#BeckThinks

I was so excited to try this that I forgot to snap the pic before brewing!!! Barnie’s Coffee brings back great memories. They used to have a small walk-up cafe in my local mall growing up. My mom loves to shop, so we were often there bonding over our shared love of coffee. Something about sitting in a cafe with adults made this teenage girl feel very grown up. :)   Anyway- once the Starbucks moved in downstairs, time was ticking for the Barnie’s store. My mother fought for it, claiming that she wants her flavors in the roast, not by way of additives to unflavored coffee.   I admit, Barnie’s, I often chose the Starbucks. Chai had just become a thing and it got me. Ordering an obscure Turkish tea drink that I sampled during its limited release in Los Angeles trounced sitting in a cafe with adults.   However, any time I smelled White Christmas blend or walked by the cafe, Barnie’s got my love again.   So, many years after that cafe’s closing, one could imagine how excit...

A coffee from the company that makes one of my favorite popcorn snacks AND the most delicious individually wrapped pears ever?? Sign me up. Just a caveat: Maple Walnut flavored things can go very VERY wrong. So I approached this cup with excitement and apprehension.   Fragrance: Throw out your Yankee Candles. You can brew this stuff and your whole house will smell like a comfy, Canadian ski lodge with a fire and fluffy socks. Wait... the sock reference was illustrative of the FEEL,   not the SMELL. It doesn’t smell like socks. Unless they were maple walnut socks. That aren’t actually socks. Sock-adjacent maple walnut thingees. That.   Flavor: Holy cannoli! This is flipping delicious! The coffee itself is actually kinda bitter and acidic, but it needs to be in order to balance out the syrupy sweet maple walnut flavor. I don’t tend to like heavily flavored coffees, but with a little milk foam and some cinnamon... I’d die and go to Home Barista Heaven.   Recommended for...

  Here’s a honest-to-goodness actual review of Folgers Classic Roast.        Okay, so it’s the coffee that reminds me of visiting someone’s grandma. And the weird-ass Folgers Crystals thing. WTH, y’all. It’s motel room coffee machine coffee, right? The swill languishing in the bottom of a glass carafe brewer that sits buzzing and lurching in the nameless highway exit gas station.      No? Just me?        So, I admit that I have bias. Folgers and Maxwell House do not bring forth pleasant imagery of work worn hands plucking tropical beans for pre-roast inspection. They remind me of waiting rooms, service stations with dirty bathrooms, and uncomfortable conversations.        When I saw this pod in my newest variety pack, I rolled my eyes. Great. They sent me the worst part of waking up. Peter must have come home for Christmas. Get my pink bath robe and some hot rollers.        Then, my lawye...

  Just a warning in advance. This review may be biased because there are Manatees involved. Manatees are everything.  Though, they should have called it "dark island."  Carry on.   Fragrance: Dark chocolate, campfire s’mores, and a hint of floral. Sorta like a beach bonfire.   Flavor: Like it’s namesake, this brew is strong and gentle. Rich, full bodied roast that doesn’t leave you with a sharkbite aftertaste. It does have a rich chocolate undertone, but not in a candy bar sort of way. More like a $15 thimble full of chocolate mousse at a restaurant that requires a jacket. Similarly to watching a sea cow chomp on some floating lettuce, this brew is comforting, sweet, has a big presence, and is flipping majestic.   Recommended for:   Beachside sips while watching the sunset. This dark roast won’t hop you up all night.   A pleasant, slow swim. Take your time with this one.   Dessert. Cuz who’s counting calories around here?   Not recommen...

  Barista Prima Coffeehouse House Blend Medium Roast Coffee. That's a long ass name. This review proves that coffees covered in fancy sounding words in multiple languages are probably a let-down.  Fragrance:   It smells like hot chocolate with some coffee mixed into it. It’s a tad floral as well.    Flavor:   This is a very strong, somewhat bitter cup. I think some of the beans were over roasted, probably due to blending low quality beans with higher quality and roasting them at the same temperature and duration. The chocolate flavor is almost totally drowned by the bitterness. This cup reminds me of Maxwell House’s fancy blends. That’s not a compliment. Maxwell House is pretty terrible no matter what blend they sell you.  I tried adding a splash of milk and a touch of sugar to cut the bitterness. It was a little better, but the sugar and the coffee did a dance that left my mouth reeling between sweetness and bitterness. The additives felt separate fro...

  Stop. Caffeinate and listen. I live in South Florida. It won't feel like Fall here until Winter and sometimes it's just way too hot for a steaming cup of joe. So, drop the zero and get with the hero. Ice is back with a brand new invention.  Grab yourself a nice dark brew and a silicone ice tray. One 12 oz cup brews enough for about 8 big ice cubes. Evenly distribute the brew in the tray and yo VIP. Let's freeze it.  Drop two or three of these in your mug with a splash of flavored creamer and a generous pour of cold milk. Then, brew a six ounce cup of a strong coffee right over top of it. If all the ice melts, add another cube after brewing.  If coffee is your problem, yo I'll solve it. Check out my cup while my Keurig revolves it.  Enjoy, friends! 

I woke up this morning, smiled with the rising sun. This little brew was in my Kcup bringing sweet sips, a flavor that’s pure and true.   This is my message to you.   Fragrance: Sweet dank. This cup smells very fresh. I know it must have been ground weeks ago, but the kcup must have an incredible freshness seal on it. It has a dusty, cocoa powder smell to it along with the roast that is comforting and lovely. It reminds me of a freshly ground French press brew.   Flavor: Glittering kief. Again, cocoa takes the spotlight. The roast is dark, but not at all bitter. The carbon doesn’t overpower this nutty, rich blend. This is definitely a blend for a giant nug...er.... mug under a cozy blanket on a cold day.   Recommended for: This coffee isn’t just for wake-and-bake. The darker roast lowers the caffeine content, so it would be a very nice afternoon cup as well.   Munchies. This coffee could be a lovely dessert brew with just a touch of cream. Not recommended for: ...

Today’s contestant:   Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf House Blend Light Roast Coffee by COR. Fragrance: Dump a container of high quality raw cocoa on some really verdant moss and you’ve got the smell of this coffee. I like it. 🙂 Strength:   This reminds me of the strength of coffee I’d get in Italy or Spain. It tastes like a really great espresso Americano.   It would hold up to milk and sugar, but I wouldn’t add them.   Flavor:   I can tell that this coffee is just BARELY roasted. You can taste the fruity, green rawness of the beans. This isn’t a coffee for casual, Dunkin Donuts coffee milkshake drinkers. It’s complex in flavor and it tastes very young. Not everybody is into the taste of the coffee berries or the raw beans in their cups. It’s not what most people expect to taste in their diner cups or home brews.   I drank another coffee yesterday that was all about the taste of the roasting process. It was smoky, almost ashy, and very dark. That’s closer to wha...

Wolfgang Puck Breakfast in Bed Medium Roast Frankly, I was not too excited to write this review. This is an unremarkable cup. Fragrance :  Smells pretty much like diner coffee.  If smells had some kind of smellcyclopedia, this cup would be under the heading "Basic Coffee."  Flavor:   Tastes pretty much like diner coffee. The only difference is that many diner coffees are too strong to take without milk and sugar. This one, I could drink black. The aftertaste is the best part- it coats your tongue with a nutty, roasty, chocolate cookie flavor that, while pleasant, isn’t anything to write home about.   Recommended for:   That slam-and-go cup. Pop this one black into a Yeti and head to work. Morning cups. Medium roasts have higher caffeine than dark and not much will be lost on sleepy tastebuds.   Not recommended for: Heavy additives. It’ll drown out what little flavor is there.   Dessert coffee. This will keep you jacked well into the night. I feel ...

Guy Fieri Guy’s American Diner Blend Is this coffee gonna take me to flavor town in a flame job classic convertible that I don’t actually drive? I’d bet my Hip Youth Pastor by Affliction styling kit it will.   Fragrance:   It smells like cookies. Not really good cookies. Like the cookies left over from the 100 calorie variety pack that languish in your pantry until your next do-or-die sugar craving. Those. Throw in some heavy carbon and a hint of cocoa. That’s the smell.   Flavor (town): It tastes a little like those boring cookies, too. Except burnt versions. “American Diner Coffee” = “Expensive Waffle House Coffee.”   *reaches for the milk and sugar*   Recommended for:   Icing. This would make great coffee ice cubes for your triple mocha wacky frappajappa dinglechino with five pumps of fairy tears.   Heavy additives. And possibly a pecan waffle.   Not recommended for: Sipping and savoring. I can feel this coffee rotting my teeth.   Paying m...

Double Donut Coffee French Roast   Fragrance:  The aroma here is allllll roast. It’s not bitter and burnt smelling like an over roast, but the smell of the raw beans is not present. Flavor: This is a full-bodied, low acid cup. There are hints of chocolate in this heavy carbon flavor, but it’s not so roasted that it’s bitter. For French roasts, it’s pleasantly lacking in acidity and punch.   French roasts are close to as dark as they come, so you have to be careful with them. A millisecond too long in the roaster, they turn into Maxwell House burn-flavored battery acid. I’m always very impressed when a pleasant French roast can be achieved because the optimum roast time is a matter of seconds until disaster strikes. French is very hit-or-miss because of that.   That said, this is a lovely French. Full bodied with a hint of spice in the aftertaste.   Recommended for:   Drinking black. A good French is really really good by itself. Rich and full-flavo...