Matt’s Cuppa

My package from Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea Company arrived a few days ago, and last night we sampled some of their new coffee blend, Jamaican Me Crazy. Honestly, it was alright. I’d drink it again, but I wouldn’t pay for it.

I brewed the coffee in a glass press using filtered water. The coffee was ground when it arrived. The first thing we noticed was the aroma. The smoothness of the caramel and vanilla are definitely present in the aroma, but it was not a syrupy sweetness like you’d expect to find. It didn’t overwhelm the smell of the beans.

Four tablespoons of coffee steeped for four minutes in 24 oz. of water. This is our usual manner of steeping coffee. When we first tried the liqueur it seemed not to have enough body. We let it continue to steep for an additional two minutes, after which the body was more full.

As for the taste, there was no syrupy sweetness to the liqueur, which I call a good thing. The added flavors hid respectfully behind the taste of the beans. The beans themselves tasted somewhat over-roasted. Not surprising, since this is often done to maintain a uniform taste from batch to batch. However, the astringent taste of the burnt beans was rather more pronounced than I prefer.

I mentioned the body earlier, but even after over-steeping, I found the body to be very short-lived. The initial flavor and the astringent after-flavor would be better served by a longer lasting body.

Overall, I can say that the coffee is pretty good, but that it does not stand up to critical scrutiny. I would brew it perhaps for friends or perhaps after dinner, but not for anything where the coffee is the focal point. My regret is that I cannot say how much of the flavor is unique to this blend, as I have no other Joffrey’s blend to use as a benchmark.

Popularity: 10% [?]

To begin with I’m not really a fan of flavored coffees. But I was so impressed by the marketing idea for this new flavored coffee by Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea Company that I felt it was worth participating.

That’s why Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company is joining the party and
offering a new kind of beta test open to all bloggers – only this
time it’s for Java.

Basically, Joffrey’s put out a call to bloggers, offering them a free sample of their new blend and a link on their site in exchange for a blog post.

Someone at Joffrey’s deserves some huge recognition. They effectively targeted a segment of the population that survives off of caffeine, loves freebies, and will do anything for a little link-love and hired that segment as a media front-end– for little more than the price of a stamp and a pot of coffee.

According to their beta site, their are 1165 blogs participating; in other words at least 1165 people that will potentially purchase prom Joffrey’s just because they were given a free sample. Let’s say that less than half of them follow through with the whole blog post thing. That’s still 500-some press releases out there in the blogosphere. And don’t forget the news media picked up the story because it was a.) unique and b.) blogged about.

Like I said, I’m not a huge fan of flavored coffee. I’d rather be drinking a fine darjeeling. But the coffee wasn’t bad. (Look for a separate post on that.) I may not order pound after pound of Jamaican Me Crazy flavored coffee, but I’m convinced that Joffrey’s is one hip company. And in the blogger demographic, where recommendations and referrals are the stuff of life, that scores a lot of points.

Popularity: 21% [?]

REI Woodland Vest - Men’s from REI.com

After our cold snap last week, I have to rave about this vest from REI. I’ve been looking for over a year for a good vest that I can wear under a coat, since layers are a must for surviving the Minnesota winter. I got this one from REI as a Christmas gift.

The fabric contains 85% recycled polyester and is a part of REI’s eco-friendly initiative to find better and more efficient materials and manufacturing processes. And it is so freaking warm! Last week, when I was waiting for the train and the temp was below zero, I swear I was the only one in the state that didn’t have to thaw their internal organs after coming inside. Thirteen degrees below zero is cold no matter how many pairs of underwear you have on, but I survived, thanks to my eco-friendly REI polar fleece vest! Disclaimer: I’m an REI member.

Popularity: 15% [?]