Coffee fit for the Workers of the World

It's May Day... and we're reviewing coffee that comes to us from the Worker's Paradise of Vietnam! Workers of the World, Unite! And go on coffee break!

  

Willkins and Wontkins know coffee, be it Commie or Capitalist sourced.

 

CHESTBREW COFFEE COMPANY: GRIZZLY BEAR

ChestBrew Coffee Company was founded in the mid 2010s when friends of its owners began demanding that coffee brought back for personal use from trips to Vietnam be shared with them. At the time, no one was marketing authentic Vietnamese coffee in the United States, so ChestBrew stepped in to fill the void. A secondary motivation was to provide an affordable and simple alternative to the complicated and expensive pour-over offerings that were on the market at the time. (You can read more about ChestBrew and their coffees on their website.) 

ChestBrew positions themselves as a coffee-drinker's coffee maker; they say there's lots of caffeine AND flavor in their Vietnam-grown, carefully roasted Arabica beans. As I've confessed repeatedly in these coffee reviews, I am heavily in the fru-fru camp when it comes to coffee preferences. So, when choosing one of their offerings to review, I went with the medium roast Grizzly Bear blend, which is available as whole beans that are "dark chocolate dusted".

The moment I opened the bag, I figured I was in for a treat. The coffee smell was strong, and it remained strong as I ground and then brewed the first pot. It's not often that I pick up on the smell of brewing coffee when I'm in my office, but ChestBrew's Grizzly Bear was a great exception to the normal.

The aroma remained strong as I poured my first cup-full. The advertised chocolate dust could not be detected in the air, but it was present as a strong undertone as I took my first sip. The coffee flavor was strong and smooth and delicious and truly a full-flavored coffee. In fact, it was so smooth that I drank that first cup without adding any of my usual unsweetend almond milk or sugar-free cream, but instead just added about half a package of Stevia. That's a break with my usual protocols for this article series, but since I have an entire 20-oz. bag of Grizzly Bear (as opposed to the 4-oz. sample packs most of my Bones Coffee reviews are based on), so I have plenty of opportunities to try this coffee in however many ways that might strike me.

When I tried Grizzly Bear with Unsweetened Almond Milk, the coffee flavor remained intense and what few rough edges that still existed disappeared. The hint of chocolate got washed out, but I didn't miss it all that much. As the coffee cooled to room temperature, the flavor held steady.

Drinking Grizzly Bear with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer was okay, but I didn't like it as much as I did with the unsweetened almond milk. Curiously, the drink seemed a little too sweet; the coffee flavor remained strong, but the Italian Sweet Cream creamer mixed with it in an almost sickly-sweet fashion that I'd not experienced before. It didn't exactly ruin my cup of Grizzly Bear, but the two certainly did not mix well. That overwhelming sweetness only got worse as the coffee cooled--to the point where I just dumped the last bit into the sink.

Given that odd interaction, I tried mixing the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer with some of Unsweetened Almond milk with a cup of Grizzly Bear. It worked a little better, but the creamer flavor still came across stronger than I ever remember experienced before. Why? I have no idea, but it certainly doesn't belong in Grizzly Bear.

When consumed over ice, Grizzly Bear is fabulous whether you drink it straight--although it gets even better with a touch of Stevia added--or if you add Unsweetened Almond Milk. The coffee flavor is very mellow, with the lovely hints of chocolate adding greatly to the experience. I, once again, broke with the standard protocol and tried iced Grizzly Bear with Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, and it was also quite excellent. My favorite iced variety was the one where I just added the unsweetened almond milk. (For the sake of consistency with other reviews, I tried Grizzly Bear with the creamer as well. It worked a little better over ice, but it still did not mix well with the flavor of the coffee.)

I highly recommend Grizzly Bear to anyone who is interested in a strong-flavored, yet smooth, coffee that features a touch of chocolate. Although it only seems to be available as whole beans, grinding it is worth the extra step. I got this coffee with no expectations--just so I could make a May Day joke--but it turned out to be a great product! When my current bag is empty, I'll probably order another one!

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WILLKINS & WONTKINS: THE CAFFEINATED MUPPETS
The characters of Willkins and Wontkins (seen at the top of the post) were an early creation of Jim Henson. Originally conceived for a television ad campaign for U.S.-based coffee company Wilkins Coffee, these muppets became so popular that toys were made of them in the early 1960s. You can learn more and watch a whole slew of the ads by clicking here. Also, below is the Wilkins Coffee ad from which the image that opens this post was captured. If you find it funny, you'll get a big kick out of the ad compilation in that other post.

Bones Coffee's Holy Cannoli

It's time for another opinion about coffee I've been drinking. I hope you all appreciate my oh-so-great sacrifices on your behalf--I try weird flavored blends so you don't have to. Oh, the sacrifice!


BONES COFFEE COMPANY: HOLY CANNOLI
First, let me confess that I have no idea what a cannoli tastes like. I gather it's some sort of Italian dessert cake, but no Italian restaurant that I can access conveniently has them on their menus. So, for all I know, the Bones Company completely missed the boat on this one. But, from where I sit, it doesn't matter for a number of reasons.

First, the packaging of this blend made me smile, with its reference to the iconic poster for "The Godfather" film. As I've indicated in some of my previous coffee reviews, I'm a sucker for the packaging that invokes movies, so trying this blend was a given.

Second, Holy Cannoli is one of those fragrant Bones blends. There was a sweet, somewhat undefinable smell that rose from the package when I opened it. That same smell wafted from the kitchen to my office as the pot brewed. It remained strong as I poured the first cup--so strong that I momentarily worried that I might be in for an experience like the one I had with the Strawberry Cheesecake blend--where the flavor was so overwhelming I found it nearly undrinkable and it left residual flavoring in my coffee maker. Thankfully, this was not the case.

Thirdly, despite the strong aroma, the flavor of Holy Cannoli is one that is perfectly balanced by whatever magic that takes place in that mad scientist lab secreted beneath the Bones Coffee roastery. Although I can't quite place the smell, it reminded me of marzipan more than anything else, with perhaps pistachios mixed in. This was my reaction when I drank it black as well; a flavor that I couldn't quite place blended so smoothly with that of the medium-roast Arabica coffee that this was another of those Bones offerings that I could almost drink without adding any creamer or almond milk. ("Almost" because, as I've mentioned previously, it could be argued that I don't actually like coffee--which is why I go for the flavored blends and constantly pour milk and such into even those!)

Is the flavor of Holy Cannoli that of the dessert it's named after? Probably, since it's unfamiliar--but absolutely delightful--to me. And it only got better when I mixed cups of it with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer (which was the obvious one to lead with this time out), then with Unsweetened Vanilla Almost Milk, and then straight Unsweetened Almond Milk. In all three instances, the flavor profile remained steady, with the additions of creamer or milk enhancing the flavor while taking the edge off the coffee... by teasing out a creaminess to the blend that wasn't there when I drank it black. Unsurprisingly, the blend leaned most heavily toward the sweet and creamy when I drank it with the creamer, but the addition of vanilla almond milk was also great tasting. The perfect balance, though, seemed to come when I tried a cup with both the creamer and the normal unsweetened almond milk added; out of the variations I tried, this was my favorite one to drink hot, and at room temperature.

When I drank Holy Cannoli over ice, the flavor profile remained steady if growing a bit muted. The almond milk really made the marizipan-like flavor pop when the drink was iced, and the vanilla almond milk likewise mixed nicely with the existing flavors. The sugar-free Italiam Sweet Cream creamer overwhelmed the drink's flavor profile, but it's possible I added a little too much to the last sample cup. One other thing that made this a great cold drink: That saltiness that is present in several of the Bones blends they're consumed over ice was nowhere to be found here.

All-in-all, Holy Cannoli is another great flavored offering from Bones Coffee Company. I have no idea if it tastes like you melted a cannoli into a mug of coffee, but I liked it so much that I don't really care. Whether the taste was spot-on or completely off the mark, this was a great-tasting beverage, whether I had it hot, room temperature, or iced. I recommend it to those out there looking for a coffee that's sweet and a little different.

And speaking of different: Here's an amusing ad that Bones Coffee Company produced to promote the Holy Connoli blend. 

  

Drink Wilkins Coffee... or Else!

Meet Willkins and Wontkins, the first celebrity Muppets to be born of the mind of Jim Henson.

In 1957, Henson was approached by the Wilkins Coffee Company, which operated in the Washington D.C. area, to create a series of television ads that could run along with station identifications. This meant Henson had 6-7 seconds to capture viewers' attention and market Wilkins Coffee to them. The path he took to accomplishing this is something that needs to be seen to be believed--but suffice to say that a recurring theme of the ads is: Strange things happen to those who don't drink Wilkins Coffee... strange, terrible things!. (I've embedded a video, via YouTube, that compiles several dozen of Henson's Wilkins Coffee commercials below, for your viewing pleasure and amazement.)



Once you've watched just a few of the Willkins & Wontkins commercials, you'll fine this bit of trivia amusing: Jim Henson didn't drink coffee... he didn't even like it.

The two Muppets featured in the ads were so popular with televion viewers that Wilkins marketed and sold toys based on them in the early 1960s. The campaign was so successful that Henson was able to take the concept and puppets to other local coffee companies across the United States and re-film the ads using their brands in place of Wilkins.

Jim Henson, assisted by his wife Jill, wrote and performed the Wilkins Coffee ads from 1957 through 1961. Wilkins Coffee was eventually acquired by Maxwell House and the brand was retired.

Brands and corporations come and go, but Willkins & Wontkins (and their boss Mr. Wilkins) will live forever in our hearts and imaginations (and possibly our nightmares). You can read more information about the insane Wilkins Coffee ads by Jim and Jane Henson here.