Starbucks French Roast "Taste Drive"

Yesterday's featured bag of coffee beans for sale at Starbucks in my grocery store was a Hawaiian blend in a blue bag called Kopelani Blend .  I put a one pound bag of these in my cart and sampled a cup as I shopped.  I decided to put these back and go with French Roast instead.

I decided that the Hawaiian blend was better suited for summer, and summer is a few months off here in Iowa.  The Hawaiian blend had some sour notes that didn't make me look forward to drinking it on my morning commute on snowy roads.  Plus the bag of French Roast was $2 less expensive than the Hawaiian blend.

Starbucks French Roast Coffee Beans, 16 oz bag

One way to avoid sour notes is to go for a dark roast.  Starbucks French Roast is indeed a very dark roast- just look at these beans!  The beans are black and have lots of oil that has been brought out by intense roasting.

Starbucks French Roast Coffee Beans- Black and Oily!

As you would expect, Starbucks French Roast has an intense smoky flavor.  The very dark roast brings out some sweet flavors as well.  I would say this roasting takes the beans right up to the line between bold and burned, which is the right place to stop the roast for a dark French roast.






I plan to use Starbucks French Roast to blend with other lighter roasts to make my own custom blends.  This is sure to provide a nice sweet and smoky background for any blends I make with medium and lighter roasts.  If you want to learn more about making your own coffee blends at home from different kinds of beans, check out my free book about making great coffee:






Copyright © 2018 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

How to Make Cold Brew Coffee

Advantages of Cold Brew Coffee

Making Cold Brew Coffee in KitchenAid Cold Brew Coffeemaker

Cold brew coffee is all the rage these days.  I have seen jugs of cold brew coffee for sale at the grocery store and have tried several types.  Recently I noticed that the local coffee shop lets you fill a growler with cold brew concentrate and take it home.

So why all the hype about cold brew coffee?

Unlike regular hot brewed coffee, cold brewed coffee is made at low temperature in a refrigerator and uses long exposure to the coffee grounds.  Cold brew coffee might brew for 24 hours in cold water instead of "regular" hot brewed coffee which brews for 5 minutes in hot water.

Cold brew coffee tastes different than "regular" hot brewed coffee, even if you use the exact same coffee grounds to make it.  Cold brew coffee is less acidic and is more mellow.  I like the idea of exploring new coffee experiences with new brewing methods.

Another difference between cold brew coffee and regular coffee is that cold brewing produces concentrated coffee.  Cold brew coffee concentrate is ideal for making iced coffee drinks since it is cold and since melting ice does not water it down in your iced coffee drink.

You can also use concentrated cold brew coffee to make hot coffee.  Just add 1 part cold brew concentrate to 3 parts hot water.

How to Make Cold Brew Coffee

My wife picked up a KitchenAid cold brew coffee maker to make coffee concentrate for her iced coffee drinks.



The first thing I noticed about the cold brew coffee maker is that there is no power cord.  You don't need power to run a cold brew coffee maker.  You put lots of coffee grounds in the filter, fill it with water, and then let the coffee brew at cold temperature for 12 to 24 yours in your refrigerator or on your countertop.

The next think I noticed is that this thing takes a lot of coffee grounds!  The instructions call for 250g of coffee grounds and 1 Liter of cold water.  I ran my coffee grinder a few times to produce the amount of coffee grounds needed.  I made a blend of Bluebird "Extra Chirps" Blend and Cafe Fair Machu Picchu.  This took several runs with my Mr. Coffee simple blade coffee grinder.

The process of making cold brew coffee is pretty simple:

• Grind some coffee beans, or you can use ground coffee.  
• Fill the metal filter up to the line with coffee grounds, about 250g.
• Add 1 L of cold water, pouring it over the coffee grounds in the filter.
• After the grounds "bloom", add a bit more water- about 1/4 L.
• Use a spoon to press any dry grounds down into the water.
• Let it brew for 12 to 24 hours in your refrigerator.

Cold Brew Coffeemaker in Refrigerator

After brewing is complete, carefully lift the filter filled with grounds out of the coffeemaker and dispose of the grounds.  You can lift the filter up part way and tilt it against the side of the opening to let all of the liquid drain out of the filter basket before removing it.

Draining the Cold Brew Filter

Of course you don't need to wait 12 to 24 hours for your coffee to brew every day.  Once you have brewed the cold brew concentrate, you can simply dispense some from your cold brew coffee maker whenever you want coffee.  The KitchenAid cold brew coffeemaker has a handy dispenser on the tank.

I like the idea of being able to brew my own cold brew coffee at home instead of buying it at a store or coffee shop.  For one thing, I can try my own blends of ground coffee.  I can also experiment with different brewing times and temperatures.

If you are looking for a new way to enjoy coffee, give cold brewing a try!


Copyright © 2018 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Bluebird Extra Chirps Blend "Taste Drive"

My latest new coffee to experience was Bluebird Extra Chirps Blend from Iowa City, Iowa.  "A cup so good, you'll sing," says the bag.  If this isn't enough, the bag also boasts "100% Co-op grown beans roasted to dark delicious perfection".

Bluebird Extra Chirps Blend

Upon opening the bag, I could see that one of the claims on the bags was true: this is a dark roast.  Not smokey dark, but roasted to full city roast.

Bluebird Extra Chirps Blend Beans

This coffee has a nice creamy consistency without adding anything to it.  The flavor is sweet, slightly smokey.  These are quality beans with a good roast to bring out the flavor.  I wish I knew the origin of these beans, but the package did not reveal the source, and an internet search came up empty.  All I know is that these are "Premium Arabica" beans.

I picked this up a local Hy-Vee grocery store within a few miles of Iowa City.  I am not sure how widely this brand of coffee is distributed, but it is worth picking some up if you see it.


Copyright © 2018 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Huckleberry La Cuesta "Taste Drive"

Huckleberry La Cuesta Review

The other day, a mysterious package arrived.  Since it was addressed to my wife, I left it alone until I could ask her what it was.  "I got you some coffee beans," she said.

Last time she got me some coffee beans, it was Death Wish coffee, and it was awesome!

So of course I was curious to see what my surprise coffee treat was this time.  After tearing into the box like a child at a birthday party, I discovered some Huckleberry La Cuesta inside.

Close-up of Huckleberry La Cuesta coffee beans

La Cuesta is a single origin Mexican coffee and has some really good chocolate and nutty flavors.  I was impressed by how smooth and sweet this coffee is for a lighter roast.

Huckleberry has selected La Cuesta as their first "Coffee of the Month" for 2018, and I can taste why!  This is an impressive bean and an impressive roast.

At about $18 for a 12 oz package, La Cuesta is more expensive than my usual coffee, but this is a nice a treat.


Copyright © 2018 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Starbucks Robot: Coffee Barista of the Future?

On a recent Christmas holiday stay at Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee I saw something interesting: a Starbucks coffee-serving robot!

The Opryland resort does have a couple of traditional Starbucks coffee shops with human baristas.  I paid over $4 for a venti dark roast.  At a "normal" Starbucks back home in Iowa, a venti at Starbucks costs about $2.50.

Walking around on the convention center side of the resort one night, I stumbled upon the Starbucks coffee robot I mentioned.  You swipe your credit card for payment, select your coffee, and then the machine grinds the beans and brews a cup.  There is no human server involved, and you can get a fresh cup of coffee 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from a fully-automated coffee vending machine.

Starbucks Coffee Robot

Starbucks Coffee Robot, Close-up

For someone like me who orders a simple black coffee, dealing with the Starbucks robot instead of standing in line behind people ordering complex drinks from the human baristas might be a better way to go.

For one thing, the orders are simpler from the robot since the drink selection is limited so the line would move faster.  The limited selection of drinks doesn't matter to me since I order black coffee anyway.

Another benefit of ordering coffee from the robot is that the beans are ground right when the coffee is brewed.  I am not sure how often the beans are ground at the standard Starbucks with human operators, but I know they do not grind the beans right before brewing.  They have bins of ground coffee around.  So for me, seeing the beans ground just before brewing is an advantage.

Also, I noticed that my venti dark roast that was served by a human barista was dispensed from a tank.  I am sure it was brewed recently, but I don't really know how fresh it was.  With the robot, you always get a fresh brew since it is brewed when you order it.

What would you think of getting your coffee served at Starbucks by a robot instead of a human?  I could imagine that Starbucks could set up some of these machines in the store to help make lines go faster for people who just want coffee.



Copyright © 2018 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Welcome to Coffee Maker Journal!

Welcome to Coffee Maker Journal!

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Death Wish Coffee "Taste Drive"

The World's Strongest Coffee?

Death Wish Coffee: World's Strongest Coffee?

Recently, a nice looking box arrived in the mail.  My wife ordered me some Death Wish coffee as a gift.  The bag of ground coffee came in a nice black cardboard box and included a "Death Wish Coffee" sticker suitable for putting on a vehicle.  I put my sticker on a black cabinet in my shop.

Death Wish ground coffee

Death Wish coffee claims to be "the world's strongest coffee".  I was pleased to see that it was a dark roast, USDA certified organic, and fair trade.  I don't mind strong coffee, I just don't want something with caffeine artificially added.




I had taken a break from coffee for a week and was drinking herbal tea instead.  But with the Death Wish in my cabinet, I was ready to go back to coffee.  The next morning, I loaded up my Ninja coffeemaker with 5 scoops of death wish to fill my 20 oz travel mug.

This is a good time to explain what Death Wish means when it claims to be "the world's strongest coffee".  When I tasted the coffee, I liked the flavor.  It wasn't particularly sweet for a dark roast, it is more toward the bitter end of the spectrum, but decidedly a good drinking coffee.  I proceeded to drink it all, of course.

Within a few minutes, I figured out that Death Wish is about strong caffeine!  My eyes were wide open and I was almost shaking with energy.  I was zooming around a Home Depot store rounding up things for a project.  After I checked out, I realized that I left my coffee cup mug somewhere in the store.  I raced to the restroom in case I forgot it there.  Then I remembered that the restroom was closed when I came in- couldn't be there.  So I raced to the screws section.  Not there.  Next, I raced to the drill bit section.  Not there either.  Must be somewhere, though... So I raced back to restroom- but wait, it couldn't be there...

I must have looped around the store 5 or 6 times before finally finding my lost mug.  I later learned that Death Wish has 4 times as much caffeine as "normal" coffee such as Starbucks dark roast.  That is quite a bit of caffeine!

I think Death Wish is good organic dark roast coffee and is worth a try.  But now, I just use 2 scoops of grounds and make a cup instead of a full travel mug.

This article in Consumer Reports breaks down how much caffeine is really in Death Wish coffee.  Bottom line: don't drink too much of this, or you'll feel shaky and maybe even sick.  But a little is really good...


Is Death Wish really the world's strongest coffee?

Flavor:  No. I have had stronger french press coffee and even some brewed coffee that is stronger.  But flavor is interesting and a bit unexpected for a dark roast.
Caffeine:  Yes, probably.  This stuff is turbo charged (but 100% organic).
Recommendation:  Try Death Wish, but careful not to drink too much.

Copyright © 2017 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal