KoffsterReviews
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Make no mistake about it, this is a seriously good coffee bean; perhaps, unsurprising though given the roaster, Rave Coffee. As I am sure you will know, if you have bought coffee beans from them before, Rave have a habit of finding elegant tasting coffee beans and roasting them to a flavour profile that suits them perfectly. We all know and love them because they offer some of the best coffees on the market – at the lowest prices. Hurrah, is what we say!I must admit, that when I first started writing this review, I did manage to misspell the name of the coffee two, or maybe even three times at least. It’s certainly not a name that rolls off your tongue – but it doesn’t need to be, because it really is a coffee bean that you will remember.Rave Coffee describe these coffee beans on their website as,Tasting of white chocolate, plums and raspberries – a product of a natural process in Ethiopia that has been light roasted to perfection.In case you didn’t know already, then this process is well known for creating coffees with a heavy body, and a complex, sweet, smooth flavour. The natural process involves drying the coffee beans on hessian cloths for the large part of the day and then covering them with plastic clothes later in the day, and at night. It’s part of the drying out process and tends to be what they do in the dryer climates where there isn’t as much rain.In terms of the quality of the bean they are top notch and roasted to a colour which in my eyes appears to be a little on the light side for Rave’s usual standards. Although, this undoubtedly protects the delicate flavours which are locked inside this coffee bean. The only thing that I would say here is that these are amongst the smallest coffee beans that I have ever tasted – they really are tiny so keep your eye on them – or they could escape your cup for ever.During the week I had this coffee I used it as an espresso, a flat white and as a filter coffee. Unfortunately, I did not get chance to use the coffee in a cafetiere. At this point, I really must say how unique and interesting the flavour was as both a single, and also a double shot espresso. From the description on Rave’s packaging I was expecting fruity flavours but I just was not expecting the explosion of taste that I got in my cup – plums, and raspberries is an understatement. This coffee tastes of sticky plum / strawberry jam that’s been heated just like it would in your morning porridge. It’s truly delicious!For the espresso drinkers, I you’ll be interested to note that I managed to get a good extraction, dosing at 18g between 25-28 seconds and weighing out at 28-30 grams. A really fine grind was not required (I had to turn to grinder up a couple of notches) – but that certainly seemed to work best, and really brought out the fruity, sticky flavours and acidity.With milk, the flavour was much the same, apart from, as you might expect, the flavours were much less intense and a little cream / cheesecake flavouring was brought into the cup – which, again, was very nice. I can see what the roasters are saying in relation to the flavours of white chocolate, but don’t expect it to be in your cup in abundance. You won’t have a coffee tasting like Milkybar chocolate, or anything like that.I think it’s also worth noting the price of this coffee during this review, as well; which for me is very reasonable. What you get for your money (which at the time of writing is £6.25 per 250g) is a sealed pack bursting full of freshly roasted and delicious coffee beans. That has to be value for money in anyone’s eyes, although, clearly slightly more expensive than some of the other coffees that they sell notably, Signature Blend.Rave have recently increased the number of coffees that they are selling on their website, and opened a new shop…in Canada! We can only assume then, that they are doing very well, and I’m genuinely pleased for them because for so-long they have offered high quality coffee at very competitive prices. These coffee beans actually come from the so-called, “special shack” which is a new feature on their website, and explains the higher then usual price-tag. These coffee beans are well worth it though.This is a serious coffee bean, for a serious coffee drinker. I don’t think that it will be everyone’s cup-of-tea, but it genuinely has a taste profile that will be unparalleled by many other coffee beans. I say that because, it really is sticky, and sweet and if you don’t like overly flavoured espresso shots this probably won’t be one for you.That said, the flavour is more relaxed in milk and if you are looking for something a little bit different for your morning, or afternoon flat white there isn’t going to be many coffee beans that offer as much flavour as these ones do. Rave Coffee Review
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