Disclaimer: This post is the opinion of one lone guest writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the K-cup Barista (click on pictures to read her reviews). If you really love your organic coffee and will drink nothing else, then this opinion piece may make you mad. Read at your own risk.
Oh joy, you get a guest blogger today! I have known the K-cup Barista for years now. Here is a little background on me. I, like my K-cup Barista, really like that perfectly brewed cup of coffee. I was a barista in high school. Whenever my husband and I take a trip we love to seek out the local coffee shops. Our children recognized both Starbucks and Tully’s by the age of 3. I am a coffee explorer. I don’t have a usual when I go to a coffee shop. I buy different espresso and coffee drinks, add in different syrups, and sometimes I go rogue by buying tea, gasp! At home the Keurig is a god-send to allow me to explore even more! So what does this have to do with organic coffee? I am glad you asked. Even though I really like coffee I have had a problem with organic coffee and especially the organic k-cups for a long time. Here is my review short and sweet on the following organic k-cups: Newman’s Special Blend, Coffee People Extra Bold Organic, Green Mountain Sumatran Reserve, and Coffee People Tree Hugger.
I really don’t like the Newman’s K-cup. It has the aroma of something burning. The coffee also has a burnt taste and then there is that really bitter after taste that lingers when I want it gone. Coffee People Organic Extra Bold K-cup is very similar to Newman’s. I can’t get passed the burnt smell and flavor in this K-cup. The Green Mountain Sumatran Reserve’s aroma is better but then there is that after taste. Coffee People Tree Hugger is by far the best organic I have tried. It actually smells like coffee. Only, again there is a difference in the flavor; a little something extra going on when drinking it.
I h
ave tried in vain to find an organic k-cup that I really enjoy. Most people around me love their organic k-cups. So what is wrong with me? Well the answer is that I have a very sensitive palate or better worded: I have a more discerning palate. Having the ability to pick up on subtle nuances in food is a genetic trait I can blame on my mother. A Yale research study showed that there is such a thing as a “super-taster”. The study can be found here. I actually did an experiment in my college biology class that proved I was a super-taster.
This being said, it makes sense that when I comment on the organic coffee having an odd flavor or after taste people don’t know what I’m talking about. I will try to explain to them what is going on in my mouth. Nope, their mouth is perfectly happy with their organic k-cup. Yet, I think that I have come up with an answer for people when they ask why I don’t drink organic coffee. Coffee is supposed to be bitter this is true, but it also needs to be smooth and rich. Coffee is comparable to good chocolate, the kind that is 75% cocoa good. For me organic coffee lacks the nose of a fully developed coffee. I want to be able to smell the richness of the beans. Next, organic coffee isn’t smooth. It is a coffee that bites you back. The way organic coffees bite back at you is the after taste. I don’t know what I am tasting in the coffee. Maybe it is the manure they use as a natural fertilizer coming through in the beans? Maybe it is how they process the beans? I couldn’t say. All I know is that, for now, this palate will steer clear of most organic coffees on the market today.
So for the rest of you out there who are like me, take heart! It isn’t that you dislike organic coffee. No, on the contrary, organic coffee dislikes your highly developed taste buds. And feel free to use my comparison of coffee to chocolate when you are telling your friends and family why you won’t drink their organic coffee.
Cheers, from the Super-Taster!
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Jamie lives in Idaho and co-owns a fantastic gluten-free business. Other fun facts: she plays the drums at her church and knows the best breakfast places in downtown Boise. You can find her on Twitter too!
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“Having the ability to pick up on subtle nuances in food is a genetic trait I can blame on my mother. A Yale research study showed that there is such a thing as a “super-taster”. The study can be found here. I actually did an experiment in my college biology class that proved I was a super-taster.”
You bring up a very good point. I am also a super-taster, and I recently – and literally – paid a price for forgetting this fact. When I bought my Keurig machine I also bought a lot of k-cups – all of them marked “bold” – only to find that “bold” actually meant, in the industry jargon, “burnt”! Yes, the flavor was intense, but it was also bitter! I had thought “bold” meant more flavor, but it just means more strongly roasted. I suffered through several dozen “bold” k-cups that, to me, made coffee that tasted like the beans had been rescued from some severe conflagration.
The “super taster” phenomena also explains something that baffled me for many years: why did so many women like eggplant? To me, it was unpalatable! — bitter tasting! Ugh! It seems eggplant has a bitter component – and relatively few women are super-tasters! So, ladies, be careful in cooking eggplant dishes for your man! He might not be pleased.
You might like “Simple Truth Organic” Columbian (non bold!), a Kroger brand. Relatively low-priced, and in a relatively new form – an open bottom pod that avoids some problems (clogging and exploding) that can occur with the older, sealed versions.
Your style is very unique in comparison to other folks I’ve read stuff
from. Thanks for posting when you have the
opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this blog.