Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Citizen Bean, again

A little while ago I asked you guys if you had ever heard of Citizen Bean, the artisan roast small batch coffee of the month "club" of sorts. A short while later, CB contacted me to ask if I would like a sample shipment. I had a little debate with myself about whether I thought it was a good idea, but in the end I accepted, and I made it clear that I wouldn't write about them again unless I thought it was a really great product. I feel ok telling you about this because I asked the question and now I can answer it.

Well, it's very good coffee. I'm not sure my palate is very finely tuned first thing in the morning, but I have enjoyed it.


They also include a little treat in the box - madeleine cookies or truffles or what have you. Yum! And a grind sample so you can see how finely to grind coffee for your french press. Except I use a Mr. Coffee drip brewer (sacrilege?) so I didn't pay much attention to the sample size.


The only thing I don't like, actually, is the packaging. It's all very precious with the crinkly paper and things rolled up and custom stickers and what not, but it feels like a lot of waste to me, even if they are using recycled paper. So, that's my analysis. Very good coffee that I'm sure makes a lovely gift.

2 comments:

  1. Hello back at you... Nice to find Adriennes out there...

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  2. Adrienne Hi-

    It is true, we choose recycled crinkle kraft paper to protect our coffee shipments and food shipments. We thought that was nicer (and more responsible) then the usual peanuts of air filled plastic bags. We very deliberately designed this so people receiving would feel like they were receiving a fun gift for the coffee obsessive. In our liner notes we usually suggest out of the ordinary pairings, bio information out the roaster and charity info. We see our the attention to detail as a positive; the tags with fun references and our instructions for those open to the idea of brewing so that you can get the most our of the adventure while being ecologically responsible.
    While we don't discriminate against drip coffee makers, admittedly we do favor the press to get the most out of complex roasts, easily. (morning, afternoon or evening)

    Cheers!

    Mal for Citizen Bean

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