Antigua

Antigua, my nemesis.
Antigua, the coffee I love to hate.
Antigua, the one that I really couldnt like.

I am being a little poetical, but this is how I really feel about this strange coffee. It was a cold winter day, 2 years ago now, my fiancee was visiting me for christmas and we went to the Christmas market in Brussels. My fiancee is from Hong Kong and she actually does not like coffee, we are a perfect couple haha.
When strolling through Brussels, we came by a coffee shop called "Corica", which became one of my favourite sources to buy freshly roasted beans. This is a really nice place, very friendly too. One of their best assets is that you can actually taste the coffees before taking home a kilo of something you might dislike. They are not expensive either, I drank my first Kopi Luwak in their shop, cost me a mere 7€.
I had never set foot in their shop before, as I mostly used my Nespresso at the time, I did have a French press, but still used the Nespresso the most.
I didnt want to inconvenience my fiancee too much, so I only drank one cup, bought 2 kinds of beans and we continued our shopping spree. We had some great pancakes later that day too :)

About two days later, I finally got around to trying the Antigua. Put the beans in the grinder, started the water kettle and took out the french press.
Everything ready and it was time to taste.

I was told this Guatemalan coffee was supposed to be full-bodied and a little spicy with traces of cocoa.
A coffee made to drink and enjoy.

First off, I loved how this smelled. It smelled great, like pure coffee should. Then I took a nip and my face changed, even my fiancee noticed that I obviously didnt like this one.
I am at a loss for words here, I describe the flavour as "too much of a wood flavour".
The flavour really disturbed me, so I asked my fiancee to try it too. I have to admit it was a relief that she agreed with me, this was bad coffee.
I thought I maybe did something wrong, so I restarted my process of making coffee with the french press. Everything cleaned, water heated, beans and everything ready.

Back to the smell test... Again this really great sensation in my nose. This coffee has a excellent smell.
Then I picked up the cup, took it to my lips and took my first sip from this new batch.
Disappointment struck, I had done nothing wrong in brewing the first cup, again this same nasty sensation came to my taste buds. This was NOT good.

Cinnamon syrup to the rescue! Or so I thought... It couldnt cover up the wooden bark-like flavour this coffee had. This was the first coffee I actually disliked!

When I originally rated this coffee, I gave it a 3 out of 10 points, mostly due to the great smell. I am now however dropping its score down to a 2. Sorry to any Antigua lovers, I do not share your love for this coffee.


Rating: 2/10
Sold By: Corica, Brussels
Website: www.corica.be