Review – Peet’s House Blend

House Blend by Peet’s Coffee

When you first open the bag, this coffee fills the room with its aroma.

The beans of this dark roast coffee have a very nice sheen of oil on them and they have small oily spots where it pools up on each bean - see the photo.



I made up the coffee I tasted in a French Press. The beauty of French Press coffee is that it is unfiltered so you get the true coffee flavors from the brew with nothing lost.

With the first taste of this coffee I noticed a very smooth mouth feel.

Despite this coffee being a very definite dark roast, the flavor was not exceptionally strong or overpowering.

As the coffee cooled I noticed a slight bitterness. This is exceptional as I brewed a very strong French Press of it.

The flavor of this coffee definitely hits the back of your tongue and has a very nice pleasant flavor. I can see this as a really great coffee to serve at a bed and breakfast or even a high-end bistro. If you want to impress your guests, brew up some of this and let them enjoy this pleasant experience.

This is a very good dark roast coffee that I would definitely rate in the mid-nine range probably about 9.3 to 9.5 out of 10. It is very comparable to the top offerings from Starbucks, Seattle’s Best or Gevalia. It can stand on its own against almost any top quality blend.

Thank you for reading and have a great day.

May your next cup be your best.

Review - Thermos CSS1010 Stainless Steel Tumbler

CSS1010 Stainless Steel Tumbler by Thermos

Thermos Travel Tumbler

This mug is made by Thermos. The mug is stainless steel with a black handgrip and a sliding cover on the top. It holds 16 ounces of liquid and it uses Thermos' TherMax vacuum insulation technology.

The cover seals relatively well although there is a slight amount of leakage when you tip the mug or shake it vigorously. My only complaint about the seal is that it tends to keep you from getting very much liquid out at a time. There is a side benefit in this in the fact that if you have very hot coffee in it you will not burn yourself by getting a large swallow of the hot liquid.

I have used this mug for the last three days and have been very pleased with the results of it holding temperature and quality of construction.

I had it outside on a windy day with it about half full of coffee and it did not blow over. This surprised me as most stainless mugs are usually very top-heavy.

For my temperature tests I used some coffee that I had French Pressed. The starting temperature of the coffee that was poured into the mug stabilized at 171°F - this is rather surprising since it is an all stainless cup. I assumed that I would lose more than the 20° I lost when I poured it in. If you preheat this cup with hot water before putting coffee into it you probably will not have this problem.

The results of my temperature tests are in the chart below.









This tumbler keeps coffee warm enough to keep it drinkable for over 4 hours - definitiely a winner in my book!

Overall I think this is a very good product and I would personally endorse it as being a good purchase.

Click here to purchase your own Thermos Stainless Steel Travel Tumbler.


I hope this review has helped you in your search for a great mug for your dark roast coffee.

Have a great day and may your next cup be your best!

Review - Colombian Supremo by Safeway Select Gourmet Coffee

Safeway Select Colombian Supremo

The first taste of this coffee is somewhat earthy and definitely tastes similar to some of the dark roast coffee produced by Gevalia or the special roast used by McDonalds. This is surprising for some stuff off the grocery store shelf.

Colombian Supremo is a medium roast that is one of Safeway's Select store branded products. It has some of the depth of a dark roasted blend. I tasted the coffee brewed with my drip coffee maker. It was pre-ground coffee so there may have been some flavor lost due to it not being whole bean.

I can’t find the exact words to use to describe it, but this coffee has a definite sharpness to the flavor. It is probably due to the roasting process used. There is a light bitterness that hits the back of your tongue. This roast has got a spicy initial flavor. It is a very good coffee for breakfast or early morning drinking.

Sometimes you're very surprised by what you find on a grocery store shelf versus what you find in a coffee shop. The quality is definitely here - it is a coffee that shouldn't be turned down whenever you can't get your regular roast. This can easily happen if you are on the road and you are in a small town. A Safeway store may be available to you when a Starbucks or other brand-name coffee shop is not.

This coffee definitely gets more bitter as it gets colder. The bitterness is more noticeable as it gets close to room temperature. I think it is still a very good coffee but definitely one that you want to drink warm versus drinking it cold - unless you like the bitterness of the cold coffee.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this between 8.3 and 8.5 - it is definitely a quality coffee and one that should not be overlooked when you're shopping the supermarket shelves at Safeway.

As always, may your next cup be your best

Starbucks Sumatra Coffee - Review

Sumatra Coffee by Starbucks

My first impression of this coffee was when I was grinding it. This coffee has a wonderful slightly smoky sweet smell when it's being ground. The beans are nice and oily. They have a nice little sheen on them but they are not excessively oily. It is a fairly dark roast. Starbucks rating of this coffee is extra bold. If the aroma is any indication of the flavor, it should be really awesome.

Sumatra is one of the largest of the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia. Almost 90 percent of the coffee grown there is robusta, so finding high quality arabica beans is difficult to do. Most of the growers are independent farmers who grow this coffee close to their homes. This certainly makes for better quality control of the growing beans.


Buy Some Starbucks Sumatra Single Origin Coffee Here


I brewed this coffee as a Americano. The first taste of this blend is very rich - it has a lot of depth and dark roast coffee flavor. This coffee isn't very bitter despite it's extra bold designation by Starbucks.

It has a smooth flavor and very clean finish. This is arguably one of Starbucks better coffees. I have not drank it before and I am really impressed with the overall flavor and taste of this coffee.

After sweetening, I noticed a distinct earthiness in the coffee. The flavor of this coffee lingers in the mouth considerably longer after you sweeten it. It has a definite chocolate taste after sweetening as well.

On a flavor scale of one to 10, I would rate this somewhere between a 8.8 to a 9.2 - is definitely a real winner and is good for almost any coffee drinker. It has a really likable flavor, even when it is made up as a strong brew. According to one source, this is Starbucks best selling single origin coffee.

As always, may your next cup be the best.