Spyhouse Coffee Roasting is my first coffee from Minnesota.  I like their story and I had heard good things. Check out their US page on the website.  It's interesting.  They went from focusing on the art of art to the art of the bean, though they have kept their focus on people. A lot of the time the coffee I choose has as much to do with the company as it does with the coffee itself.  Lots and lots of people can roast a good bean - but that's not all there is to choosing coffee.  Not for me anyway.  Supporting companies with a philosophy that I can agree with is important.  Some summer I will try to make it up to a cafe and have a cup in person.  I'm too allergic to cold and snow to go any other time of year.  

I went with a Costa Rican coffee since I don't have it as often as others.

Plus the story behind the beans is cool too.  Aguilera Brothers is a family business that manages 6 farms and a micro mill.  There are 12 siblings who inherited the business and keep it going.  Check out their story on Spyhouse.  You can also download an info packet if you want.  I don't need to download an info pack for me, I'm sharing some of this with people who don't interwebs so well - and now I have the information printed out for them.  Without typing it myself.  I could type it - thanks to growing up in an age of actual typewriters I type VERY fast.  I'm just a fan of anything that lets me be a little lazy.  

I brewed this a couple of ways - the Aeropress and the V60.  Liked both methods.  Did the V60 more often because my husband always wants me to share.  I got a bit more sweetness with the Aeropress though the two methods were actually pretty similar with this one.

The aroma was sweet and floral - almost a candy scent.  

As far as drinking it goes this was an interesting cup of coffee.  It really changes from sip to swallow.  At first it was smooth and quiet but as you swallow the brightness really comes through and lingers - along with a sweetness.  Like the shy person that is really bright and bubbly once they open up to you. 

I got a tart sweetness and it wasn't candied like I thought it might be based on the aroma.  It wasn't bitey tart like a tart apple but like a tart pear.  The red kind, not the green ones that I don't like much. 

I picked up on the honeysuckle in the florals, but not an elderflower which wasn't bad because I don't like elderflower.  As the cup cooled I got more of the pear taste coming through and something that reminded me of muscadines.  

This is a great coffee for sipping while knitting and crocheting.  I didn't really have it with any food - fiber art time is generally food free.  I did once have a couple of m&ms while drinking a cup.  It was a terrible match!  That's why it was a couple and not a handful.  I can thank Spyhouse for keeping me on my diet that day.  LOL!

I got an awesome enamel mug too!

Here's all the info on the beans, region etc.  I like when it's on the label.  I'm never going to be one of those bloggers that remembers to tell you those sorts of details.  This is all about coffee I enjoyed drinking, and I did enjoy this one a lot!

As of this writing the coffee is available on their website at 
http://spyhousecoffee.com/collections/coffee-offerings/products/aguilera-brothers-costa-rica


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If anyone is going to have an opinion on what makes a good coffee cup - it will be me.  I don't mean a good cup of coffee, though I certainly have opinions about that as well.  No, for this post I'm talking about what makes a good vessel for that sweet delightful nectar known as coffee.

There are lots and lots of good cups on the market and a whole lot of bad ones too. When I am looking for cups I have certain things I keep an eye out for.  

1.  Size - The giant ones are cool, but unless it's for someone who drinks a LOT of extra large lattes or mochas - the coffee is going to be ice cold by the time they get to the bottom.  Something that holds 12 - 16 oz is usually a good size.  I have plenty that only hold 8 oz and I like them too, but I have to refill them.  I do have a few that are MUCH larger - I don't use them unless I am drinking iced coffee, lattes or for ice cream.

2.  Weight - So many of the novelty cups are super light weight.  They are thin and then to chip easily and the coffee gets cold way too fast.  Also thin walls can make the mug too hot to hold.  I've even had a few where the handle gets uncomfortably hot.

Two of the cups from my collection.  I bought the cow mug because it makes me laugh.  It's NOT a good mug.  It's lightweight - 400grams and huge, anything I put in it gets cold before I'm done.  The Rook mug is a diner mug - a style I prefer.  Despite being having a MUCH smaller volume than the cow mug it weighs 575grams.  Nice thick walls that keep my coffee warm and don't transfer the heat to my hands when I'm holding it.  

3.  How easy is it to clean?  Mugs with smooth interiors can be washed out.  There are some on the market with little critters in the middle.  Those can be a pain to wash if you don't get to them right away.  Also, is the mug for someone who doesn't mind hand washing? I don't, but there have been a couple of times I've gotten lazy and mugs that should have been hand washed went into the dishwasher.    

4.  Construction - Although I like china cups and they make me feel all fancy - they are not the best when it comes to coffee.  They have such wide tops and the contact with the air cools my coffee quickly.  As you might have guessed - I like coffee to be hot when it's brewed for that.  Iced coffee is another thing, but when I want hot coffee I want it to be HOT.  The enamel mugs are really cool and great for camping trips because they won't break - but they do tend to cool fast.  Doesn't stop me from loving them, I just have to drink fast.  I also have to make sure to take care with the handles.  They can get hot.  This little mug (it is really on the small side)  from The Filling Station is amazing when it comes to keeping coffee hot.  It's got a double walled construction that insulates the coffee but keeps the outside cool to the touch.  And I like the saying.  :-)

Ok, those are a few things that make a good mug for me.

it has to be a good size, washable & keep my coffee warm without burning my hand.  And cute.  It has to be visually appealing.  That's the easy part.  

Anything I missed?  What do you think makes a good mug?

Some time ago I was at Kaldi's Coffee in Kansas City.  They had a Keep Cup with their logo on it and I'm always on the look out for cups I might like - so I got it.  This one, right here.

It quickly became one of my favorites.  It also became one of those that I have an irrational attachment to and resentment of anyone else using.  My husband also liked it and would grab it saying things like "let me get my coffee cup"  To which I always replied - "that is NOT YOUR coffee cup"  For the sake of marital harmony - I got him his own Keep Cup.  It came yesterday.  Won't be a photo of it because he's go it with him in the car, but it looks a lot like the Kaldi's one, except the band and cup colors are reversed.  That's one of the awesome things about Keep Cups - you can really really customize them.  Something classic and dignified or like my new one - a child's sippy cup for coffee.

It's bright and fun and fitting for a balloon artist like me.  Also, the colors tell a story.  In college my hair was bright pink.  Most recently it's purple and aqua - and yellow is one of my favorite colors.  I paint my kitchen yellow because it's bright, happy and fun.  The kitchen is the heart of the home, so it should be bright, happy and fun.  So you can see why those are the colors I chose for my new cup.

I'm a sucker for good packaging and the Keep Cup people did not disappoint me.  Check out this mailer!!

When I got it there were two cups in it, so it was tall, like on the left.  However I noticed that it is very versatile and while it might or might not work for two of the large size cups, you can do several small, a couple of mediums, some mediums and some smalls.  All sorts of things.  I know that I'm going to Pinterest the heck out of the box and it will soon become a place to store my knitting projects in progress.  

The colors and fun, the packaging is cool, but there's more to the product than that.  Keep cups are designed to cut down on disposable cup use.  On their website they have a section that helps make the impact of reusable cups personal.   I just started and entered 4 times - the amount of times I used my keep cup last week.  5 more uses and I will have saved enough energy to power a light bulb for 24 hours.  I'm a grown up and all of that, but even for us big kids it's more engaging to see it presented like this instead of graphs and numbers.

Reusable or not, cool website or not - I would use this if it was hard to clean or left a weird taste in my coffee.  It is super easy to clean and my coffee tastes fine.  I spend a lot of $$ on my beans - putting them in something that is going to change the taste is a big no no!

Visit http://www.keepcup.com.au/  and check them out.  They are an Australian company, but if you're in the USA like me, that's not an issue.  They have an order page set up just for us and shipping is from LA, so it's not expensive.  

This was written as a guest post for KC Coffee Geek.  Check out www.kccoffeegeek.com  for lots of coffee news, reviews and information.

My second coffee from Madcap Coffee Company.  I had wandered into Second Best to see if they had any of their El Salvador beans on the shelf.  They might have, I never got that far.  I saw the bag of Kenyan from Madcap and went for that.  I'm really loving Kenyan coffees right now and I already liked Macap - so it was a no brainer.  

The Madcap Coffee  website has a lot of interesting information about the region and the farms where the beans are grown.  Check it out at https://madcapcoffee.com/buy/coffee/kathakwa


When I squeezed the bag the air that escaped the valve smelled AMAZING!.  I'm that person who gets excited and tries to drag you into it.  
 I went around the aerial studio making everyone smell it.   Everyone agreed that it smelled heavenly.  Kept my fingers crossed that the smell would lead into a cup that was equally wonderful.

No worries on that front.  It was a very tasty cup of coffee.  Actually now it's been several very tasty cups of coffee.

I did an Aeropress first.  Mostly because I could not wait.  I'm not known for my patience.  No pictures of that - but photos of an AeroPress in action are not hard to come by.  This cup was actually my second cup - made with a V60.

One of my Instagram friends has been doing something called the Pool Pour in his V60.  I didn't see a lot of information on it online, but it seemed pretty straight forward.  Make a hole in the grounds and start your pour there.

So I tried it.


I actually like the results.  I seemed to get a nice even bloom.  Not that I wasn't before.  Sometimes things with coffee can be very subtle.  I might like method A but for whatever reason method B is just better - even if it doesn't seem like it should be. Another coffee person may have a totally opposite opinion.  

Enjoyed the coffee more with the V60 than the Aeropress.  I'm going to have to play with the recipe a little to see if I can get it just right.  I used 17gr of beans & 220 gr water for my Aeropress and 30gr/coffee 450gr water for my V60.  As I said before, things can be subtle and of course they can vary from day to day.  That's why I say coffee is as much an art as a science.  I can give you ratios, but if your coffee is older or the house more humid than mine - it's going to taste different.  Or maybe my perfect strength is not the right one for you.  

Anyway - back to the coffee in question.

Cup #3 was brewed in my Kalita Wave.  Again with the 30g coffee/ 450gr water

So far this has been my favorite of the cups.  

With all 3 the aroma was heavy and sweet.  I got a fall baked goods kind of scent.  A hint of spice, some sweetness like soaked raisins.  Maybe that's why I like the Kenyans so much right now.  Fall is in the air and the heavy, dark fruitiness of the Kenyans this year just fits.  I found myself wishing they would make this coffee's scent as an air freshener instead of the boring apple pie fall scents they come out with every year.  

The taste was bright and vibrant and very complex.  Each sip brought a new taste.  There was a heavy sweetness to it with some dried fruits, like raisins and darker fruits like red plums or maybe even prunes.  I love prunes and snack on them a lot - I guess that taste would be dried plums, but the drying concentrates the tastes and sugars.  I also picked up some citrus.  The website tastes notes say tangerine but I would go for mandarin oranges or clementines.  I got some spice, kind of peppery maybe or cardamom.  With the Kalita I got hints of cocoa which I did not get with the other two methods.  With the Aeropress I had more citrus in the cup and lost out on some of the darker fruit flavors that I enjoyed so much.  

Despite being a medium/full bodied coffee with a heavier dark taste, there is a lot of brightness to this cup.   It's a balanced brightness though - not an in your face slap.  It's a good wake you up coffee but also a nice after meal drink.

 In the past my problem with coffees from Kenya has been that they were roasted too dark and lost too much brightness leaving just bitter sugar OR they were overly bright giving my mouth that just washed out with astringent taste.  The crops this year seem to be better or the roasters have just figured it out.  Either way, it's good.  

The mouthfeel was nice, full but not heavy.  I would compare it to Earl Gray tea.  It's full and deep, but not heavy like syrup.  The aftertaste was a little dry with a bit of a citrus taste.  That's when the mandarin taste came through for me the most.  

The foods... Didn't hate this one with bananas.  That's becoming a thing with me lately.  Mostly because I have a LOT of bananas lately.  (big sale at the farmer's market the past few weeks)  The sweetness of bananas does not always work with coffees, especially bright ones.  This one wasn't bad at all.  Bananas, walnuts and raisins in my oatmeal and it paired pretty well.  Another time I had it with eggs, spinach and goat cheese.  Also a win.  With coconut curry?  Yeah, not so much.  The spices clashed.  Good with baked chicken and regular potato - but not so great with the bite of sweet potato.  Not bad with a peanut butter cup either. (not that I would ever break my diet and eat a peanut butter cup)

None of the ways I prepared it was bad.  Each brought out different things in the cup.  The Aeropress was more citrus and a little brighter.  The V60 had more of the  spice in it and Kalita had more of the darker fruits.  I should make espresso with this and see what happens.  Some sort of fancy drink with foamy milk and flavors.  Maybe make my own pumpkin latte with more spice and less sugar than the Bucks version.  Mmmmmmmmm, I know what I'm doing this afternoon.  

Thank you to KC Coffegeek for giving me a chance to share my thoughts!  Check out Madcap Coffee.  I've enjoyed both of the coffees I've had from them.  

When it comes to filling in my map - Angel's Cup has been a huge help.  I get to try coffee from all over and I'm not stuck with a bag of beans I HATE since they come as samples.  That's happened 3 times so far in my coffee "road trip"  I like the samples.  Plus I've gotten some from roasters that I already knew I liked and that's cool too.  :-)  Today's mail had lots of gifts in it.  I had Flight Coffee from New Hampshire.  I love the rocket on the bag.  The Angel's Cup samples had two new roasters for me to try.  One from Kentucky and one from Alabama.  I'm excited.  After I drink these I'll have 32 states filled in on my map.  

On Instagram I met another coffee nut who is doing a 50 states coffee tour.  You can follow his journey on Tumblr.  http://ksbaryton.tumblr.com/post/128611188723/the-united-states-of-coffee

If you're doing something similar, I would love to hear from you!

I had a bit of a happy accident when ordering coffee for my 50 States of Coffee project.  I have several friends who like Raven's Brew so I decided to order their house blend for my Alaska coffee.  It's a dark brew.  Something I don't normally go for.  I've had some dark roasts that I like but most of the time they are way too roasty.  Still Raven's Brew has a good rep and I gave them a whirl.  

The accident part was that I didn't notice they also roasted in Washington state.  Makes sense when you have customers in the lower 48.   Reduces the heck out of shipping costs.  However it means that I still don't have an Alaska coffee. I've listed them under both Alaska and Washington on the roaster list.  

As always I love a good design and their packaging does not disappoint.  I liked several of the different bags and the creative covers for each blend.  I didn't order a mug since they didn't have one with the house blend logo and I kind of wanted it to match.

At first I did not enjoy this coffee.  I was getting too much roast in the taste and I'm not a fan of that.  That was with the pour overs.  V60, Kalita Wave & Beehouse.  Then I tried it in the AeroPress and it was a whole new experience.  I also got great results with the french press AND an old fashioned stove top peculator.  It's hard to get results with that.  This would be a good coffee to take camping based on the methods that worked for me.

I'm reviewing the AeroPress cup here since it was my favorite.  

I used the recipe that won Nick Hatch 2nd place in the WAC-2-015 AeroPress competition  Why?  Because I generally like that one.  I'm still playing with different ratios to see which one I like better.  Varies from coffee to coffee, but this is where I've been starting lately.  Worked well for this one.

Instead of bitter roasty water I got a cup with depth and a lot of body.  It had a nice heavy aroma.  I could smell the roast, but it was pleasant, not over powering.  Like smelling your favorite food grilling.  Some sweetness in the aroma and some spice.  I was thinking sugar and spice. as I breathed it in.

The body was full and comforting.  It had a deep, rich sweetness that got stronger for me as the cup cooled. The sweetness reminded me of cocoa sprinkled fruits.  Blood orange maybe, along with raisin, currant and darker red fruits.  It was a heavy sweetness.  There was a spiciness that came through in the aftertaste, which lingered, I didn't get a lot of the spiciness upfront but it did leave a good taste in my mouth.  It's interesting how coffee changes not just from day to day, but even from sip to swallow.  I got a good acidity, but not a bitter bite. (at least not with this brew method) There was a pleasant dryness to the aftertaste as well. The cocoa taste got stronger for me as it cooled, but it was there throughout the cup.  Not quite baker's chocolate, not really sweet enough to be milk chocolate either.  Fancy eating chocolate is my best analogy.  I probably should brush up on "official" coffee terms - but I'm not going to.  I'm just going to drink it and use whatever words I like.  :-)

Foods - Great with my pancakes.  Good with eggs.  Not so great with my afternoon salad.  

If you try this one and you have the equipment be sure to try brewing it different ways.  Especially if you're like me and the first one or three don't really work for you.  I'm glad I went through the other methods because I ended up really enjoying this bag.  

check out Raven's Brew on the web - The entire site is pretty interesting, so don't just go straight to what they have for sale.  

I have a lot of weight to lose, but that's ok because it's less than the amount I have already lost.  This is a coffee blog, not a fitness blog, so it's normally not a topic for this space.  However in the past week I have heard several people say something along the lines of "I had to give up coffee took too many calories to make it drinkable"  

Ummm

NO IT DOESN'T

Anyone who says that is drinking the wrong coffee.  If you have to add milk and creamer every day then you're not drinking quality coffee.  Good coffee is an amazing creature and for just a few calories (about 7 a cup) you can have a taste treat that delights the senses and leaves you satisfied.

I drink coffee every day. 

LOTS of coffee 

And  this isn't me anymore

It would be if I drank tons of sugar and creamer filled concoctions - but I don't do that.  Most of the time I drink it black because

COFFEE IS NATURALLY SWEET.  

I don't need the caffeine to exercise, but it doesn't hurt.  Gives me energy and can cut down of muscles soreness afterwards.

I won't credit coffee with my losing 165lbs so far.  That was a lot of hard work and eating right.  It's about making choices.  What coffee I drink is one of those choices.  If I choose bad coffee I'm making the choice to add calories to it just to make it drinkable.  When I choose the good stuff - and yes, it costs more - I'm choosing to enjoy the actual coffee with all it's wonderful flavors.  I don't need to hide them and I don't need to eliminate it from my diet just because I want to lose weight.  I get very tired of hearing people say that.  Because I'm known as a coffee lover, people say it to me a LOT.  Then I tell them they're drinking the wrong coffee and the conversation goes downhill from there.  From now on I'm just going to say "I did a blog post on that."  'Cause now I have.  

If you want to keep having your morning cup of joe but don't want to add sugar - start with a great bean. I prefer pour overs and what I call "complicated coffee" but you don't have to do any of that.  I don't deny being a coffee snob, but only a moderate one.  I know that not everyone wants to put as much time into getting it made as I do.  You can still get a much improved cup of coffee by using good beans, freshly ground if possible, in your normal drip machine.  (don't get me started on the single cup monsters) 

Google roasters in your area and go buy a bag.  Most will grind them for you if you need.  Not sure what to buy?  You can start with something basic like a Brazillian or Ethiopian.  Most people like those.  Taste the coffee before you add anything.  With a sweet coffee you can really go too far if you're not careful.  Before long you'll find that you don't want to add anything that might cover up the taste of the fancy, locally roasted beans you just bought.  

And then you can spend your calories on something else.  Even a tall skinny mocha from the Bucks has 110 calories.  That's 110 calories that can go for real food.  Drinking coffee at home?  Sugar has 16 calories a teaspoon and flavored creamers have about 35 calories a serving - but most people I know use two or more servings of each per cup.  That's at least 109 calories a cup and if you have more than a couple cups a day it really adds up.  Again - calories that can go for REAL FOOD.   

Just something to think about.

There is a new potter at the City Market and I treated myself to a new cup

I love handmde mugs!

It's KC Coffeegeek's 1 year Blogiversary!  If you love coffee & you're not following his caffinated adventures - why not?  Check it out at www.kccoffeegeek.com  and look for guests posts from yours truly while you're at it!  I reviewed Equator Coffee Honduras and will soon be doing a guest post about a beautiful Madcap Kenyan coffee.