Notes from an Amateur Taster

This new brand of coffee (new to me) showed up in the natural foods section of my grocery store: Avalon Organic Coffees.  To be perfectly honest, it was the name "Avalon" that drew me, having a deep fascination with the Isle of...  but I decided to try some. 

The Avalon website says it's shade grown, chemical free, and kosher (huh?).  They're listed on the Songbird Foundation's Coffee Connection, and they support Coffee Kids, which is all to the good.  The website says "Some of the varieties of Avalon Organic Coffees are also fair trade certified".  Hmm, some?  Which some? 

The price was certainly good.  Less than the other brands on display in the coffee section.  So, feeling very puffy-silly-good about myself for "buying organic", I bought some of the Costa Rica to try. 

Now, since I'm a rank amateur at the tasting/cupping thing, all you'll get here is a sort of general flavor description and whether or not I liked it.  Which, in Christine-world is all that matters. 

I went with a medium-strength french press for starters, and damn if it didn't taste just like the Florida I bought some months ago.  Earthy, a little nutty.  Not bad.  But I discovered with the Florida that  I can't drink too much of this flavor.  I get tired of it real fast.  Something in the nuttiness, I don't know. 

I'll save this Costa Rica for times when I DO want a nutty flavored cup, but most of it will probably go into the bin the hubs drinks.  (He never notices when I switch his coffee around.  Heh.)   I do plan to try some of the others flavors and see if I can find something I really like.

Comments

[Christine]

Thanks Sara! Very interesting article. Good overview of an important topic. I've never tried Dean's Beans. Hafta give them a try!

[Sara]

Delurking here to hook you up with a very informative article on Free Trade over at Dean's Beans:

http://www.deansbeans.com/fair_trade_roadmap.html?id=5EUY4svU

I haven't read all your entries, so I don't know if you've covered this before. Also, I don't know if you've ever tried Dean's Beans, but IMO, it's the best coffee roasted in Eastern Massachusetts (my favorite being the Moka Sumatra). You can order it off the website quite inexpensively, too. :)

Cheers!