Going Nuts with Bones Coffee

Today we're covering not one, not two, but three flavored blends from Bones Coffee!

The coffees reviewed in his post were all "taste-tested" under the same circumstances: They were made in a drip coffeemaker and tried without hot straight from the pot, at room temperature, and cold and over ice. Each blend was also tried with Unsweetened Almond Milk and sugar free Italian Sweet Cream creamer., hot, room temperature, and iced.

All the blends reviewed in this post are medium roasts, and they came to me via Bones' 4-oz. sample packs which each yield between 12-16 cups of coffee (depending on how carefully I measure when I pour the grounds in the basket).

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: MACAMANIAC

The very first impression I had of Macamaniac is that the package features another one of those fun cartoons of the company mascot. Here, our favorite living skeleton is in Hawaii, driving away from an erupting volcano with a carload of macadamia nuts while sipping a drink from a tiny umbrella-festooned coconut half-shell. Once again, the sense of fun in the package art made me feel contented to have given Bones my money even before I got a taste of coffee it was selling.

When I opened the package and as the coffee brewed, I thought I could smell macadamia nuts. That same aroma was strong from the pot and rose from the cup as the coffee is poured. However, as I drank the beverage, all I tasted was coffee with a slight hint of something sweet. That flavor could have been coconut or it could have been macadamia nut (the two flavors that Bones claims are in this blend), but it really was too faint to tell. I am leaning in the direction of the flavor being more like coconut than anything else, but I might just be tasting that because I was expecting something along that line. Basically, this coffee tastes like coffee that's had a bit of sugar or creamer added--but otherwise, it just tastes like a solid, high quality medium roast.

Whether I drank Macamaniac hot, cooled to room temperature, or iced, it had a solid, well-rounded coffee flavor--Bones Coffee knows how to make those Brazilian Arabica beans dance in your mouth!--with a slight saltiness appearing along side the sweet when the coffee was iced. But, the overwhelming flavor remained that of straight coffee.

Sometimes, if I add almond milk or creamer to a Bones blend, it brings out the flavors. In the case, it didn't. It just made the blend taste like coffee to which I'd added almond milk or creamer. That's generally not a bad thing, but I feel like a flavored coffee should have a bit more flavor than Macamaniac has.

If you like your coffee black with perhaps a little sweetener added, this is a blend that you will enjoy. If you're looking for something that will dazzle you with the taste of macadamia nuts mixed with coffee, you need to look elsewhere. 


BONES COFFEE COMPANY: MUSTACHIO

This blend was presented as tasting like pistachios, as its punny title might make obvious to you readers out there.  But does it? The answer is yes, but it morphs depending on how you consume it, with the pistachio flavor coming and going.

When I opened the package, I could indeed smell pistachios, which was promising; the aroma was faint, but it was there. The aroma was a bit stronger when it brewed--not to the point where I could smell it down the hall in my office as is the case with some Bones blends, but it was there when I stood next to the coffee-maker and as I poured the coffee into a cup.

Curiously, when I drank the coffee hot and without any added almond milk or creamer, the pistachio flavor was so subtle that is was almost undetectable. While some the flavor in some of the Bones blends get stronger in your mouth the more of the coffee you drink, that did not happen with Mustachio. Adding sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream didn't make the pistachio flavor any stronger--it just became mixed with the milky flavor. (That said, the pistachio flavor didn't get any weaker, so I suppose that could be read as it becoming stronger; it seemed to remain constant.)

When I drank this blend iced, the pistachio flavor was similarly present, but only as an undertone and not really recognizable as pistachio; it seemed even fainter, whether I drank the coffee straight or with almond milk or creamer added. It wasn't bad--it was like drinking a very nice medium roast coffee with a something slightly sweet added.

One thing that was absolutely fascinating about this blend is what happened when it cooled to room temperature. As I've said in previous coffee-centric posts, it takes me a while to finish a cup of coffee because my life a series of interruptions or distractions. Generally speaking, by the time I finish a cup or mug of coffee, it had gradually cooled to room temperature. In the case of the Mustachio blend, however, this revealed that as this blend cools, the pistachio flavor grows stronger. At room temperature, without anything added, the pistachio flavor was strong and very tasty. Adding a dash of Unsweetened Almond Milk blunted the coffee taste a bit, but the pistachio was still there.

I don't know how many of you out there like your coffee room temperature, but if you do, and also like pistachios, then that's how you should drink Bones' Mustachio. It might also serve as a nice foundation for a coffee liqueur. I will have to get another sample pack and do some experimenting. Stay tuned!

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY

Have you ever looked at a peanut butter and jelly sammich and wondered "what would that taste like if I dipped it in coffee?" No? Well, neither have I, but Bones Coffee is out there asking flavor questions that we never thought to ask and providing answers that sometimes defy imagination.

From the moment you open the package, the aroma of grape jelly is noticeable. It is also strong as the coffee brews, so strong that it wafted from the kitchen, down the hall into my office. The sweet smell of grape jelly also rose noticeably from the pot and cup as I poured the coffee and went to drink it.

Initially, as I drank this blend without any Unsweetened Almond Milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream added, the sweet taste of grape jelly came through strongly. It was so strong and so sweet a flavor that even someone who orders their coffee strictly from the fru-fru menu can drink it straight. 

One thing I'm discovering is that Bones Coffee does fruit flavors really, really well; sometimes too well--as the overwhelming fruitiness of their Strawberry Cheesecake and Peaches and Scream blends show--and they nailed the grape jelly flavor perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that it balanced nicely with the coffee.

One thing I am also noticing is that Bones Coffee doesn't do nut flavors all that well. Like Macamaniac, the nut flavor here is almost undetectable; this blend does not taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich dipped in coffee, but merely grape flavored coffee. I drank about half a mug's worth before adding some Unsweetened Almond Milk, and I think I started to detect an aftertaste of peanut butter, but the grapey sweetness remained front and center. It could also be that I was expecting a peanut butter taste, so my imagination may have made it materialize because other Bones blends have grown more flavorful as I consumed them (like, for example, their Dusk Till Donuts blend where the grape flavor grew more intense as I drained the cup).

None of my usual approaches were able to tease any solid peanut butter flavor out of this blend, nor could I detect any bread flavor (although the latter is probably for the best). Further, when I drank this blend over ice, there wasn't even the ghost of peanut butter to be found.

In the end, I consider this a tasty blend that might go well with dessert, or maybe a pancake breakfast if you're a fan of grape jelly. It's not a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich in a cup, though.