Summer Dreaming... with Coffee

Lately, I've been drinking varieties of the black miracle juice that make me think of summer... and in this post, I'm going to let you know what I think of them!

The Shades of Gray gang may have fun in the sun,
or we may just join this gentleman for a quiet cuppa out of doors!

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: SHARK BITE

Nothing says summer fun and frolicking at the beach than shark attacks. So... this is a summer-themed coffee, right?

Shark Bite is the third rum-flavored variety from Bones I reviewed. Almost everything I said about the Coconut Rum and Highland Grog applies to Shark Bite: This is a smooth, medium roast-based blend where the flavor of rum dominates but mixes easily with that of coffee and other augmenting flavors. The flavor profile remains strong and consistent whether the drink is consumed hot, at room temperature, or chilled and over ice. The saltiness that sometimes creeps into Bones offerings as they cool also does not manifest itself in this blend.

Shark Bite is set apart from the two similar Bones offerings by having a hard-to-describe flavor that seems almost cinnamon-y as you start drinking, but the taste becomes sweeter as you get to the bottom of your cup. The rum flavor and the spiciness of the drink also seem to trade places as you drink, with the spice being the first thing you notice initially, but eventually the sweet undertones of rum become the dominant flavor. Underneath it all, is a constant foundation of smooth coffee.

If you liked the other two rum-flavored blends, but think you'd want a little more spice in the mix, then this is the one to go with. Another reason you might want to try try Shark Bite is that drinking it just a remarkable experience. 

Bones Coffee makes humorous ads (such as this one) where they tout the notion that drinking their coffee is an experience rather than just an act of sustaining ones existence. While most of their flavored coffees are exceptional beverages, and I've used the word "experience" in describing the act of consuming them, I think that I say that Shark Bite is quite literally an experience. It's remarkable the way the flavor shifts as you consume it. This is definitely one of the more interesting blends Bones has brought to market--and what with this being the 37th of their offerings I've reviewed, I think I can make that statement with authority.

I would be amiss if I didn't commend Bones Coffee Company on yet another entertaining and evocative cartoon on the front of their package. I hope our friend Bones recovers his arm from the shark though!

SIGNATURE SELECT'S SUN-KISSED BLONDE 

Is coffee sexy? Well, I usually wouldn't think so--Folger's television ads aside--but when I saw the bags of Signature Select's Sun-Kissed Blonde on the shelf at Safeway, something along this line popped into my head:

It goes without saying, I bought a bag... because if I hadn't, I couldn't be writing this review.

Signature Select's Sun-Kissed Blonde is described on the package as a light roast... which means it could be a blonde roast as that's something of a shifting definition. The flavor of this coffee is almost mild and sweet enough that it could be a blonde roast, although it does have a little more of the bite that you find in darker roasts than was present in the Iced Blonde from Starbucks which is officially described as a blonde roast.

(A "blonde roast", by the way, is the lightest possible roast. It's basically a roast for coffee drinkers who aren't terribly fond of the typical coffee taste; at least in my book, the darker the roast, the more bitterness there is to the coffee and the more it tastes like what I think of as "traditional coffee"... and the more sugar or milk/creamer it needs before it's drinkable. Blonde roasts are almost mild enough that I can drink a cup without adding anything--almost. Blonde roasts are also ones that you should stay away from if you have stomach issues--the resulting brews are more acidic than darker roasts.)

The thing that I noticed primarily about Sun-Kissed Blonde is that it was every bit as mild as the package promised. The "nutty" undertones weren't noticable until I added almond milk or creamer but then they really popped. I suppose this means this blend behaves like a number of blondes out there--they're demure until they have some liquid refreshments and then they turn nutty!

All joking about blondes aside, I tried Sun-Kissed Blonde with a couple different agendas in mind. First, could it be a possible replacement for the pre-made Starbucks Iced Blonde--a bag of this will yield roughly 1.5 - 2 times the amount of coffee as the Starbucks bottles, for about 2/3rds the price. Second, would it be a good foundation for making my own "flavored coffees"?

Addressing the second agenda first, I put Sun-Kissed Blonde through all the usual tests--drinking it black, with Unsweetened Almond Milk, and then with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer; it all three ways, I drank it both hot, at room temperature, and chilled over ice. I enjoyed it in all three modes, although my favorite standard test mode was drinking it hot with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. Additionally, the Sun-Kissed Blonde blend went great with Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk when hot... and it mixed great with vodka and Unsweetened Chocolate Almond Milk when I used it to make one of my half-assed homemade variant on a White Russian. 

This blend as worked extremely well when used as the foundation for my home-made chocolate-flavored coffee (which involves mixing ground coffee with dark cocoa powder), regardless of whether I drank it hot, room temperature, or over ice. I have been using medium-roasts from a variety of outlets for this, but I liked the results not only with the chocolate but also with the vodka. This coffee really sang when mixed with vanilla- and cherry-flavored vodka, too.

Which takes me back back to the first first agenda: How effective is Sun-Kissed Blonde as a replacement for Starbucks' Iced Blonde? Very effective, I say. 

The coffee flavor is stronger with the Sun-Kissed Blonde than it is with the Starbucks Iced Blonde--or at least it weathers mixing with other liquids and flavors better. This could be attributed to different roasting styles, or maybe because I make the coffee stronger than Starbucks does? There's really no way for me to know for sure. The only benefit I can see offhand to having a bottle filled with Starbucks Iced Blonde instead of one filled with chilled Signature Select's Sun-Kissed Blonde is that the Starbucks coffee comes pre-brewed and pre-chilled, so there's ease and instant gratification.

Overall, though, I found Sun-Kissed Blonde to be better-tasting than Iced Blonde. In the future, I'll most likely be taking the cheaper (yet more demanding) path toward having coffee available for drinking iced.

Dr. Victor Frankenstein, demonstrating how flavored coffees are created.
(Mad science plays a part, whether in Steve's kitchen or at a roastery.)