To everything, turn, turn, there is a season.
There are times for caffeine, and there are times when you don’t want it in your system. Just like there are times to be awake, and times when you really need to sleep.
Decaffeinated coffee holds an important place in society.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell by the taste that a coffee is decaffeinated. Sometimes it isn’t so hard.
Apologies to Café Britt, but this blend is easy to distinguish. Probably due to the fact that I’ve had some excellent decaf and was spoiled by it, it’s hard for others to impress me.
But you know, this makes me think it’s time for me to have a reality check. When some undoubtedly high quality coffees begin to fail on my palate, I need to adjust my scale.
Sometime within the next month I’m going to switch to regular pre-ground canned coffee and drink it for a week or so. Because when you compare this coffee to Folgers or maybe even some generic decaf, it will probably shine like highly polished silver.
But sadly, no, as much as I’ve enjoyed Café Britt‘s other coffees, this one did not make me dance and sing.

I’m too busy smacking my lips in pleasure to type.
I could sum up this coffee just by typing yum-yum-yummy-yum but I don’t think I’d get away with it.
This is one of those very rare coffees where its taste gets better and better as you drink it. My first sip was not that impressive. I was struck with its medium citric tones and some meandering coco notes, but after walking from the kitchen and back over to the laptop, and sitting here tasting and contemplating, the flavor began to truly blossom into something spectacular.
I’m glad no one can actually hear me as I drink this coffee. I’m being very vocal about the flavor. Lots of MMMM and such. A listener might compare my noises to one of those orgasmic shampoo commercials.
The body is somewhat heavy and the taste lingers, retro-actively sweet and spiced with a definite cinnamon flavor. Between my yummy lip-smacking noises I’m trying to figure out how to pronounce Huehuetanango. There’s little doubt I’m getting it wrong. It’s the name of a highland area in Guatemala, filled with isolated microclimates that give the coffees from the area distinctive flavors.
Inland Empire roasts their coffees in small batches and sends them out immediately, getting them to you practically still warm from the roaster. To get it any fresher, you’d have to be standing right next to them as they make it. Something which, actually, I’d love to do.
Here’s a big thanks out to them for sending me this Groovy Brew. It is, without a doubt, one of the most yum-yum-yummiest I’ve ever had. Someday I hope to learn to pronounce it correctly.
Make sure to check out Inland Empire’s website and especially their radio show.

I review both types here. Freshly roasted beans that I grind right before brewing, and coffee that is ground before packaging. The two are really like apples and oranges, so I have decided for the sake of the reviews, I will not compare one to the other directly.
Reason being, freshly roasted and ground coffee is a completely different experience than the alternative. It would be unfair to compare it against packaged ground coffee. Pre-ground coffee cannot compete.
There are some who just don’t want to grind their own coffee. I can respect that. It’s personal choice. I not so long ago was one of those coffee drinkers, mainly because of convenience. I also used to use a standard coffee machine, etc.
So when someone sends me pre-ground coffee I review it in that spirit, for those who enjoy gourmet coffee but don’t enjoy grinding … and so I put it on an entirely different scale.
But, my coffee loving friends, one of these days you’re going to be spoiled by something amazingly fresh and flavorful, and you’ll find it hard to go back.

I was prepared not to like this coffee. That made me sad, too, because just by thumbing through Stone Creek‘s catalog I fell in love with the company. Seriously, it looks like one of the coolest places to work — everyone there seems to be part of a big friendly family.

The problem I anticipated is one of the ingredients in this blend is clove. Readers of the other side of GroovyBrew.com will know I don’t believe clove has any business being in beer. Now here it is in coffee.

The other ingredients are cracked Cassia cinnamon, dark roast coffee, and sugar. I have no problem with those ingredients — they sound yummy. But clove?

So I brewed some up and tasted it cautiously. Several sips into it I didn’t know what to think. On one hand I loved it — it’s exotic to say the least. It almost tastes like a chai tea concoction. But then the clove aftertaste kicked in, and that’s something I just don’t like.

With the first cup done, I was still sad, because all in all I didn’t care for it. Then I realized something … I bet it would taste incredible as a cappuccino! So I loaded up my espresso maker and gave it a try.

My friends — oh my friends! I was right! This Natural Spiced blend makes the most incredible, most exotic cappuccino I have ever had. The toasty sweet cinnamon, the frothy milk, the delicious hard-edged undercurrent of coffee, it all came together. Either the clove blended in well or was masked, though I think it was the former. It worked.

Boy did it. I had to have another. And then another.

Man am I wired right now!

For those of you who like the taste of clove, then this makes a wonderfully exotic cup of coffee. For those of you like myself who don’t care for the clove, it makes an awesome cappuccino. Either way this is a unique coffee I recommend you try, especially if you’re looking for something earthy and different.

I love chocolate. I love beer. And I love coffee.
Well guess what.
I may have found the only thing I have to drink from now on. We have all three ingredients in one bottle. It was a foregone conclusion I would think it’s wonderful.
You can smell the chocolate and the coffee the moment you pop the top. You can taste them, too, mixed with the rich malts and bubbling hops. The coffee edge is even more pronounced than the chocolate. In fact, the coffee taste blends in and piggybacks so closely with the beer malts that my tongue is thoroughly confused.
Am I drinking coffee with a bit of beer in it? Or am I drinking beer with a bit of coffee in it?
It can’t tell one way or the other.
On the finish, the coffee and the hops battle each other for the control of the bitterness. It’s interesting, kind of like watching a back alley fight.
There are some requirements for liking this beer. You have to enjoy a dark, strong ale. And you have to enjoy drinking coffee black with no sugar. I’m not sure if that’s a problem for some people or not, but I can tell you one thing, as good as this stuff is I’m not going to put cream and sugar in it.
The folks at Rogue really are rogues. So far I’ve liked everything of theirs I’ve tried. And I’m serious, I want to move to Oregon. Perhaps when my love and I make it there, we’ll start up a combination brewery, coffee roasting, and chocolate company?
I can dream, right? Anyway…
This stuff is good. It doesn’t quite make the Holy Grail scale, but I wouldn’t have a problem drinking it every day. The coolest thing about Rogue’s Mocha Porter is that I can actually cross post it on both sides of GroovyBrew.com.

I saved this coffee for Sunday morning, knowing it would be a treat.
My kids are gone to California to be with their mother for a few months. I have the place to myself. It’s just me and Huni Bunny, my older daughter’s rabbit (which I got stuck with).
It’s quiet. Peaceful. Relaxed. The only sound I hear is the whir of the ceiling fan… oh, and also the distant hum of the air conditioner. And someone’s car. And a helicopter passing overhead.
I’ve been looking forward to brewing this coffee since I received it.
I made a 16 oz. mug, as usual, using my little cup-top drip maker. The coffee smells sharp, fruity.
I take that first sip… It’s different. Tangy. Fruity. I’m told to expect blueberry-like notes, but I’m not getting that. I’m getting a hint of dates, maybe, just a ghost of it. The coffee flavor itself is kind of inside-out, light on what is usually heavy, heavy on what is usually light. There’s a soft acidity that gives it a pleasant bite. The aftertaste definitely weighs in on the chocolate side.
It’s very smooth. This is a coffee to sip and savor. You definitely want to pay attention to it.
Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and the only place where you’ll find coffee trees growing naturally in the wild. This coffee is processed the old, traditional way … the way it’s been done for millennia. The fruit is allowed to dry on the bean. So, if you think about it, this is what coffee is originally supposed to taste like. This is the original coffee taste.
And this taste is the reason people fell in love with coffee all those years ago.
Inland Empire roasts this coffee (actually, all their coffees) in small batches and sends them out immediately. They do this to make sure you get it as fresh as possible. With coffee, the fresher it is, the better. They built their business on this and they do a fantastic job of it.
My hats off to them. Thank you guys for this coffee. It is most definitely a Groovy Brew.
Make sure to check out Inland Empire’s website and especially their radio show.
I’m off to make another cup.

Marques de Paiva Fair Trade Certified Whole Bean coffee is made from “rigorously selected 100% Arabica beans that are grown on small family farms.”
Then, apparently, it’s stored in huge warehouses to be properly aged to a fine, robust staleness, then put on millions of pallets to be stacked at Sam’s Clubs all over the nation.
My coffee loving friends, this before you is a perfect example of a poser. It’s all dressed up in “Fair Trade” and given an impressively European sounding name, stuffed into overlarge but very pretty bags, and presented as something it is definitely NOT.
What it isn’t, is gourmet coffee. To me it tastes like over-roasted, stale coffee.
What it is, though, is dirt cheap. At least it is at Sam’s Club. You get this huge two and a half pound bag of beans for under $10. What a deal, I thought.
But the deal is that you end up with a whole lot of stale coffee that’s going to sit around forever because you hesitate to drink it, but you’re also hesitant to throw it out because:

• You just bought it
• You got a good “deal”
• It’s not quite as bad as pre-ground canned coffee
• It doesn’t make a bad mocha cappuccino as long as you use plenty of chocolate and sugar.

Okay, so you don’t want to toss it. If you still have your receipt, you can take it back — Sam’s Club will take anything back. Or, you could simply grind it all up and mix it with potting soil.
Flowers will love it.

“Enjoy life, give your best and surround yourself with good quality in all that matters.”

That is Jalima Coffee‘s motto. It’s not just something a marketing company stamped on their package — it’s what they truly believe. It’s the heart and soul of the company.

Enjoy life, that’s a given. We all want to enjoy life. If not, then what is the point? Why do we have an enjoyment nodule in our brain if it’s not meant to be used?

To truly enjoy life, you need to find your calling. For some, it’s making wonderful coffee. So you find your calling, and you start doing it … and you do it well, which will cause quality. Quality in what you do, how you live. You give your best and you get the best in return.

Guess what happens when you do that? You enjoy life. The more you enjoy life, the more you give your best. The more you give your best, the more quality will surround you.

It’s what I call a self-sustaining loop of goodness. It’s also an excellent way to run a coffee company. This is evident the moment you taste Jalima’s Organic blend.

I brewed my first cup a little too weak — it was still good but not as good as it could be. So I very carefully brewed my second, and it came out perfect.

The first thing that struck me about this coffee is that it’s velvety smooth. It doesn’t just glide over the palate, it caresses it. The taste that blossomed surprised me with vivid fruity notes, underpinned with a touch of caramel. Delicious. Not bold, not too mellow, just right down the center, and only mildly acidic.

As you keep drinking, the caramel notes build and the fruitiness wanes. By the time you’re at the bottom of the cup it actually starts to get chocolaty. I was genuinely sad that I didn’t have any more to drink.

And this struck me as I finished the second cup … this coffee is pampered. You can tell. You can taste it. They pamper the coffee and then in turn it pampers you.

Which leads right back into that self-sustaining loop of goodness thing I was talking about.

Once again it’s official: Jalima’s coffees are definitely groovy brews. The fact that this one is organic is just icing on the cake.

Millstone is hitting on all cylinders. They’ve sent me three of their organic coffees to sample and I’ve loved all three of them.

Yes, yes, it has a wonderful name, just like the other two. “Nicaraguan Mountain Twilight.” Their marketing department really needs to win an award. But the fabulous name would be worth squat if the coffee didn’t stand up to it, and my friends … it does.

Something about this coffee directly stimulates the pleasure center of my brain.

The taste starts out with a bit of a kick, dark and edgy, but smooth. There’s high fruity notes and a touch of chocolate undercurrent. It leaves you with a smoky aftertaste full of complex coffee goodness.

I started out this series of reviews on Millstone’s organic coffees poking a little fun at them, being that their parent company is so huge and owns so many other brands (such as Pampers and Duracell batteries). Frankly I was a bit skeptical that they would produce anything other than stale, mediocre mass-produced beans.

Now, after having surfed the web for a bit more background on these coffees, I’ve found quite a number of poor reviews (including for this Mountain Twilight blend) that seem more politically motivated instead of being a fair review of the coffee itself. This puts me in a odd position of feeling the need to stand up for a multinational corporation.

This is not a political website. No, I’m not a huge fan of large corporations, but … I am a fan of coffee. Panning a good coffee just because you don’t like the parent corporation is not honest. It’s misleading and petty.

Yes, I’ve been pissed off at corporations before. Yes, I’ve been tempted to pan a coffee just because they were rude (Boca Java, in particular, were very snotty to me). But the web is a place to share quality information with fellow humans. That is my aim and my pledge. Those out there who do a “review” while having an agenda to damage a perfectly good coffee’s reputation because of underlying political disagreements … I’m sorry, but I’m just ashamed of you. You suck. You’re damaging the Internet with bad information.

These Millstone organic coffees are good, quality coffees, and the wonderful thing is they’re widely available. I stand by them and am proud to give them my seal of approval. And this Nicaraguan Mountain Twilight Blend is no different.

You can get them at Wal-Mart in the coffee section, in their bulk bean dispensers, as well as online at their website.

Now let’s all go drink some good coffee, get buzzed, and create something positive.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

Well, okay, there’s no actual prize, but I will tell you this: This coffee rocks. I mean, it really rock and rolls.

Maybe it’s that I have started to develop a taste for Costa Rican beans, as just the other week I went ga-ga over the Dunn Bros. Costa Rican. That could be it. If so, it’s a discovery I’m very happy to have made.

Coffee Bean Direct‘s Dark Costa Rican hits the same high notes all across the goodness scale. Bold yet smooth. Rich yet not overbearing. Naturally sweet and not too acidic. Dusky and slightly fruity. Chocolaty and wonderfully complex.

It’s just freaking GOOD. It’s so good it’s groovy.

Bravo, Coffee Beans Direct! You have a real winner here. I’ll be coming back for more.

While researching my article on X Café, I ran across the website of CoolBrew.
Here is an instant coffee to blow away the perceived notions about instant coffee.
For one thing, it’s perfectly drinkable. I made black, unsweetened cups with this extract from three of their different flavors. It suffers from slight “dilution tang” but you can easily hide that with sugar. However, the flavor of the coffee is wonderful. Strong, full bodied, and very smooth.
Would I use this to replace ground coffee? No.
The folks at CoolBrew know this. They’re not marketing it as such. While you can mix it with hot water and get yourself an instant cup of coffee, you can also mix it with other things and enjoy an endless array of coffee-flavored drinks, deserts, and dishes.
It’s very smart of them. They don’t push you to mix it with water. They suggest, up front, you mix it with milk. Or milk and ice. Or vodka and sugar (which gives you instant Kahlua). Or put it on ice cream as a zero calorie syrup — very yummy!
The packaging is smart … and funny, to someone who’s seen the same type of self-measuring bottle used for other kinds of products (I won’t go into details, but some of you will know what I mean). You keep the main cap closed, and open the cap on the measuring side. When you squeeze the bottle, the measuring side fills, and then you dump the measured amount into your cup. Very simple and easy.
CoolBrew gets its name from the way the coffee flavor is extracted, as opposed to them suggesting you drink it iced. Then again, it works in both ways, so it’s a very smart branding. They use no heat in the process, brewing the coffee very slowly using only cold water. From their website: “With cold water brewing, the most flavorful oils are extracted leaving behind the bitter acids.” I will personally vouch for that. My palate detected no bitterness or acidity — only a smooth, even coffee goodness.
What they produce is pure coffee with no additives or preservatives. This means that if you’re to look for it at your local grocery store, you’ll find it in the refrigerated section instead of over on the coffee aisle. If you get it directly from CoolBrew via their website, they ship it in an insulated package with a label stating to refrigerate immediately upon delivery.
Oh, and get this. This is cool. They partner with a company called JavaFlow, which makes a water cooler that dispenses cold water, hot water, and COFFEE. Hot fresh coffee directly from the water cooler! You can see the device here: JavaFlowLLC.com
Now that’s what I call a groovy brew.

What, are they trying to compete with Starbucks or something? What’s going on? What did McDonalds do to their perfectly fine ordinary everyday coffee?

I think it was my dad who years ago pointed out to me, and correctly so, that McDonald’s had consistently good coffee. You could count on it. It was always nice and strong, bold, fresh, and … most importantly … omnipresent.

You couldn’t exactly call it a gourmet coffee, but it was a good standard and one of which they could be proud.

Then they went and changed it. Now it’s McDonald’s “Premium Roast” and it’s nowhere near as good as it used to be. It’s like they went to a darker roast but they don’t use enough of it. They Starbuckified it, but botched the job.

It doesn’t suck, but still, they messed up.

McDonald’s you should know better. Do what you usually do. Change the packaging so that it looks new, but not actually change the product.

X Café is everywhere, even if you can’t see it … even if you’ve never heard of it before.

If you have had coffee in the military, on a cruise ship, in a corporate cafeteria, at college, at a sports arena, a casino, a convention center, or a hospital … you’ve probably had X Café.

If you eat or drink coffee flavored ice cream, gelato, bottled or canned drinks, liquors, or desserts, you’ve probably had X Café. If you drink iced coffee from a machine, like those ones at some large convenience store / gas station places … including truck stops … you’ve probably had X Café.

I didn’t even know what it was until I saw a Google Ad for it right here on this page.

X Café is in the business of creating coffee extracts, using special (and secret) methods to brew very strong coffee in a way that you can dilute it back to normal strength and have it taste like fresh brewed gourmet coffee.

Years ago, I used to buy a very strong coffee extract — but not for making coffee. It was for making Kahlua style coffee-flavored liqueur, which I did, and it was good … but that extract was not for making regular everyday drinking coffee.

X Café makes extracts expressly for drinking coffee.

I’ve sampled three of their blends: 100% Sumatra, 100% Columbian Dark Roast, and a 100% Columbian Medium Roast. All of them, when properly measured into hot water (I had some trial and error that was no fault of X Café) tasted very close to freshly brewed coffee.

Not exactly, but close.

If you’ve ever made coffee that was a bit too strong, and you added water to it … or if it was too hot so you added a few ice cubes, because you had to drink it down in a hurry … you’ll get the taste that I describe as “dilution tang.” It slightly damages the taste of the coffee. As good as they are, the X Café extracts still suffer from a hint of this tang. You’ll only notice it, though, if you drink it straight up black with no sweetener.

However, it’s vastly superior to that old freeze-dried crud my mom used to make. It’s also just as good if not better than most of the pre-ground mass produced coffee on the market. I’ll also say this: it is much better than the horrid coffee I used to get at the office.

X Café extracts are not meant to replace your home bean grinder and coffee maker. This is more for those places and products (listed at the beginning of this article) that require a flow of consistently high quality coffee. The key word is consistently. Think of it like Coca-Cola flavored syrup that’s used worldwide to make Coke taste the same no matter where you go. That need for consistency is the driving force behind X Café.

You can’t rush out and buy this coffee, at least not with their brand on it. They’re in the business of selling it to other companies for repackaging, remarketing, etc. Portion Pac, a division of H.J. Heinz Company, tried repackaging X Café extract into little one-serving bags (looking like fast-food ketchup bags) which I thought was a brilliant idea. Apparently it didn’t work out too well, as when I inquired about it Portion Pac simply stated they no longer carry it and wouldn’t go into details.

I still have one of their sample bottles I haven’t yet opened. It’s labeled, simply, “Sumatra Blend.” I’m saving it for making a batch of a Kahlua style vodka/brandy coffee liquor … the recipe for which I’ll post here after I’ve made it.

On top of everything else, Millstone really knows how to name a coffee.
Deep Peruvian Forest. Wow. Say it out loud … you can feel it. A high, thick canopy, dark green light, misting rain, your boots crunching through the undergrowth.
And you’ve got a cup of rich, strong coffee in your hand.
The Millstone folks have impressed me. The same company that brings you Folgers canned coffee also brings you this? An organic, Fair Trade Certified bean roasted to near perfection, with a dusky rich taste and a sharp, dark edge. The flavor is so complex it has a smoky quality to it, bold and slightly acidic, but 100% delicious.
This is one of those dark coffees where you can actually taste the buzz you’re about to get from the caffeine. It’s a true early morning kick-in-the-pants cup of java. The fact that it’s organic is just a extra gold star on its chart of goodness.
You can buy it directly from their site online or, as I discovered to my delight, you can also find it at your local Wal-Mart. Or at least I found it at mine. It’s a little less expensive there, too.

My friend Bill and I are out at our favorite coffee shop right now, so this is an equivalent of a “live report.”
I’m drinking their Costa Rican and it’s so delicious I can’t wait to finish it so I can get another.
Seriously.
Dunn Bros. is fabulous because they roast the beans right there in the store. What they serve has been roasted only hours, sometimes minutes, before.
Fresh coffee is the best.
THE BEST.
They keep advertising for people to open their own Dunn Bros. shop and I find myself sorely tempted every single time. If I ever decided to buy into a franchise, it would be this one.
And, no, they are not paying me or giving me free coffee. This is straight from my heart.

When I first saw the label on the sample package, I thought it read “Dark Horse” instead of Dark House. Oh cool, I thought. A coffee tribute to George Harrison?

No. It’s a tribute to the fact that I need reading glasses.

The second of three coffees that CoffeeBeanDirect.com sent me to review, this one falls a bit short of the first, but it’s still good. The beans, while dark, had only a mild aroma, and my trusty Cuisinart grinder turned them into dark brown — not black — grinds.

Brewing produced a coffee with very nice body and delicious almond-like flavor.

It was however a touch on the bitter side, and alas, it could have been a bit smoother. I made my second cup stronger, and that made a noticeable improvement. I also tried it in the espresso machine but that was not an outstanding success.

I’m not complaining. It is good. I’m starting to wonder, however, that tasting all these wonderful coffees is … um … spoiling me?

I will say this for their Dark Horse … I mean House … it leaves a pleasant aftertaste that lingers for a long while. I’d label this a good medium-dark coffee for those who want something stronger than a Kona but not as aggressive as a really dark roast.

Check it out… coffee, by the maker of Pampers.
I’ve seen Millstone beans in stores, and I’ve had some over the years. I’d never been overly impressed. Today, however, I sampled some of their new Organic Mayan Black Onyx blend, and it’s very good.
First of all, just the name is cool. Mayan Black Onyx. Sounds like something you’d wear as a necklace. The coffee is beautiful enough to justify the name — the darkest of their Organic blends, the beans are shiny black jewels, glistening with oil. The bag of them smelled wonderful. I couldn’t wait to grind and brew.
The first sip gives some surprisingly fruity overtones for such a dark, rich coffee. It’s smooth, dusky, and bittersweet. Would make an excellent breakfast wake-me-up and also a flavorful espresso. It’s a savoring, sipping coffee.
Here’s the thing that cracks me up, though. Millstone coffee is brought to you by the same people who make Pampers diapers, Tide detergent, Always tampons, Pantene hair products, Mach3 razors, Bounty and Dawn, Pringles potato chips, Charmin toilet paper, Iams pet food, Crest tooth paste, Oral-B toothbrushes, Oil of Olay, Head and Shoulders dandruff shampoo, and none other than Duracell batteries! (There’s even more brands in the Proctor & Gamble family but this list is already too long.)
Think about this, though. I mean, really. Think about it. They’re missing a huge cross-marketing possibility here.
Strong coffee … and Duracell batteries.
Hmm… what does that bring to mind?
A coffee that keeps you going, and going, and going…?

If only office coffee tasted like this.
CoffeeBeanDirect.com‘s Colombian Supremo is a regular, everyday good coffee. It’s got a warm, toasty flavor with nice body and a natural sweetness. In fact I’m drinking it straight right now, no sugar, nothing, just pure coffee, and I could drink it all day long.
Like I said, it would be perfect as an office coffee. It’s what office coffee should aspire to be. Yet, no, it usually isn’t.
As CoffeeBeanDirect’s Floyd Wallace told me, it’s their closest blend to a “regular coffee.” And looking at it on their website right now, man, the price is definitely right.
I urge all the businesses out there to replace their disgusting office coffee with this one. Just do it. Just go buy a 25lb bag of it and start brewing it up Monday morning, not saying anything to your employees, and watch all the faces light up and say, “Wow, what happened?!” It will be the happiest Monday your office has ever seen, and moral will shoot upward, followed by productivity.
Just do it. Do it for yourself and for them. Do it for mankind. Be the hero.
Coffee makes the world go ’round, and good coffee makes it go around happy.

I just had some of the best coffee I have ever tasted. Ever.
Coffee and the Internet have always gone hand-in-hand, usually at Internet cafés that let you surf while you get wired. Most of the time it’s free, unless you’re at Starbucks who for some reason feel you need to pay for ‘net access (never figured that one out). But, I digress, because this is about the Internet/coffee partnership turned upside-down.
I recently discovered SpecialtyJava.com, a place where you surf to and buy coffee, instead of buying coffee and then surf. Their stated mission is to import the world’s finest coffee beans, personally fresh roast each order, and deliver it to your door as fast as possible.
Is that cool or what?
They sent me their best seller, which they call New York New York, and I ground some up and brewed it.
Oh my. I mean, OH MY. I actually said that out loud. Then I said, “Oh my God this is good coffee!”
Here’s how they describe it on their site (I’m quoting because it’s very accurate): “A fantastic, rich, aromatic, full-bodied, smooth, low-acidic blend. We combine a SHB Central American, a South American and a select Indonesian to create a truly unique, high impact cup. Striking!”
And it is. Smooth, dark and rich with nutty notes, strong but not overwhelming. The taste itself is good up front but does this amazing bit where it gets better and better as you drink it. This coffee gives your palate a long, luxurious java massage, and tickles the taste buds long after the coffee is gone.
Better than good, it’s fantastic, but I do have to add a warning:
Coffee this good is most likely addictive.

Starbucks Starbuckaroos may sing to you if you ask them.
After dinner last Saturday I knew I’d be up writing, and since we were out and about my elder daughter and I swung by Starbucks so I could get caffeinated. Their coffee of the day was their standard Café Verona, which I hadn’t had in a while.
But, oh my God, they didn’t have any brewed. Usually when I catch them with a daily coffee not ready to serve they offer me a free cup. These Starbuckaroos weren’t privy to this custom, however, and simply told me it would be about five minutes before the coffee would be ready.
“Five minutes?” I tried to sound disappointed, hoping for that free cup. Hey, $2 is $2, you know?
“Yes,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, what am I going to do for five minutes?”
Starbucks Inc. had not taught them how to answer that. She looked stricken and I felt bad. Usually Starbuckaroos have some social skills, but alas, this was not the case.
“Tell you what,” I said, “I’ll ignore the five minute wait if you sing me a song about Café Verona.”
She and her compatriot were up for that challenge, and they made up a song for me on the spot. Now remember this is Texas, so here “Verona” rhymes “Loner” … somehow the “a” is replace with an invisible “er”.

Café Verona
A drink for the loner
Who sits like a stoner
Talking on their phoner!

It dissolved into giggles at that point.
Their Café Verona is bold yet smooth, good straight or with sweetener. Not something I’d like with cream but that’s just me. A good wake-me-up blend if you’re in the mood for something more than a mild breakfast coffee but not quite up for an in-your-face French roast.
According to the singing Starbuckaroos, it’s a Starbucks internal favorite.

When a coffee is really good, it’s hard to write a review about it. I mean, how many ways can you say “good”?

Dunn Bros Sumatra is mild, smooth, with an excellent flavor … this is an all day drinking coffee.

Cup after cup, keep it coming.

Being that it’s Dunn Bros, it’s always fresh because they roast the beans right there at the store.

No, they don’t pay me. No I don’t get free coffee there.

It is, quite simply, one of my favorite coffees at my favorite local café. Starbucks doesn’t hold a candle to this place.

Sorry Starbucks, but that’s my opinion.

My elder daughter and I stopped by Starbucks this afternoon and this coffee caught my eye. More the name than anything else, which they had to coach me to pronounce … and I’m not sure but I think they were bluffing, and didn’t know how to say it right either. Sulawesi. Sul-a-way-zi. Whatever.

I ordered the twenty ounce, straight up, no cream or sugar.

The first unsweetened taste gave me a metallic tang, the taste made me wonder if it the coffee were burnt. Savoring it for a while, giving it a chance, I did discover a pleasant fruity aftertaste. All in all the Sulawesi is bold but smooth, though a third the way into it I decided it might go better with a sweetener.

Which it did.

Then I thought, this taste would actually lend itself to a creamer. Not in a way that you would use the creamer to mask the flavor of the coffee, but blend with it to a harmonious agreement.

Which it did.

So I give this coffee the GroovyBrew stamp of approval, especially for those who don’t take it straight.

After last night writer’s group meeting I stumbled into the Starbucks next door and discovered their new decaffeinated version of their Breakfast Blend. What caught my attention was the sign offering it “for the first time,” and that confused me. I thought you could always get a decaf there?

“No,” said the barista. “Not the Breakfast Blend.”

“Why not?”

“Everyone’s opinion used to be, why make a decaf version of the coffee you’re supposed to wake up with?”

Apparently someone somewhere changed their opinion on that, and I’m glad. It’s delicious. It’s as strong as you’d expect and satisfying as the real thing, though — and I’m not sure it’s my imagination or not, but I detected the twang of a decaf after-taste. Subtle but there, however it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the brew.

Some people drink coffee for the effect. I do too, but also I drink it for the taste. And I love the taste at 10pm … but I also like to sleep at night.

This coffee fits in perfectly with that scenario.

Come to think of it, I also like having breakfast late at night, so that makes the Starbucks Breakfast decaf doubly appropriate. You won’t catch me drinking it in the morning, though.

That would be blasphemy.

I’d discovered Dunn Bros Coffee by chance, as it just happened to be the convenient place where my fellow SF writer Bill and I meet on weekends. Today — in fact right now — I’m sitting at their Frisco TX location, and thought I’d do the very first coffee review for this site.

I’ve had two coffees today. First was their Ethiopia Oromia, a mild and full flavored brew with light body and yummy earthy notes. Ethiopia is of course, in legend, the place where coffee was discovered — by goats no less — and their herder named Kaldi, who saw the goats acting unusually lively after eating the beans from a strange plant. He tried the beans himself and the rest is history. Thank you Kaldi, and thank you to his goats! It’s unknown if the Ethiopian beans I’m sampling right now have anything to with the ones discovered so long ago, but the taste is perfect, and I daresay it’s some of the best I’ve had.

The second coffee, which Dunn Bros simply calls “Java,” is sharper, stronger, but still smooth and not over powering. This is a good morning kick to the adrenal glands coffee, and one I should have had first. It’s a good brew and I give it my own personal recommendation.

The thing that sets Dunn Bros Coffee apart from the other chains, specifically Starbucks, is that they roast their beans daily — there’s a roaster right here at this location — and you can’t get any fresher than that. With coffee, freshness is everything.

Here’s a shout out to the gang at the Frisco location from a regular customer and a big fan. You guys know how to do it right!