As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve taken a break from reviewing. It involves a long business trip and catching a bug. While I’m home now, I’m still not well, and my sense of taste is thoroughly misaligned.
So instead I’m going to make some lists. I mean, why not? Lists are fun … and they might even be useful.
Going back over the last 9 months of reviews, these were my favorite coffees:
- SpecialtyJava.com “New York New York”
- CoffeeBeanDirect.com Dark Costa Rican
- Inland Empire Coffee’s Guatemala Huehuetanango
- Jalima H&A Coffee
- Coffeemaria’s Java Pancour
- Coastal Bean’s Jamaican Blue Mountain
- Stone Creek Cream City Blend
- California Coffee Roasters Costa Rican Tres Rios
- Country Morning Coffee: Columbia
I heartily recommend every one of them. These are the crème de la crème, the coffees that have spoiled me rotten for most of this year.
Now that we’ve covered the best, let’s take a look at the worst…
- Hello Boss Iced Coffee – Literally so bad I had to force myself from blowing chunks.
- Great Value 100% Arabica – Tasted like soap.
- Hillside Coffee and their Hot Cans of Doom – Sprayed me with burning chemicals.
- World Market Chocolate Turtle – Tasted like it included actual turtle shell.
- Casa Coffee Blue Mountain – Reminded me of bug poison.
Some of my readers may remember I had challenged a dozen leading coffee maker manufacturers to prove to me their machines could make a better cup of coffee than my little 49¢ cup top filter. These companies were:
- Black & Decker
- Braun
- Bunn
- Cuisinart
- DeLonghi
- Farberware
- Hamilton Beach
- KitchenAid
- Krups
- Mr. Coffee
- Sunbeam
- West Bend
Not a single one of them wanted to answer the challenge. None. Why? Because none wanted their machines to be showed up by a dime store piece of plastic. None of them wanted to admit it’s the coffee, not the coffee maker, that makes good coffee.
That being said, there is one amazing little device I did discover this year: The Java Wand. If there is one coffee maker that could make a better tasting cup of coffee that my little 49¢ wonder, it would be a coffee press. The Java Wand is a coffee press at the end of a straw. And, no, it does not burn your lips off. Check it out.
So my coffee loving friends, that’s my recap. After I get to feeling better, and can taste properly again, I’ve got several yummy looking coffees all lined up and ready to be reviewed.
Thanks for reading! And thanks for coming back!