Not part of my monthly Angels Cup subscription, I stumbled upon Highwire Coffee Roaster on a recent trip to NorCal.  I had a latte and was really impressed at how aromatic and flavorful the beans were.  So impressed I decided to buy a bag of beans. Although they didn’t have the blend of beans that the shop used at the time, I got something that I was pretty familiar with: coffee beans from Ethiopia.

Opening the bag, a nice floral aroma wafts in the air.  Taking a bigger whiff, the earthy nuttiness starts to come through with bits of cocoa mixed in.

So as a bit of an aside, I used to go to Starbucks regularly even when I had Angels Cup subscription.  In my opinion, the minimum a latte had to taste like is Starbucks latte.  Coffee Bean and Peet’s Coffee are too sweet and too bitter respectively.  Anyways, making my latte, the first sip actually pretty mediocre… like Starbucks quality level.  I was disappointed.  However, with subsequent sips, I started to notice more subtleties in the latte.  I get this subtle sweetness that I associate with the cocoa flavors.  The floral, nutty notes are also very subdued.  After making it a few times, I’ve come to enjoy the subtleties in this bag of beans.