We have been sampling some of the coffees from Christopher Bean. I use the term “we” because whenever I get coffee at Arizona Coffee, the team and I at Tornado share it. We received three coffees to samples (for free) and they are: Sumatra Mandheling Blues Roast French Roast Jamaica Me Crazy (flavored coffee) All but the last one we had specifically requested. Perhaps most surprising was that the Sumatra and French Roast came pre-ground, and the flavored coffee was whole bean. This presented some problems as we’re big fans of whole bean coffee and the coffees that had been pre-ground had lost a lot in the time since being ground and packaged. This is fundamental to coffee, and I’m actually quite surprised that this happened. We share our office with some other folks and decided to experiment with the flavored coffee since they enjoy that sort. It was very strange, but the Jamaica Me Crazy smells exactly like pancakes and syrup. I am not sure how that happened, but it was exactly like pancakes and syrup. The challenge with tasting the Sumatra Mandheling and Blues Roast French Roast was that they had lost much of their flavor since being ground weeks earlier. It isn’t fair to attempt to rate this coffee with such a poor sample.
mikeftrevino If you did not specify ground or whole bean, I would not trust hem if the default was pre-ground. That says volumes on they’re opinion on freshness and coffee knowledge. 0 Reply May 29, 2007
Michael T Great headline. FYI, the Christopher Bean website calls Kroger and Publix “fine stores.” 0 Reply May 29, 2007
lilotaku Boo pre-ground…Boo I Say! Atleast the samples were free, and nothing beats pancakes and syrup :D. 0 Reply May 29, 2007
