Blue Bottle Coffee Review + Free Trial Offer – May 2016

Blue Bottle Coffee is a whole-bean coffee subscription with multiple options to suit your coffee needs. Generally you’ll get 12 oz of beans every other week for $17, or double your bag for an extra $11. They also offer half bag and triple bag subscriptions. The prices vary by a buck or so on your coffee selections.

My most recent arrival was the Kenya Kirinyaga Peaberry.  I have the Origins subscription, but it’s easy to switch between the 3 types (Origins, Blend, Espresso) or one of the 8 specialty subscriptions available, as well as change the frequency and amount of coffee you receive in each shipment.  Each is produced from high-quality beans — it’s just a matter of what your taste preference is.  I like the variety of flavor notes and combinations that I get with the Origins subscription — including the delightful “rough edges” of the single-origin brews.   Currently, I prepare my beans with a Baratza Virtuoso burr grinder and make my coffee Americano-style with an Aeropress.  

Every bag includes the date on which it was roasted — this one was prepared on May 2, 2016.

Blue Bottle Coffee‘s notes do a great job of laying out the growing conditions and peculiarities of each coffee.  More than any other coffee subscription, Blue Bottle tries to capture the feel and essence of its coffees rather than declaring flavor notes with absolute authority.  They are fairly accurate with both identifying the specific notes and conveying a sense of the taste.  They identified kiwi and lemongrass notes, characterizing the brew as sparkling.

My notes:  The petite beans gave off a very dark and rich aroma when ground, but the coffee itself has a brighter and lighter quality than the aroma portends.  There is a strong lemon/lime note, and the acidity creates a tingling and palpably sour mouth feel.  Instead of a fruity body, the brew has a very green, almost grassy profile.  This is an interesting bean to cup, as it is a bold departure from the raisin character that pervades Kenyan brews.

Visit Blue Bottle Coffee to find out more or to subscribe. Get a free trial when you use this link!