Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Review: Cameron's Coffee - Velvet Moon

Yeah, it seems this is becoming a review of my weekly shopping cart - well too fucking bad! I'm not whipping-up gourmet delights on a daily basis (last night I served hot dogs - they were gourmet, of course). But this morning's cup o' Joe was a little lacking, and I thought you should know about it.

First off, I don't have a coffee grinder at home, so I need to bring home pre-ground coffee. Furthermore, I don't want a grinder at home - no matter how much you coffee snobs out there tell me it makes all the difference. Though, despite my supreme laziness, I still want to enjoy a good cup of coffee in the comfort of my own home.

Usually I'd buy a can of Stewarts, and when that emptied I'd fill it with a bag of Starbuck's dark roast coffee three or four times and then buy another can of Stewarts. I feel the Starbucks is better, but the Stewarts is cheaper. Taking a Stewart's break gives me a gentle palate cleansing - allowing me to further appreciate the high-priced Starbuck coffee.

The usual: a can of Stewart's followed by Starbuck's 3x

Last weekend, in the coffee aisle, I noticed the Cameron's display - oh, it was artful! Not only could I grind my own beans (appealing simultaneously to my do-it-yourself nature and my feeling that fresh ground beans are better than beans ground by 12 year-old laborers in a loathsome factory in China), but a pound of Cameron's coffee was cheaper than a 12 oz. bag of Starbuck's.

Bonus!

I chose Velvet Moon - it said it was a dark roast coffee, and the clever marketers at Cameron's made it nearly impossible to resist. I was hooked. The smell coming from the in-store coffee grinder was good. I pre-congratulated myself on making a shrewd coffee buying decision.

The bag was made of paper - not velvet. WTF?

Taste test
Lame. There's no "back" to this coffee. Like wine, there are a few places you should taste your coffee. The "front" is the initial taste of the coffee - the first thing you notice. The "back" is how that flavor fills your throat - does it linger and offer something a little more than taste. Sure, there's a decent "front," but there's no richness that apparently I crave.

Sadly, It'll take me nearly two weeks to jam-through this pound of coffee - no labor of love. And when it's complete, I'll probably go-back to my previous buying schedule: a few bags of Starbuck's and then a palate cleansing can of Stewart's. Pity me, and my unfulfilling home coffee brewing experience.

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