DennyCrane
New member
I know Starbucks is more-or-less looked down on by many who frequent these forums, but I gotta say I love their french roast! I go through about a pound of it every week and a half. At the advice of many of you, I decided to try some beans from a local roaster in my area. I was hoping to stop by a shop and ask some questions (and maybe even try a sample), but most I found seem to be warehouses that only accept online orders.
Anyways, I decided to give 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters a try. They had 12oz of their organic french roast available for $14 + shipping. So for $21.31 all-in, my order was placed. And to my pleasant surprise, it arrived today (just one day later)! In total it only cost $2.20 more than Starbucks, but keep in mind I only got 12oz instead of 16oz with Starbucks. Side note, but I noticed a lot of local roasters sell in 12oz bags? I thought coffee was typically sold by the pound?
Okay, so I got home today, cleaned out my grinder, and loaded up the hopper with my new beans. First thing I notice is that they aren't nearly as oily as the Starbucks beans I've become accustomed to, and secondly they are much lighter in colour; almost like I would expect a medium roast to look like (this is considered a dark roast).
So I grind up enough to make one large mug of coffee in my french press. As you can see from the picture below, there is a lot of green pieces of the bean which I've never experienced before:
Is this normal for freshly roasted coffee? Anyways, I downed the whole cup in about 5 minutes, and my first impression was that it was very smooth. It wasn't nearly as bold as I am used to, but it definitely had a nice flavor to it. I'll have to see how I feel about it after finishing the bag (seeing as it didn't even fill the hopper, I'm assuming it will only last me about 5 days).
I realize many of you probably don't have much appreciation for the "tar" that I get out of my Starbucks beans, but I actually really like that extra bold taste. With that being said, I'm going to give this a chance, and maybe even explore some french roasts from some other local roasters when I'm done with this bag. I welcome your comments, as well as suggestions if you have any. Go easy on me though, as I'm a total n00b with this.
Anyways, I decided to give 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters a try. They had 12oz of their organic french roast available for $14 + shipping. So for $21.31 all-in, my order was placed. And to my pleasant surprise, it arrived today (just one day later)! In total it only cost $2.20 more than Starbucks, but keep in mind I only got 12oz instead of 16oz with Starbucks. Side note, but I noticed a lot of local roasters sell in 12oz bags? I thought coffee was typically sold by the pound?
Okay, so I got home today, cleaned out my grinder, and loaded up the hopper with my new beans. First thing I notice is that they aren't nearly as oily as the Starbucks beans I've become accustomed to, and secondly they are much lighter in colour; almost like I would expect a medium roast to look like (this is considered a dark roast).
So I grind up enough to make one large mug of coffee in my french press. As you can see from the picture below, there is a lot of green pieces of the bean which I've never experienced before:
Is this normal for freshly roasted coffee? Anyways, I downed the whole cup in about 5 minutes, and my first impression was that it was very smooth. It wasn't nearly as bold as I am used to, but it definitely had a nice flavor to it. I'll have to see how I feel about it after finishing the bag (seeing as it didn't even fill the hopper, I'm assuming it will only last me about 5 days).
I realize many of you probably don't have much appreciation for the "tar" that I get out of my Starbucks beans, but I actually really like that extra bold taste. With that being said, I'm going to give this a chance, and maybe even explore some french roasts from some other local roasters when I'm done with this bag. I welcome your comments, as well as suggestions if you have any. Go easy on me though, as I'm a total n00b with this.
