A Change in Focus with Southern Pecan Coffee

Unfortunately, it looks like I will need to change some of my coffee focus for this blog for a while. I have given home roasting a good, solid go, and there is nothing more satisfying than my own roast.

However, because of issues with ventilation, and allergies, I cannot keep it up like I was. It was simply too physically painful. It is fine, and something I will have to accept. Because of this little adventure, I have learned a lot about coffee. I have learned a lot of about identifying traits in a coffee from the smell and the look of the beans.

Most importantly, I have learned a lot about what I like.

Because of this, I am going to start shifting my focus to trying different coffees and reviewing them. There is a wider array than just what is on the shelf in WalMart. I will principally be focusing on drip and press methods rather than focusing on espresso. However, if I can do it, I'll talk about coffees prepared using espresso extractions.

Which is amusing and slightly ironic that I am starting out officially with this new mission with a coffee I have only tasted from several lungo espressos made in a Jura.

To preface, you should not put flavored beans in a machine with an integrated burr grinder. Let me repeat, do not put flavored whole beans through the grinder built into an automatic coffee center. The oils in the coffee can do some bad things to the grinder and potentially clog it.

However, someone had brought this in, and we had to try it, so we were able to abuse the pre-ground options in one of these machines.

Normally, I do not go in for flavored whole bean coffees. I like coffee, and I like the taste of coffee. However, when I was younger, I thought flavored coffees were the way to go. In the fifteen or so years since, I really have not messed with them as my tastes have changed.

Enter Michael's Gourmet Coffee Southern Pecan. Since it is a flavored coffee, and we put it through a pump espresso machine, the flavor oils were forced into the crema. That caused the flavoring to linger in the nose, but never quite make it to the tongue. If you like pecans, or butter pecan ice cream, I think you really would like this coffee. All around the tasters, it seems like there is a fifty-fifty split. The coffee itself is light and mild, just how I like it in espresso. There is no bitterness or burned quality. The beans are more of a light, ruddy brown.

I like it, but I like butter pecan ice cream.

I am curious about the coffees and the roaster this stuff comes from. Pricing doesn't seem too bad based off their website. This coffee runs $7.49 for a standard three quarters of a pound bag. The person who bought the bag, picked it up on clearance at Gordman's in Avon, IN for a lot less than that.