Honest reviews of specific coffee brands, blends, and single-origin bags we have actually brewed.
Most holiday coffees are a house blend in a red bag, roasted dark enough to hide it. Here are the Christmas blends on Amazon that hold up under a pour-over cone — including Christmas Blend itself, back in stock for the season, and what to brew in the light-roast slot now that the seasonal blonde is gone.
Five bags that were actually open in our kitchen this July — an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe for iced pour-over, a cheap Brazilian for the cold brew jar, and three more, each matched to a specific job. Including where two of them fall short.
Volcanica’s Kenya Peaberry is a lighter-medium single origin that leans hard into blackcurrant brightness. Here’s what peaberry actually means, why Kenyan coffee tastes the way it does, and who should buy this bag.
Coava Coffee’s S.O. Blend is the bag that explains why Portland takes coffee seriously — chocolate, apple, and dark caramel from a roaster that’s been sourcing with real intention since 2008.
Roseline Coffee’s Catapult Blend is a light, balanced, no-drama bag from one of Portland’s original specialty roasters — the coffee we reach for when we don’t want to think about coffee.