Coffee Review: Global Warming, Rocketfuelcoffee.com

Company: Rocketfuelcoffee.com

Bean Origin or Blend: Global Warming (Jamaican Blue Mountain, Hawaiian Kona, Triple X [Ethiopian Yirgacheffee Bold])

Body: Medium

Roast: Medium/Full

Brew Method: Drip and French Press

Price: $20/lb.

Background:
We profiled Rocketfuelcoffee.com in our first review of the Hawaiin Kona Dark (review) and in our interview with company owner Lisa Rotenberg (interview). We continue to be very impressed with their beans, service, and customer interaction. So, take a look especially at our interview with Lisa, she’s great! And don’t forget to check them out online and on Twitter.

Beans:
Rocketfuelcoffee.com’s Global Warming is their house blend and is comprised of three beans: Jamaican Blue Mountain, Hawaiian Kona, and Ethiopian Yirgacheffee Bold, which Lisa calls her Triple X. Here is a bit of information one each.

Blue Mountain – From the Blue Mountain region of Jamaica (obviously!), these mountains are some of the highest in the Caribbean where the soil is excellent for coffee production, with wonderful water drainage from the many waterfalls.

Hawaiian Kona – Cultivated on the slopes of Mount Hualalai and Mauna Loa in the North and South districts, this bean is highly sought after; it takes around 100 pounds of cherries to produce 12 pounds of roasted coffee!

Ethiopian Yirgacheffee Bold – Organic and fair trade, this bean comes from the African forests of Kenya and Ethiopia, known as the “Kaffe” region.

This is quite a mixture of beans, as each of these carries their own strong characteristics. So, how will they mix? Will they fight for prominence or submit to a perfect, happy marriage!? Let’s see!

Profile:
The aroma on the Global Warming was much more subdued than I was expecting; it was quite dense but no one aroma dominated the cup. However, the sip quickly revealed the complexity. Very smooth with a medium to full body, the flavors included dark chocolate, mixed nuts, and hints of berry. There was the slightest bit of acidity that was very enjoyable and the body was very thick with a long finish. The finish was smokey and a bit chalky as well, with some charcoal-like texture. This finish was rather unique and contributed to the overall favorable experience for me.

When I am considering purchasing a pound or more of coffee, I want a smooth cup that is also complex enough to entertain me over weeks of drinking. This is without a doubt the case with Global Warming – each day I enjoyed this coffee I tasted something new and, for me, that defines an excellent coffee.

Synopsis:
Lisa carries some hard to find coffee and often times the prices reflect that (upwards of $200/lb.), but Global Warming is set at a great price point. You’re more than likely not going to be able to find this coffee outside of Canada, so you’ll need to take shipping charges into account, but at $20/lb I think this is priced right. I was very pleased with how well the beans mixed together and the complexity it delivered. If you enjoy any of the featured beans separately, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how well they play together in Rocketfuelcoffee.com’s Global Warming.

Boutique Wednesday Cigar Review: Cigar.com Cameroon Label

Size: 5×50, Robusto

Wrapper: West African Cameroon

Filler: Dominican

Strength: Medium

Price: Box of 20, $45.95 at Cigar.com

Grade: 8.2

Packed in boxes of 20 and available in 4 sizes, the Cameroon Label does not stray far from the Cigar.com House Blends lineup. Another stick produced at the famed Tabadom Factory, the folks at Cigar.com recommend this stick to lovers of the Fuente Don Carlos and Hemingway, Partagas, or Romeo y Julieta. I will say that this stick reminded me a bit of the RyJ 1875. Billed as a solid medium, the Cameroon is protected by a unique West African wrapper and is filled with Dominican tobacco.

This completes our series of reviews on the Cigar.com House Blends. To view the other six blends, click on their link: Blue, Brazilian, Corojo, Cuban, Purple, and Red.

Now, on to the toasting.

Pre-light, 1.5:
The aroma on the Cameroon was of clean and sweet tobacco, similar to that of polished furniture in an antique shop. The aroma was a bit sweeter at the foot and mellowed toward the head. The cold draw produced some very sweet notes complemented by a raw sugar undertone. The exterior was pretty rugged, with a ragged cap and a dry wrapper that seemed to lack any oils. There was however no soft spots to speak of and minimal veins showed up on this medium dark wrapper. The wrapper was simple and didn’t exactly excite you about toasting it.

Burn, 1.8:
The Cameroon had an excellent draw and was not quite as loose as the other Cigar.com House Blends have been; the burn is also a bit slower. There is a great hold to the ash with a nicely stacked white ash. There was no touch up required on the Cameroon and the straight edged ring of ash held well throughout.

Flavor, 2.3:
The first third of this smoke felt a bit empty on flavor with just a mild sweetness dominating the smoke—this is to be expected in some smokes but not in a cigar billed as a solid medium. As the stick progressed, only a minimal body arrived and it remained consistently smooth, reminding me a bit of the Cu-Avana Maduro. The final two inches of the smoke burned bitter and a bit hot and I would definitely not classify this a being a solid medium, perhaps a Mild-Medium would be most appropriate.

Overall, 2.6:
On the plus side, I will say that at times this stick reminded me a bit of the RyJ 1875 and so, in some ways, it is as advertised. Once again, this is an excellent value at around $2.25 a stick. Given the improved appearance and burn, this stick stands above the other C.com House blends in these categories, though it fails to keep the high standards in the flavor profile. The flavor never materialized for me but it was a good Mild-Medium smoke that would accompany you well during yard work. I enjoyed this stick to the nub and at this price point I do recommend this stick, despite the low-8 score.

(Total: 8.2)

Question of the Day: How much does price affect your cigar purchases?

Toast of the Week (3/9/10)

This has been an exciting week as buzz continues for the quarter one releases of 2010; the first two have already arrived, the El Triunfador and  Nestor Miranda Dominicano, andAVO LE10 and Nosotros should be just around the corner! It looks like we’ll be making a trip North to Atlanta to check out some of the B&M’s!

The Spring weather that has graced Georgia over the last week or two has allowed some extra outdoor smoking and it has been a great change of pace! The Cigarpass of 2010 finally made its way back to the original passer, so I’d like to give a big shout out to Barry, Lindsay, and Tony for getting this started – great job everyone!

Now, on to the Toasts!

• Ed with Cigar Inspector lights up the Liga Privada No. 9 Toro. He gives it a perfect rating, but does he justify it? Toast it here.
• Brooks over at The Smoking Stogie proves once again that he has the largest cigar budget around. His latest post shows off his recent acquisitions. You’ll be amazed! Toast it here.
• The Perfect Draw, whose tag line is “Smoking Cigars for the Children”, takes on the Camacho Select, for the children, of course. Toast it here.
• Cigar Jack completes a Cigar Chat via Twitter on the Jameson Declaration – get 8 opinions on this relatively new cigar. Toast it here.
• Finally, I’m not sure that we ever gave a toast to Cigar Stash. This is a great new site that has a searchable database of online cigar sales. It also has a feed for some of the more popular cigar blogs. Toast it here.