World Market's Chocolate Peppermint

It's the time of year when our minds turn to Christmas coffee... and then, we post about the coffee we drink, so we can help YOU have a Merry Caffeinated Christmas Season!

WORLD MARKET: CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT

This is the second year in a row where we've featured reviews of Christmas-themed flavored coffees here at Shades of Gray. Last year, the Holiday Season was dominated by Bones Coffee flavors (with Eggnog and Jingle Bones being the faves, which you should also check out if you have a chance), but this year we're sampling offerings from a few different roasters, leading off with another of World Market's house-blends.

Coffee with peppermint flavor is not a favorite here at Shades of Gray, but, since it's a Christmas standard we'd be failing all you fine folks out there if we didn't give it a try during the Season of Joy. Did we find joy in our cups, though?

Yes... with World Market's Chocolate Peppermint, we did. But we think this coffee will bring you even more comfort and joy that it did us if you're a lover of peppermint.

First off, when the sample pack from which our test-pot was brewed was opened, the aroma of coffee mixed with chocolate and peppermint rose into the air. The smells were evenly mixed, and we hoped they carried a promise of a similarly balanced flavor profile.

As we put the blend through our usual taste-tests, we found that, as is often the case, the flavors shifted depending on what we mixed with the coffee.

When the coffee was consumed hot and black, the dominate flavor was that of a mellow, medium-roast coffee--probably one based in Colombian beans. The peppermint flavor was there as an undertone, but it grew stronger in our mouths the more we drank. In fact, the peppermint flavor stayed in our mouths long after we'd finished our cups of coffee. The same held true when this blend was consumed with Unsweetened Almond Milk added--the peppermint flavor grows the more of this you drink, and it stays in your mouth even after the coffee is all gone. If you want peppermint, this brings the peppermint!

But what about the chocolate, you may be wondering. Well, there was no detectable chocolate flavor when this blend was consumed black, nor when the unsweetened almond milk was added. This was disappointing, because the blend is called Chocolate Peppermint. That said--the small print (which says that this is "a festive holiday mix of peppermint and chocolate flavors") does put peppermint first, so that is kinda-sorta setting the record straight. In the spirit of being charitable, what with this being the Christmas Season and all...

The chocolate flavor showed up when we mixed this coffee with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. It added a nice dimension to drink, with the tartness of the peppermint blending nicely with both the chocolate tones and the sweetened cream flavor. However, as the cups were drained, the peppermint once again came to dominate and continued to remain in our mouths until we got rid of it by drinking some water.

As the blend cooled to room temperature, the peppermint flavor grew more dominant, regardless of what we'd mixed the coffee with. So, if you're a fan of peppermint, drinking this coffee at a leisurely pace is definitely the way to go!

Finally, when this blend is consumed iced, initially the only flavor that's evident is that of coffee with a slight saltiness. This is true whether the coffee is consumed black, with Unsweetened Almond Milk, or with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. As our cups were drained, a mild peppermint flavor emerged and lingered in our mouths for a bit. It was nowhere near as strong as it had been with previous cups, but it was still enough to bring truth to the name of the blend. Well, except for the chocolate. 

If this seasonal blend sounds interesting to you, you find it on the shelves of WorldMarket stores and at Amazon.com. 

World Market's Cinnamon French Toast

It's Sunday, so it's time for a post about coffee I've recently consumed.

Summer mornings are perfect for drinking coffee outside.
It's okay to not have the willpower to make it across the yard.

WORLD MARKET COFFEE: CINNAMON FRENCH TOAST

This is another one of those flavored coffee blends that surprised, because the aroma of the pre-ground beans doesn't quite line up with the resulting brew.

When first opened, the coffee in the package presented a strong and unmistakable scent of maple syrup, which, was indeed a flavor mentioned on the package: "Warm cinnamon and premium maple syrup blended with sweet buttery notes." Given how strong cinnamon often comes through in flavored coffee blends, I assumed that it would be detectable as soon as I got ready to pour coffee in basket for brewing. Since it wasn't, part of me began to think that maybe they'd missed the mark and that the coffee wouldn't deliver on the complex mix of flavors promised. I fully expected this to taste like someone had poured maple syrup in my coffee.

(As a sidenote, I don't know for sure whether the foundation of this blend is a light-roast or medium-roast, as the package didn't say. Based on the look of the grounds and the taste of the resulting brew, I am guessing it's a medium-roast.)

As the Cinnamon French Toast blend brewed, there was no detectable aroma other than coffee. When I poured the first cup, a non-definable sweet scent met my nose, mixed in with that of coffee. When I took my first sip of this blend black, I was surprised by the fact that it didn't taste like someone had poured maple syrup in my coffee... it tasted like someone had dissolved some French Toast in the coffee pot when I wasn't looking.

The flavors of this coffee were 100 percent on point! The cinnamon is there, the maple syrup is there, even a hint of buttery, egg-soaked bread can be detected. The flavors are mild but still very much present and they blend delightfully with a great-tasting coffee to the point where I could have finished a whole cup without adding any milk or creamer. (I only had a 2-oz. sample pack, so I didn't...)

Another great thing about this blend is that the flavors remained constant as I put the blend through my usual tests--mixing it with Unsweetened Almond Milk, then Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, and ultimately sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. All the flavors blended nicely with the basic french-toastiness, adding a varying degree of sweetness to the blend, but not causing the initial flavors to shift or alter too much. This was also a little surprising to me, given how mellow the flavors of this blend are. Surprising in a very good way.

World Market's Cinnamon French Toast blend was as tasty at room temperature as it was hot. I preferred it with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, but all of the ways I consumed it were highly enjoyable luke-warm. 

When consumed iced, the mellowness of the flavors worked against this blend. When I tried it black, it tasted like a slightly sweetened iced coffee with a hint of cinnamon. It wasn't unpleasant, just bland. I didn't try it iced with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, but with both the vanilla and plain unsweetened almond milks, any flavors but the coffee and the milk were washed out. At least the flavor didn't turn salty as happens with many flavored coffees when they are chilled and iced.

The Cinnamon French Toast blend is considered a seasonal, Christmas offering by World Market. As a result, this blend is only available as I post this in the World Market Holiday Sampler which features five different 2-oz. packs of Christmas-themed coffees. Perhaps it's another hole in my understanding of American culture, but I don't see how cinnamon or french toast are in any way Christmas-related. If you ask me, this blend would make a perfect breakfast coffee any day of the year. I recommend keeping an eye out for it come November or thereabouts when it undoubtedly makes a return to retail outlets.

World Market's Holiday Eggnog

World Market isn't a chain I'm terribly familiar with. From my only visit to one of their stores, they seem to position themselves as a hip department store that offers a little bit of everything--including their own brand of coffee. Among the flavors they offer are a series of Christmas-themed offerings, and I'm covering one of those in this post today, in celebration of Christmas in July!

 

Christmas in July coffee attire: Sweaters but no socks or pants.

WORLD MARKET COFFEE: HOLIDAY EGGNOG

I love eggnog. I love coffee. During the Christmas Season, I have made my own eggnog-flavored coffee blends for many years (basically, mixing medium-roast coffee with eggnog and sometimes a little rum). If eggnog was available year-round, I'd drink it year-round, probably using it as my primary coffee additive. So whenever I come across an eggnog-flavored coffee blend, it goes to the top of the list of the ones to try!

The package promises a coffee that delivers a creamy eggnog flavor with spicy notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. There was a faint whiff of eggnog as I opened the 2-oz sample pack (I got this blend with four other World Market holiday-themed coffees... and if I'd planned better, I'd have done Christmas in July for this entire month instead of just today), so it looked like we were off to a good start.

As the coffee brewed, there was no detectable aroma other than that of coffee. The same was true as I poured it... and as I initially tried the blend hot and black, it tasted like a slightly sweetened basic, generic coffee. What it didn't taste like was eggnog.

I tried drawing out the flavors by trying the blend first with Unsweetened Almond Milk, then Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, and finally sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer.

The vanilla almond milk and the creamer successfully brought a weak eggnog flavor to the fore, but the unflavored almond milk did nothing. It didn't seem creamy and there was no spiciness it at all. When consumed hot, this blend was an all-around disappointment. It's not terrible, just bland and uninteresting.

Interestingly, as the Holiday Eggnog blend cooled to room temperature, the eggnog flavor began to emerge, and were particularly noticeable in the cups with the Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer. TI could even taste the nutmeg... and the drink seemed genuinely creamy with the creamer.

When I tried the blend iced, the results were essentially the same as when I consumed it at room temperature, but with the flavors muted. They weren't quite as faint as they had been when I drank it hot--I could even detect a touch of eggnog flavor when I drank it black--but icing this coffee is not the way to go.

All-in-all, World Market's Holiday Eggnog is not one that I would recommend going out of your way for. If it's handy and you're looking for something mildly sweet to go with dessert after Christmas dinner, then there are worse choices you could make. But there are also better ones. (Perhaps the most interesting thing about this blend is that the eggnog flavor behaves in an almost perfectly opposite of the eggnog-flavored one from Bones Coffee.)