Bones Coffee's Salty Siren and S'morey Time

Today, we bring you another double-feature coffee review post--because we're all revved up on caffeine here! Both of today's reviews were based on Bones Coffee's pre-ground, 4-oz. sample packs of medium-roast, flavored blends made from Brazilian Arabica beans.

Lauren Bacall: The perfect hostess for today's reviews.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: SALTY SIREN

In this piece, I talked about my love for salted caramel coffees. When I discovered that Bones Coffee had a second salted caramel-flavored blend, I had to get myself a pack to see if Salty Siren measured up to the basic Salted Caramel blend.

The Salty Siren package (which sports another very cool Bones cartoon) promises coffee flavored with sea salt, caramel, and chocolate (a "sea salt caramel mocha" flavor, to be precise)... and that is what it delivers. You can smell the caramel when you open the package and as the coffee is brewing, but when you drink it, there's a saltiness and dark chocolate flavor that dominates, along with that of coffee.

The coffee flavor, mixed with the dark chocolate, produces more of an edge than was present in the Salted Caramel blend, so I liked this much better when I added some sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer (unlike the case with Salted Caramel where I was perfectly happy drinking it uncut. Unsweetened vanilla almond milk to mixed especially well with the existing flavors, bringing the saltiness and chocolate flavors to the fore even stronger.

Drinking this blend iced was like a highly salty version of Salted Caramel; the chocolate taste vanished completely and the saltiness became very dominant.

I personally prefer Salted Caramel over the Salty Siren blend, but if you want your salted caramel with a strong salty taste that lingers on your lips as you drink the coffee, this would be the blend to go with.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: S'MOREY TIME

The S'morey Time blend is one of those Bones Coffee selections that I was attracted to more because of the picture on the package than any expectation I'd like it, or curiosity about the flavor. (I hoped I'd like it, of course, but I had very little in the way of preconceived notions going in.)

First, I've never actually had s'mores. I wasn't raised in the U.S. or Canada, so, although I've been camping or otherwise sat around fires and told stories, I've not made s'mores. I've toasted marshmallows, but not sandwiched between crackers and chocolate. I think I may have led a deprived childhood.

Although I am not sure exactly what S'morey Time was supposed to taste like, I enjoyed drinking this a lot. It's also one those delightful Bones Coffee offerings that filled my kitchen and office with a tasty aroma as the coffee brewed--it was the unmistakable smell of marshmallows this time! That same smell drifted up from the mug as I filled it, and it was the foremost flavor--blended smoothly and sweetly with great taste of Bones's medium-roasted Brazilian beans. There was also a smoky flavor that definitely brought a campfire to mind, together with a hint of chocolate. These flavors remained steady when I drank it over ice.

S'morey Time is also one of those Bones Coffee blends that is so sweet- and mellow (marshmallow)-tasting that I could have consumed it without adding any almond milk or creamer. However, unsweetened almond milk and unsweetened almond milk with vanilla mixed well with the flavors without detracting or weakening them all that much, aside from making the coffee's edge even blunter. (In fact, the coffee flavor vanished almost completely when I added the almond milk.)

I did not like this blend when I added the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, whether I was drinking it hot or over ice. It simply became too sweet to my liking.

As far as Bones Coffee selections go, this one is grouped with Peaches and Screams (which, coincidentally, I also happened to cover in the second spot in a two-for-one review post), as a very sweet drink where the coffee flavor is almost erased by the others. The flavors are not as overwhelming as in Peaches and Screams, so if you like your coffee sweet but still tasting like coffee this is a blend to go with. I also really liked the smoky taste that lingered while I consumed this.

Lauren Bacall had to light a cigarette to get that smoky flavor with her coffee.
Too bad she couldn't have gotten a cup of S'morey Time!

I have to add that this was also one of those Bones Coffee blends that appealed to me because of the cartoon on package. I loved the idea of the company mascot toasting marshmallows with a Big Foot and a werewolf while telling ghost stories around a campfire, so it got added to the list of coffees to try to see if I'd love the flavor, too. 

Lauren Bacall has died at 89

The great Lauren Bacall passed away Tuesday, 8/12/2014. Here's a photo gallery in her memory.