Hair-Raising Halloween--Coffee Style
Hey, look! It's a jack-o-lantern in front of a drip coffee maker and a grinder! The winking jack brought to you by Mrs. Trimethyldioxypurist's mad carving skillz.
Welcome, children, to a very special Halloween episode of the Trimethyldioxypurist. We have an update, an experiment, and a couple reviews of some coffee beans.
When we think "candy," we obviously first think "chocolate," so thanks to Shabana for leaving the comment that . . .
Charles Chocolates' webstore is now up! You buy them online at www.charleschocolates.com
. . . in reference to an interview we did last month with local chocolatier Chuck Siegel. (P.S. -- slowly making our way through the catalogue; we tried the almonds yesterday. Awesome.)
Halloween Treat, Trimeth Style
We have a glut of whole beans lying around. After our last, rather somber entry, someone took it upon himself to send us a 3/4-pound of 100% pure Kona beans from the Carribean Coffee Company out of Santa Barbara, Calif. They were generous enough to throw in another 3/4-pound of coffee--known as "Hair Raiser" for review. Add this to the half-pound or so of Kona we got from Mrs. Trimeth's aunt in Hawaii, who got it from a friend in the biz, there was way too much for personal consumption.
Thus, a treat for the office -- we got up early today, ground up a crap-load of the Carribean Co's Kona, and replaced the usual office drek with that. It didn't last long; within 20 minutes, the vacuum-pump thingee was bone dry. We were worried that by virtue of it being brewed in the office machine, it might suffer a little--but, no, it was quite good, as promised: "big in taste," hints of caramel, very balanced and flavorful. The quick consumption and accompanying feedback proved that there is a valid reason behind the high prices for such beans.
The beans we got from Mrs. Trimeth's aunt were astonishingly similar -- we've had it both in a press pot (fantastic) and our drip machine, and the flavor characteristics were a perfect match. This just proved to us that the stuff from Carribean Co. was indeed the real deal, and we'd recommend ordering it from there for a coffee treat (just on occasion, as $2 an ounce is pretty hefty).
(Wouldn't you like to work with a guy who provides Kona or other quality coffee for the whole office? If so, feel free to post job leads for us to the comments section [we joke!])
Frighteningly Dark
So, how about that free 12 oz. of "Hair Raiser?"
The coffee is touted as "a specialty dark roast coffee that outsells competitors wherever it’s sold. It’s bold, brews dark and strong, and it’s designed to stimulate your senses and your attitude."
Honestly, we had a little trouble out of the gate with this coffee. The first time we made it, in our drip pot, it was so-so. We tried again, this time in the stovetop doohicky--and it was terrible. Our fault, of course; not every coffee is suited for that contraption. The label, in fact, recommends press pot or drip.
Third time was the charm--back into our drip machine. We started out drinking it black, and it was surprisingly good. Somehow we've moved away from having our coffee black (which we used to do exclusively), and this might just be the blend that brings us back from the "creamy and sweetened" edge. It's an extremely dark roast that we would describe as bold and focused; cream and sugar tend pervert what we enjoyed about the flavor. We found that using about half the cream and half the sweet stuff as usual was the way to go with a blend that we ultimately ended up enjoying. As usual, when creating a distinct coffee, there may be "best practices" associated with enjoying it, and it certainly won't be for everyone.
Happy Halloween, folks--enjoy your candy (and coffee!) responsibly.