Costa Rica Tarrazu by Safeway Select

Safeway Select Costa Rica Tarrazu

The aroma of this coffee has a lot of depth. It has a slightly acidic smell to it and has an extreme depth of aroma that tells you it's an extremely rich dark roast coffee.

I'm brewed this coffee as an Americano and was pleasantly surprised by the results. With the very first sip of this coffee, you start thinking about items to pair it with such as some nice milk chocolate or some quality dark chocolate.

Despite this being a dark roast it is extremely smooth and subtle to the taste. Although I normally drink coffee with sweetener, this coffee definitely is one that you can easily drink unsweetened because there is no large amount of bitterness to it.

When you roll the coffee across your tongue by slurping it you notice a definite earthiness to this particular blend.

I would rate this coffee on a scale of 1 to 10 at about 9.2 - it is not the greatest coffee on the shelf but definitely one that bears serious investigation if you are a true coffee lover. The folks at Safeway select have done an excellent job of getting the best of out of these beans - I don't think that they can play second to Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Peet's or any other major coffee in this in this particular instance.

The great thing about this coffee is it's as near as your local Safeway store.

I hope you find this review helpful in your search for that perfect cup of coffee and, as always, may your next cup be your best!

Videos For The Week Of October 24, 2011

More Methods For Roasting Your Own Green Coffee Beans

I found three additional methods for roasting your own Dark Roast Coffee. I am finding that a lot of folks out there are very inventive when it comes to making devices to make their own dark roasted blend. I hope you will find these as interesting as I have. I don't recommend two of them for the obvious safety issues they have. Do these at your own risk - I don't want to be responsible for anyone burning down their home.

As Always, may your next cup be your best.

I-Roaster

Another home roasting machine - it is fairly automatic and seems to work well. The Australian machine is designed to run on 220-240 volts. If you can set up the correct electrical power for it, it will run you around $424.95, in Australian Dollars. The information on the web site says that those wanting it for international use should contact them about it.

Using A Bread Maker To Roast Coffee

In this method, the roaster uses a bread making machine to stir the beans and uses a hot air gun to roast the beans. If you don't mind having chaff all over your kitchen, I guess it is a great way to roast your beans. I don't endorse this one for safety reasons!

Coffee Roasting African Style

This contraption uses an old computer case as a power supply, an electric screwdriver to spin the basket full of beans over a burner. It is messy and looks like a really big fire hazard - do this at your own risk!!

Café Solano by Peet's Coffee - Review

Peet's Coffee Café Solano

With the very first taste of this coffee, you can tell it's a medium roast. It has a pleasant mouth feel, and some good depth to the flavor. (I know, I am supposed to stick to dark roast coffee for the blog, but wait this is good stuff - read on!)

I tasted this coffee as an Americano. This blend has no noticeable bitterness and is very pleasant as an unsweetened coffee; the roasters at Peet's Coffee have been very successful in bringing out the best in these particular coffee beans.

As the coffee cools you notice a slight amount of bitterness - this coffee is very smooth.

This is an excellent coffee for sipping all day and would also be excellent with almost any meal.

If you have a guest that prefers the more traditional coffee such as Folgers or other commercial brands I would recommend this for them. This coffee is not overpowering and not excessively strong. It just has a great taste and smoothness that almost anyone can appreciate.

Upon sweetening, this coffee shows it's smooth character even further. This would be a great coffee for after dinner as a desert by itself. A good pairing with this would be a slice of apple pie or even just some freshly sliced apples.

This is a quality coffee that will not disappoint. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this at 9.3 - the quality of this coffee is obvious from the very first sip.

I hope this will help you in your search for a great cup of coffee. And, as always, may your next cup be your best!