Trader Joe's Honduran Organic Fair Trade

Sorry for the long delay in reviews. Don't worry I have been drinking and enjoying coffee! Trader Joe's seems to be phasing out most of their peaberry coffees, at least the TJ by me. If you really enjoy the peaberry get them while you still can! Up today is Trader Joe's Honduran Organic Fair Trade.

I've jumped back to the Medium Dark Roast coffees. The TJ Honduran Organic has a full rich flavor. A good all around coffee flavor. Nothing too intense and not too mellow. I was expecting a little bit more bite for a medium dark roast. I would describe this closer to a medium roast with a tiny bit more flair.

The can describes it as 'smooth and well balanced.' This is probably a good way to describe it. It is a coffee that I would buy again, but only as a filler if nothing new or more exciting was in stock. It's worth the money and worth a taste.

Bottom Line Rating:4/5

Is that enough?

Trader Joe's Colombia Peaberry

In my latest Trader Joe's trip I purchased three containers of TJ Peaberry coffee. Colombia, the previously reviewed Ethiopian, and a soon-to-be reviewed Tanzanian. All three peaberry coffees are labeled 'Limited Edition.' In Trader Joe's terms, this is true. You'll go there one day and it'll be gone, forever. The Ethiopian Peaberry was so good that these two have a LOT to live up to. Here it goes for the Colombia Peaberry.

TJ Colombia Peaberry has one little strike in that it is a medium and not a medium dark roast. The beans are the normal small sized pea-berries. Technically the beans are not small, but just a single fertilized seed. Regular-sized coffee beans are actually two fertilized seeds that have been flattened together.

The container describes it as having 'bright floral notes.' I'm not sure I taste flowers, but it is a good full coffee flavor. Not the same party-on-your-palate as the Ethiopian Peaberry, but a very good coffee. The beans themselves have a good full aroma and grind quite easily.

This is a limited edition that I won't miss. Don't get me wrong. It's a great full flavored medium roast coffee, but there are a lot of those out there. There's nothing spectacular in this coffee that is making me want to come back for more. I would recommend it to others if you appreciate a medium coffee with a full amount of flavor that approaches the medium dark roast level.

Bottom Line Rating:4/5

Trader Joe's Bali Blue Moon

Yet another Trader Joe's coffee review! I'm continuing to make the rounds enjoying more and more of the TJ coffee. They have a very good selection of medium and medium dark roast coffees that keep me coming back. In traditional TJ style, I know that some items may go permanently out-of-stock. This will be a sad day in particular for the TJ Ethiopian Peaberry.

Up here is the Bali Blue Moon coffee. I've been hesitant to get their medium roast coffee, because generally I've enjoyed their medium dark a bit more. I've also been nervous to try a dark roast, but that day will come soon. Bali Blue Moon is a great coffee! To get a little closer to the medium dark roast and give a little more depth to the flavor it does require a bit more beans to get a good water/bean balance.

I apologize for the less-than-stellar photos on this one. I realized the night before my final brew that I hadn't taken any pictures. I try to do my photos outside with natural light and a little fill flash, as needed, but these photos were taken inside with full bounce flash. The beans seem to look a little darker on my screen than in real life. 

This is indeed a very good coffee. A good full on coffee flavor without bitterness. Solid in the medium roast category, but not so mellow that it becomes depressing to drink. It is by far leaps and bounds above Trader Joe's Joe. It also reminded be a little bit of another great coffee, Moon Doggie Peruvian Villa Rica. Maybe that was the result of 'moon' in the name?

 

This is a great coffee, but like I said earlier, I'm more of a fan of TJ medium dark roast, so I'm not sure that I would come back to this coffee. Although I would highly recommend it to others to try!

Bottom Line Rating: 4 out of 5

Trader Joe's Organic Bolivian Blend

After my last Trader Joe's review, TJ Joe, I was both excited and nervous about trying another TJ coffee. Excited because there had to be something to redeem from the disaster TJ Joe was and nervous, because I may strike out again! Thank goodness I didn't!

I'm generally not too picky about Fair Trade coffee, but if I have the opportunity to try some and it helps benefit the farmers, great! The same pretty much goes for organic. We do consume a fair amount of organic food in our household, mainly because of my wife's interest in it; I'm much less picky. This Trader Joe's Bolivian Blend is both Fair Trade and Organic!

They classify it as a Medium Dark Roast, but I would consider it closer to the Medium Roast than say their Costa Rican Tarrazu. As sometimes happens, it took two or three days to get a good balance between the water/bean ratio. I'm not sure I tasted the caramel claimed on the packaged, to me it just showed itself as a more medium roast coffee with a slightly mild flavor.
 

I almost didn't get photos of these beans, because I kept forgetting to take out the camera and get some shots. In fact these are the only remaining beans! Took the shots just in time!

The TJ Organic Bolivian Blend makes a good cup of coffee. I don't think I would repeat buying it, not because it was bad, but I enjoy trying new coffee. For someone who enjoys a Medium to a Medium Dark Roast coffee this is probably a perfect fit! For me, it's just a good coffee along the journey!

Bottom Line Rating: 3/5

Trader Joe's Joe

Trader Joe's has become my new favorite source for coffee. The first two I purchased were stellar!

• Ethopian Peaberry 
• Costa Rican Tarrazu

Unfortunately I can't say the same for Trader Joe's Joe. The front says "an exceptionally smooth cup of coffee." If by smooth they mean minimal flavor and boring after taste then they got the description correct. I kept playing around with the bean/water ratio to see if I could get it to taste any better, not much luck. You definitely need a significant amount of beans to get this coffee to be passable. Even with the extra beans, it only becomes a 'drinkable' coffee, not something I would classify as 'enjoyable.' It's only a $1 less than some other beans they sell; don't get fooled by the bargain, it's not worth it.

 

The beans look and smell good, but the flavor is much too mellow for my taste. I'm not a fan of dark roast coffees either, but this is just too simple. Even if you were serving coffee to a large group and wanted to save some money I would not recommend this at all.

 

Trader Joe's Joe somehow recovered to get a 2 out of 5 rating, maybe because of my other successes with other TJ coffee. Save your money, time, and taste buds, pick any other TJ coffee than this. If you're wondering, I'm saying the 1 out of 5 for something that is just BAD. Not that I'm looking forward to that.

Bottom Line Rating:2/5

Trader Joe's Ethiopia Peaberry

Oh boy oh boy! I'm now two Trader Joe's coffee's in and oh boy oh boy! I think I've hit home runs with both of them! The last one I reviewed was the Costa Rican Tarrazu, the Ethiopia Peaberry is equally as good and yet another fantastic coffee. I'm pretty sure that Trader Joe's is now my go-to place for getting coffee.

I've had peaberry coffee before. The last was Barnie's Tanzanian Peaberry in November of 2011, no review on that one as it was well before this blog existed. According to the wikipedia and confirmed by the back of the packaging, peaberry coffee is the result of only a single seed (bean) being fertilized rather than two seeds that face each other and flatten themselves out. However them come about, they sure do make a lovely cup of coffee.

Having just tried a medium dark roast it didn't take too much experimenting to find a bean/water ratio that worked for this. I was pretty much spot on with the first brew, now just under a week ago. There is an even more colorful bouquet of flavors from the Ethiopia Peaberry than the Costa Rican Tarrazu. Although both are utterly fantastic coffees! I would describe the Ethiopia Peaberry as having slightly more smoothness to both the taste and after taste.

This is going to be a difficult coffee to move on from. I love trying new beans and experiencing the different flavors out there, but this one is stellar and something I would return to without hesitation.

Bottom Line Rating:4.5/5