gifts

This week’s mail brought coffee from roasters I’ve never tried, and the first try with each was a success.

First up was an unexpected present from a friend.

I had heard recently of a new coffee company in New Jersey, LeGrand Coffee House. Not just for the coffee, I was naturally drawn by Eric LeGrand’s inspirational story. It was meaningful to receive it from my friend, a proud native of the Garden State.

Finally got to my first cup yesterday, and I was a bit apprehensive as the Sumatra blend my friend chose is a dark roast, usually not my favorite part of the roasting spectrum. I was pleasantly surprised, however. Definitely had the dark roast flavor, but much like a traditional Italian espresso there managed to be a powerful flavor profile without veering into the burnt taste of being overroasted. I may have been predisposed to like it given the company and how the coffee found its way to me, but I honestly liked it much more than I expected I would.

Later in the week a coffee I was expecting arrived, but again I didn’t select it myself. This one came to be as part of a coffee exchange set up in my industry. I was randomly matched with a guy in the business who lives in central Washington state. He sent me a bag from his hometown coffee shop, D&M Coffee, whose tagline is “Because life’s too short to drink bad coffee” (and amen to that).

I’m not sure if it was a single origin or a blend, but this Costa Rican coffee was a delight. It produced a ton of crema, the milk blended in well, and there were a lot of flavors playing off each other.

My input to the exchange was sending him a bag of Onyx Coffee Labs’ Krampus blend, since he let me know he likes dark roasts.

Next week brings two new coffees I’ve ordered to the house. Sounds like I’d better get busy grinding.