Good afternoon chaps. Now before I go too far, you coffee gurus take it easy on me. I know enough about quality coffee to put in a thimble.
We shop at World Market for neat stuff you cannot get most other places. Coffee has never been on that list since we always just bought Maxwell House ground coffee up till I gave my wife an espresso machine for Christmas. Since then we have used Illy pre-ground medium roast espresso grind and La Vazza espresso grind in the gold can. The wife likes them both and actually prefers the cheaper La Vazza to the Illy. We are ordering a grinder this weekend so we can take advantage of fresher coffee at brewing time.
The store brands at World Market sound promising but there is really very little information about the beans themselves. No mention on the packaging whether they are Robusta or Arabica beans. I tried the Sumatra and did not like it. Even though it is dark roasted and I don't care for that type of roasting, I bought it because it said other great things about flavour and the low acidity. Wrong. I was quite disappointed in it's rough after taste and the roasting had that too charred bite too it. I was tempted by the Italian roast but it too was listed as dark roasted and I passed. Glad I did too. I bought another can of La Vazza today and they had the Italian out for sampling. It was over roasted for my palate as well. Hmmm. Would someone care to share any experience they have with the house coffees at World Market?
I can tell that as of now, I like medium roasted(toasted/not charred?) much better but I suppose it depends on the blend as to whether it is appropriate to grind fine enough for espresso. I have seen it said that some blends that are good as drip or French press allow too much bitters to extract for espresso. Yes/no? As you can see I have a lot to learn. Just wondered if it was worth exploring WM coffees or should I just pass them up?
Regards, Todd
We shop at World Market for neat stuff you cannot get most other places. Coffee has never been on that list since we always just bought Maxwell House ground coffee up till I gave my wife an espresso machine for Christmas. Since then we have used Illy pre-ground medium roast espresso grind and La Vazza espresso grind in the gold can. The wife likes them both and actually prefers the cheaper La Vazza to the Illy. We are ordering a grinder this weekend so we can take advantage of fresher coffee at brewing time.
The store brands at World Market sound promising but there is really very little information about the beans themselves. No mention on the packaging whether they are Robusta or Arabica beans. I tried the Sumatra and did not like it. Even though it is dark roasted and I don't care for that type of roasting, I bought it because it said other great things about flavour and the low acidity. Wrong. I was quite disappointed in it's rough after taste and the roasting had that too charred bite too it. I was tempted by the Italian roast but it too was listed as dark roasted and I passed. Glad I did too. I bought another can of La Vazza today and they had the Italian out for sampling. It was over roasted for my palate as well. Hmmm. Would someone care to share any experience they have with the house coffees at World Market?
I can tell that as of now, I like medium roasted(toasted/not charred?) much better but I suppose it depends on the blend as to whether it is appropriate to grind fine enough for espresso. I have seen it said that some blends that are good as drip or French press allow too much bitters to extract for espresso. Yes/no? As you can see I have a lot to learn. Just wondered if it was worth exploring WM coffees or should I just pass them up?
Regards, Todd
