Doh! Sold out….=[

I got the email two days ago.  I just remembered it a few minutes ago and logged in to check.  I enjoyed the four selections last year and thought this year would be nice to order again.  Ah well….

This is a bonus coffee bag that I bought from a recent trip.  It’s a collaboration between Caffe Vita Coffee Roasting and Theo Chocolate. I’m not sure what prompted the collaboration but it was worth trying.  Chocolate has been known to go well with coffee.

This is blend of various coffees from Indonesia, Central America and South America.  When I first opened the bag, I got very strong chocolate, earthy, nutty aromas.  It reminds me of the type of aromas you might smell from Kona coffee as well.  From the website, I have no idea what “fruit leather or cigar box” would even smell like.

After making my latte, the first sip always surprises me.  It honestly tastes similar to when I make my latte using Kona beans.  The chocolate flavors hits my tongue first followed by hints of intermingling berry flavors with each sip.  There is also a slight bitterness with each sip but it varies from day to day.  The level of bitterness also varies with the level of nutty aftertaste that lingers at the back of the tongue as well.

Anyways, I’m pretty satisfied with this blend.  It’s a different flavor profile than the usual single origin beans that I get from Angels cup.  Next up is the November offering.

October’s Angels Cup comes from Brandywine Coffee Roasters.  The packaging bag is pretty nice but I forgot to take a picture of the hippos.  Fortunately, if you look at the website, different coffees future different pictures.  Anyways, October’s coffee comes from Columbia’s Antioquia region.  Specifically, (thanks to the power of the Internet), it’s from a small region called El Hato.

Opening the bag, aromas of nuts and berries waft through the air.  Grinding the beans and making my latte, the first sip is was amazing.  I taste caramel, chocolate and berries with each taste.  There was such a pleasant nutty aftertaste and since was so smooth… I ended up drinking this so fast that I brewed another latte immediately after.  Subsequent lattes have been just as delicious and smooth.

September’s Angels Cup (yes you read that correctly!) comes from Verve Coffee Roasters.  These beans comes from Rwanda’s Karongi region.  I haven’t had many beans from Rwanda so I’m excited.

The smell of the beans is amazing.  I get subtle floral and nutty aromas when I open the bag.  Making my latte, I get hints of berries and chocolate with every sip.  Sometimes I get a hint of nuts in the aftertaste but it’s really subtle.  I’m not sure why the nutty flavor comes and goes.  Thoughts?

I’ve also noticed that sometimes the espresso concentrate is too watered down and when mixed with the milk loses it’s normal latte punch. I’m weighing water in proportion to how much the grinds weigh and adding enough milk in proportion to how much espresso concentrate I extract.

July’s Angels Cup comes in a very nondescript black bag. No design, no fancy logo.  You have to look at the bag carefully to realize that they are from this S&W Craft Roasting.  If you go to there website, it is one of the plainest/simplest websites relative to many of the other roasting companies that I’ve linked. These beans comes from the Cibao Region of the Dominican Republic.  The “Red Caturra” is apparently an Arabica varietal.

Opening the bag, I’m greeted with a familiar aroma that I first encountered when I ordered the Geisha beans.  It’s that aroma of an over ripe apple and fermented(?) yogurt smell.  It wasn’t as strong as one of the Geisha beans but that smell is pretty evident.

Making my latte, the aroma of that fermented(?) smell persisted in the flavor as well.  I’m curious what chemical causes that smell and taste.  Despite this, the apple and maybe a slight berry flavor carries into the latte.  The chocolaty smoothness of the latte makes up for the aroma.

July’s Angels Cup comes from Wild Gift Coffee Roasters.  The beans come from Peru from a region called Chirinos District in Cajamarca Province.  I think this is one of the first beans I’m trying that come from Peru.

Opening the bag, I’m greeted with a wonderful aroma of berries and floral scents.  Grinding the beans releases a strong caramel and nutty aroma that overpowers any floral and berry scents.  Once I make the latte however, there is a balance between the chocolate, caramel and berry flavors.   There’s a faint floral taste as well too but it’s really subtle and lingers at the back of the tongue very quickly before it’s gone.

The latte is so smooth though that I tend to drink this really quickly.  Every latte I’ve made, I’ve finished within 3-5 minutes after making it.  In comparison, I will tend to sip some lattes.  I’m not sure what makes certain latte’s sip-able vs drinkable.

June’s Angels Cup selection is from Prevail Coffee.  Specifically the beans are single origin from Ethiopia’s Sidama region.  From Angels Cup, I’ve been able to taste quite a few single origins from this region from different roasters.

These beans smelled pretty delicious when I opened them.  Making my latte, I tastes hints of chocolate, nuts and a bit of vanilla.  Surprisingly there were no floral notes tasted.  Smooth with a velvety after taste.  Every roaster will have different tasting variations of the coffee beans from the same region.  These differences are what makes me really enjoy this subscription service.

I’m only a month behind now with Angels Cup.  Last month’s offering comes from 319 Coffee and it’s from Honduras.  I’m excited to try coffee beans that originates from somewhere outside of Ethiopia.

From what I can learn from the Interwebz, the beans are from a farmer named Santiago who grew them on a small farm somewhere in Honduras.  Even after 2 months, there’s a nice berry and floral aroma when I open the bag.

After making my latte, I’m amazed with the sweet, caramel and chocolaty taste.  Every latte I’ve made so far, I’ve quickly drunk it down after that first sip.

I’m slowly catching up.  We’re finally in April’s Angels Cup offering.  These Sunergos Coffee beans are from a small African nation called Burundi.  Specifically, the beans are from Kabingo/Kibingo washing station in a northern province called Kayanza.

I would like to think that the beans haven’t changed too much while unopened in the original package.  I will admit that newly roasted beans have a better aroma.  When I opened this 3 months after receiving, I get a huge whiff of the floral hints, a subdued nutty flavor and something else I couldn’t quite pinpoint.  Brewing my latte, I realized what it was I couldn’t pinpoint.  It was this strong yogurt flavor similar to the Geisha beans from the Angels Cup Christmas Black Box.  Although the flavor wasn’t as strong as the Geisha, it’s pretty noticeable.  After a few sips though, the yogurt flavor melds into this soft nutty flavor.

Black Oak Coffee recently won a coffee bean roasting competition. I know… a coffee roasting competition?! Anyways, I’ve had their beans in the past.  These beans were consumed a little over two months ago. I unfortunately haven’t gotten around to posting this review until today.

So making my latte, there was a bunch of subtle flavors: chocolate, peach, nuts, berries.  I got hints of everything but nothing really overwhelmed the other.  It was smooth and left a sweet aftertaste.  However, this just didn’t really make me go wow after each sip.