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 have 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!

This post has been a long time in the making. If you’re like me, you sometimes just want to know “Is it good?”–not read a full-on review. So I decided to share my notes with you. Most of these are cups I haven’t reviewed yet, but a few have links to longer reviews if you are so inclined.

Enjoy!

Coffee

Caribou Coffee Daybreak Morning Blend: Similar to Green Mountain Breakfast Blend.

Black Tiger by Coffee People: Like the smell a lot. Spicy, but a little too much on the tastebuds. Especially too much harsh aftertaste. Got better as I went along. Got more used to it. Not one I’d want to have over and over though.

Jet Fuel by Coffee People: Spicy, almost burnt taste but not quite. Jet Fuel is applicable name.

Diedrich Morning Edition: Buttery, nutty, smooth. A pleasant morning cup ‘o joe.

Diedrich French Roast: Good flavor, little spice, berry notes are really yummy discontinued

Gloria Jean’s Special Blend: a nice, basic medium roast.

Timothy’s Parisian Nights: Surprisingly good for Timothy’s. Tasty. Not as acidic as a typical French roast.

Timothy’s Fair Trade Nicaraguan: Smoky.

Tully’s House Blend: Okay. Little spice but not overly acidic. Prefer to light roast but enjoy the smooth medium roasts better.

Van Houtte Costa Rica: Light. Smooth. Seems watery but can detect some nice flavors ever so faintly at 8oz. Might be handy to have around for the ultra light roast drinkers in your life. Tried 6oz–terrible.

Van Houtte Eclipse: Good! Like French Roast but not as strong. Nice zip to it.

Van Houtte Mexico: 10oz. Not much flavor. Little spice. 8oz better. Nice taste, some spice but not like a French or Italian roast. Similar to some others like Parisian Nights.

Flavored Coffee

Donut House Cinnamon Roll: Smooth. Good smell. Not much flavor–only taste cinnamon a little. Cinnamon Pastry is a better choice for cinnamon lovers.

Gloria Jean’s Butter Toffee: Not bad for a flavored K-Cup.

Green Mountain Hazelnut: Lots of hazelnut flavor. Appreciate their flavors can be brewed at 8oz. Didn’t care for aftertaste, detected burnt flavor. Decaf Hazelnut better. Gloria Jean’s and Wolfgang Puck’s better also.

Green mountain Southern Pecan: Okay. Not sure I really taste the pecan.

Green mountain Wild Mountain Blueberry: Not a fan. Maybe I’ll try iced.

Timothy’s Winter Carnival: What Green Mountain Caramel Vanilla Cream should be but doesn’t achieve. This is one of the top flavored K-Cups I’ve tried. Need to try iced.

Timothy’s Sweet Summer Raspberry: Delightful! Smooth, great raspberry flavor (if you like that sort of thing). In my top 5 flavored K-Cups.

Van Houtte Caramel Apple Pie: Why? Apple pie flavored coffee? It’s just not right. Very odd flavor.

Van Houtte Macadamia Nut Cookie: Okay. Couldn’t really tell the difference between this and, say, vanilla.

Van Houtte French Vanilla: 6oz. good call. Nice smooth vanilla flavor. Not much aftertaste.

Wolfgang Puck Vanilla Francaise: LOTS of vanilla flavor. Very tasty. Better than Van Houtte French Vanilla.

Wolfgang Puck Jamaica Me Crazy: Nice aroma. Smell and taste vanilla more than coconut. As often happens to me with flavored brews, by the time I get to the second half of the cup, it loses any goodness/enjoyment and starts to taste dry and has an unpleasant aftertaste. Tried iced–didn’t help.

Hot Cocoa/Specialty

Cafe Escapes Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa: Eh, not very appealing, especially aftertaste. Not bad with whipped cream to cover up the taste.

Cafe Escapes Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa: My favorite of the three. Sweetness reminds me of marshmallows. Slight aftertaste.

Cafe Escapes Cafe Mocha: Like Milk Chocolate Cocoa has a strong, artificial aftertaste. Whipped cream helps.

Green Mountain French Vanilla Iced Coffee: Could not get this to fit my taste buds. Tried sugar and more milk to no avail.

Grove Square Caramel Cappuccino: Pleasantly surprised by this one. Has cream and sugar already in it. Good balance of flavors…don’t really detect much caramel, but yummy. Reminds me of cappuccino I used to get at Chevron during my college days…but better.

Please feel free to add your two cents. I would love to hear your thoughts and so would your fellow Keurig drinkers. I’ll probably add  to this list periodically. Oh, and I have tea reviews coming soon…

What can I say about Tree Hugger? I was a little disappointed at first, but I’ve grown to enjoy it. Here are some of its good qualities: very smooth, chocolaty aftertaste, and good flavor at either 8oz or 10oz. I think I cracked the code on getting it just right for my taste buds, too. Read on…

My recipe for success: Brew at 8oz, then after drinking about half a cup, add one or two more ounces. It’s even better when I get to that second cup! I can really taste the chocolate notes when I do this.

FYI: I run a 4 oz brew setting but catch the part I don’t need in a separate mug or measuring cup (demo). You can also turn off your machine when you’ve had enough of a refill, but I feel like I’m tricking it and that it may not work as well if I do this too often.

Conclusion: Even if you’re not a true tree hugger at heart, if you like a rich medium roast coffee, give this a try. And…experiment with your brew settings!

This is a tale of a very misunderstood K-Cup known as Timothy’s San Lorenzo. Here’s a description from the Keurig site: This coffee, roasted in a very dark, tangy Parisian fashion, has an assertive flavor and is silky smooth. 

The trouble is that San Lorenzo is described as a dark roast but has no tangible qualities of a dark roast. Because of this, it has been tossed aside by some dark roast lovers. If only the world knew the truth…

The Story

I first ordered Timothy’s San Lorenzo from a trader at kcuptrade.com. Because it said “dark roast,” I thought I’d brew at 10oz. Big mistake. It tasted like dingy water. I thought, “Okay, let’s try this baby at 8oz.” Some improvement–smooth, slightly sweet but still not much flavor and a stale finish. Blah. I give up.

Months later my father-in-law also orders some San Lorenzo and tells me it’s good at 6oz. So I decide to give it one more try, and I am wowed. It is yummy! A great discovery: buttery smoothness, interesting little bite of an aftertaste, and butterscotch notes at the end.

To wrap up this riveting tale (sarcasm intended), San Lorenzo is actually a medium roast that doesn’t have enough coffee in the K-Cup to be full flavored at 8oz but at 6oz is just right. Light roast fans would probably enjoy this K-Cup too.

The End.

[Quick side note: After reading some positive reviews from dark-roast drinkers, I’m wondering if the quality differs from box to box.]

Sometimes I’ll realize that I haven’t taken any notes on a familiar K-Cup. This happened today. No picture, no notes for Tully’s Breakfast Blend. “This should not be,” I told myself.

While at first it does not impress, the longer I sip away at a cup of Tully’s Breakfast Blend, the more I like it. The reason is that I enjoy the aftertaste so much. It’s smooth at first then leaves berry flavors on your palate. Very pleasing I must say.

My first time to try Tully’s Breakfast Blend was last summer when I used it for iced coffee. I’m pretty sure I brewed 4oz over ice and added milk. It was just right! I experimented with other K-Cups for iced coffee last summer, but this one was my favorite.

This is a full-flavored light roast–8oz setting works well. While I don’t like it as much as Starbucks Breakfast Blend, it is definitely enjoyable.

Is it the season for iced tea yet? For the last month, I’ve been brewing over ice again. I love how easy it is. The three Brew Over Ice teas I’ve tried  are Raspberry, Half and Half, and Southern Sweet. Since I’ve already reviewed the Southern Sweet, let’s have a face-off between Raspberry and Half and Half.

I think Celestial Seasonings Sweet Raspberry Iced Tea is very good, but I know others who don’t like it at all–my husband for instance. I think it mainly depends on whether you actually like raspberry flavor.

It has just the right amount of sweetness for me and a good amount of raspberry flavor (though I wouldn’t mind a touch more). It’s not as sweet as Southern Sweet Perfect Iced Tea, which I actually enjoy more on a regular basis.

My husband likes Half & Half Black Tea Lemonade and adds about a teaspoon of sugar to it (or more!). This is my least favorite of the three. I can’t quite put my finger on what I don’t like about it. Maybe it’s that it isn’t sweet enough, or maybe it tastes a little artificial. Hmm…. I think I’m spoiled by the Black Tea Lemonade at Starbucks which has a much better flavor.

What iced teas have you tried? Or do you ever brew regular tea K-Cups over ice? I want to experiment with Bigelow Green Tea.

I decided to brew this one at 6oz. I’ve been doing that more with flavored light roasts, and I’m usually glad I did. This way I can taste the flavor more.

I loved the hazelnut smell and the taste comes through quite well. It doesn’t have any unpleasant aftertaste either: very enjoyable. As usual, I just used cream, no sugar.

Also, I found it to be much better than Gloria Jean’s Hazelnut and Green Mountain Hazelnut.

With the exception of Jamaica Me Crazy, I’ve enjoyed all the Wolfgang Puck K-Cups I’ve tried.

This K-Cup is the closest match to Green Mountain Dark Magic I have tried. It leaves a little more tingle on the palate than Dark Magic, though, and has a lingering finish.

Midnight Express is very rich and somewhat sweet like DM but is a little more acidic. It has hints of a French roast but is less harsh. There’s also more flavor at the end than the beginning.

I brewed it at the 10oz setting and liked it. Maybe you will too.