smell, a lot more nut on top of a very clean coffee. It is very peculiar in taste yet flavorful, this was a surprise. But the real surprise was yet to come!
At one point, I was called out, having to leave a brand new cup on my desk. Upon returning, it had turned cold already, now I usually hate cold coffee, it is a drink meant to be anything but cold. Despite that, i tried my luck, took a nip and smiled! It was even better cold...
I had another cold one, just to make sure.
In the end, I have to admit, be it reluctantly, that I prefer this coffee when it is cold.
Don't get me wrong, it is great coffee, but I just love it that little bit more when cold.

I am still surprised :p

Those manufacturers selling canned coffee should be selling this one, it would be a great product for sure! For the record, I also drink canned coffee, yet not so often, I mostly drink that when I am on holiday in China, I love the "Mr. Brown" brand, their "Blue Mountain" is awesome, though i think they offer the Kenyan BM, not the Jamaican.
I will write a review on them in november, when I am going to China, it is actually my marriage that time too, I am already counting the days! I love my girlfriend very much! She makes me more happy than a good coffee in the morning :)


Rating: 8/10 for the hot coffee, I am rating it 9,4/10 when cold
Purchased online from koffiecentrale

Ecuador Galapagos Malabar Organic

Wow, so just 1 day after ordering from koffiecentrale.nl, we got the TNT delivery guy at work, surprised it didnt even take 24 hours to arrive.
Once again, WOW, delivery in under 24 hours is impressive to say the least.
Unpacking was fun, we got a handful of free goodies like sugarpacks and some awesome tasting Amaretti biscuits, almond flavoured. Non alcoholic biscuits too, really yummy, I may buy a box of these next time, 2 thumbs up for KC for their service, they deserve it.

Now on to the most dificult thing I had to do all day... lol... sounded so serious, but it was really only just picking which coffee to drink first.
We ended up trying the Galapagos one from Mykona.

A little information about the name of this coffee and why it is officially labelled as Ecuador Galapagos, thanks to wikipedia, I found out that the Galapagos islands are actually officially part of Ecuador, despite being a group of islands a little over 1000 km from the shore of Ecuador. The islands have a hot and dry climate, this is mostly due to the Humboldtstream from Antarctica.
This coffee specifically is grown on the "Oro Virgin" farm, the entire plantation is irrigated thanks to water coming from the El Junco crater. All this magic happens on the island of San Cristobal, fifth largest of the Galapagos.
Everyone knows these islands from the famous turtles, protected by law. Because of the overprotection of the turtle and the accompanying ecosystem, the island has a ban on Chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides. This ban was put into effect to help preserve the ecosystem, but obviously also has positive effects on the coffee, as it is grown the most natural way possible.
I have low hopes for this coffee to be honest, simply because of this reason.
Everything we eat or drink, in one way or the other, is processed. I doubt I have ever had a cup of natural coffee and I already confirmed in the past that I am not a big fan of fairtrade products, the ones with a relative possibility of being clean too.
It is also quite exclusive, very limited quantities apply, yet it is not in the price range of the Blue Mountains or the Kopi Luwaks.

So let us get to the actual testing, we opened up the bag, time to smell

First impression, smelling the beans.
Surprisingly strong and surprisingly chocolatey in aroma. You can actually smell the chocolate in it, both my colleagues agreed, the smell was very good! I took another sniff, my hopes went up for the actual tasting, haha!

Second impression, smelling the cup of freshly made espresso.
This was according to expectations, not the best i had smelled, but far from being the worst. What I really noticed... the pure smell of coffee, less of the chocolate. Expectations were still medium, better than the original low ones, I guess! Not so much crema.

Third impression, the tasting.
First thing my colleagues said when they tried it, was that it was a completely different flavour. I heard them give it a nine out of ten points, but I do not follow, I rate it a little lower, around 8,5.
The coffee is very creamy, little bitterness and acidity, a strange sweetness was present. I would be tempted to call it uniquely flavoured, like a mix of mild coffee, fruits and chocolates.
The reason why I am giving lower points than my colleagues is simple, I didnt fully enjoy the aftertaste of my first 2 cups. The first cup left me disappointed when it comes to aftertaste, the coffee itself was good, like a 8 out of 10 good.
But yet, I am rating it at 8,5, right?
This is the first coffee that immediately grew on me, as with each cup I had, it became better.
I rarely get this sensation from coffee, most actually tend to go the other way, making me happy that I finish the pack and can move on. Often I am not enjoying the last few cups, but this one grew on me.

Overall, a very clear tasting coffee with a surprising pallet of flavours, creamy and lovely too!


Rating: 8,5/10
Origin: Ecuador / Galapagos
Ordered online koffiecentrale.nl
Price: 9,90€ for 250 grams

Columbia Micro Lot Project

Ten PM, the last of the illy coffee. Time for a new one, the choice was easy, I only had 1 set of beans left from the Blanche Dael roasters, so I wanted to make sure to drink this one before it loses its spunk!

This coffee is grown in Columbia, it's a micro lot project, this means it is a small portion of land, bought specifically for growing this coffee. I don't know if Blanche Dael actually owns this land or that they get the coffee specifically from the real owner, not really important, because it is about the coffee, not who owns the land.

First impression, the beans.
So I opened the package, once again, Blanche Dael are great roasters, this is evenly roasted and I would estimate a level 3 roasting, which is slowly becoming my favourite. The smell of this bean is quite powerfull, a very strong odor comes out, I am expecting a strong coffee now!

Second impression, the smell of fresh coffee
Like always, I let 2 coffees pass the grinder before actually tasting, this is done to prevent flavour mixing from the Illy and this one. The smell pretty much confirmed my first impression, this appeared to be very strong flavoured coffee. For a medium roasted coffee bean, I am smelling some powerfull aromas, the crema is awesome, taking out my spoon, the crema is very gentle on the spoon, like sugar syrup falling down, the impressions are great so far

Third impression and the surprise!
This is very mild coffee... I am surprised big time, a very strong odor, all the signs so far pointed towards a strong espresso, but I was wrong. It tastes a little earthy, some chocolate in there, but mostly very mild and soft coffee.
I would not completely call it full bodied, it is more a creamy kind of coffee, I love it.
Very little acidity and bitterness in this coffee too, also in the aftertaste. The aftertaste is not clean, I do have a little bitterness in their, but not disturbing, not even the long aftertaste I am getting. A little earthy feel in the aftertaste too, again not disturbing. it is like the aftertaste is divided equally between the 3, being the coffee, the bitterness and the earthiness. A great coffee indeed.

Can I say anything bad about this coffee? Maybe that I only got 250grams :)
Great coffee for those loving milder versions of our devils' drink, I do guess the ristretto drinkers would not approve, it is not strong at all.

Rating: 8,9/10
Purchased: Blanche Dael, Maastricht, Netherlands
Origin: Columbia

what the future brings!

or what I like to call, what I just bought/ordered.

In this case, I used a new supplier called koffiecentrale.be, a belgian-dutch website, with a very decent supply of beans, including high quality beans and single origins.

What I liked about them, obviously, is the big amount of products! Many brands are represented, Illy, Mrs. Rose, Tre Forze, Mykona, La Semeuse, Lavazza, Kimbo, Mauro, ... I love it.
I got 8 different beans. Not kidding, 8 kinds...

From the swiss roasters Blaser, I am getting the following

• "Lila e rose"
• Jamaican Blue Mountain Wallenford
• Galapagos San Cristobal
• Java Katakan, the 100% pure Robusta, REALLY looking forward to this one!

From Mykona, roasters based in Berlin, Germany, I am only getting 2 beans

• Galapagos Malabar Organic
  
• Hawaii Kona, extra Fancy, Tokie Farm

Then 2 more, the Mrs.Rose and the Tre Forze beans.
Expect reviews as soon as I open them! I will be reviewing this Jamaican Blue Mountain again, as it is the Wallenford one, among BM beans, you have 3 quality ratings, this is the highest one guaranteed.
It will give me an excellent occasion to compare it to the one tasted in Belgium and the one in China.
Also wanting to try the Galapagos beans very badly, the Galapagos islands have a strict "no fertilizers, no pesticides" policy because of the turtles, so I heard they have the most natural flavour of all coffee beans, I hope this is not just some "commercial" trick to make u buy them at higher prices :)

In 1 order, I am getting the Hawaiian Kona, the Jamaican Blue Mountain, the 100% robusta called Java Katakan... The only problem I have now, which one do I try first?

Loving my life, Loving my coffee!

Why I don't like Senseo

First of all, let me say this, I started enjoying coffee the first time thanks to senseo, but as i grew more fond of the caffeine, I gradually became less fond of senseo.
Many years ago, my mom had her own cafe, the only coffee she served though, were filters. I occasionally tried them when my dad drank one, but i wasnt a big fan, it had a kind of run-down taste, empty bodied.
Suffice to say, i never got into it.

Then Senseo came onto the scene, my dad had tried it at the supermarket and decided he was getting a machine, so we eventually bought the basic blue model. I think they had 3 flavours initially, Mild, strong and decaffeine, we mostly got strong, because it was the one dad preferred ^^
Eventually, they got to having other flavours, like the one with vanilla, the Kenya, the Brazil, ...
Occasionaly I would drink a few cups, but not many, never was a real fan of their taste.

Then I ended up getting a free try of Nespresso in a local electronics store, I had the Volluto, which was much better. This sparked my interest for coffee...
Back home, I decided to give the senseo another try, no way they won't have such good flavours, was what i thought. So I gave it another try.
I did enjoy the vanilla one, there was one more, can't really remember the name.

I just ended up throwing away a lot of pads, buying a nespresso instead.
The Nespresso eventually got sold so I could buy my Saeco, but it did serve me well for many cups.

Now, why I dont like senseo, is mostly the taste. I know, I know, you can't argue about taste. But allow me to try.
Senseo tastes a little weird compared to real espresso or french press-made coffee. Even in bars, where they serve the real deal, it will always come off better tasting, both in-mouth and aftertaste-wise.
First, the in-mouth experience, Senseo does not really give a real body or that is my impression.
I can't really describe it, but senseo feels like it is an artificially made coffee.
One of the last senseo tasted was "Perla Cinnamon", the coffee itself had a chemical feel to it, in my mouth. The favour was exactly what they said it would be, but I am a big fan of cinnamon, real cinnamon bark tastes completely different. Also had cinnamon infused sugar before, even this felt more natural in my mouth.
Second, the shallow aftertaste it leaves me. It tastes about right for 10 seconds, after that, this chemical flavour pops up in my mouth, unless I oversugar it...

Another small concern i have, is a technical one, how does a small machine like this create such smooth crema? That is easy to explain, it is not cream but artificial foam.
The average Senseo machine has around 1,5 bars of pressure, while you need approximately 8 to 9 to start creating proper crema. Senseo uses the small hole in the pad holder to help create the foam that appears. A little cheating :)

But let us give credit where credit is due, Senseo does the trick for thousands of casual coffee drinkers, they deserve the kudos they get, much like Nespresso, Dolce Gusto, Lavazza, .... They provide a easy way to make a cup, one cup at a time, with no real effort.

Senseo, one of the good choices for the occasional cup.
Get a better one if your standards are higher or you want a better cup of coffee.

Frankly speaking, my caffeine addiction began with senseo, but I moved on to better, I am stil grateful that my dad ever got a senseo machine, thanks dad!