California

Is coffee with lower acidity worth it? My review of Puroast Coffee

ThumbnailPuroast Coffee is clear about their claim to fame: coffee with  lower acidity than typical roasts. 70% less acid, to be exact. When I first read about this statistic I was skeptical – but they have the research to back it up.
The Snapshot

From their website:

The Puroast roasting process involves no extraction or chemical treatment of our beans in any way.

All other “Low Acid” coffee products are coffee substitutes, neutralize acid with chemical additives or decaffeinated style extractions.

Puroasts’ rich gourmet taste is derived from its unique, proprietary roasting technology which does not alter the bean in any way.

No other “Low Acid” coffee company has done as much research with consumers and the bean. We continue to strive to provide not only an incredible tasting coffee, but one with health attributes that every consumer can benefit from.

Their claims are backed by Dr. Taka Shibamoto from UC Davis – a “coffee research chemist” who ended up using the findings from Puroast’s unique coffee to write a research paper. While I couldn’t find the actual paper, the summary to his findings were available in this PDF from Puroast’s website.

Not only is Puroast coffee less acidic, but it “has more than 7 times the antioxidants found in green tea and on average, more than 5 times that of the other coffees tested” as reported by Nasdaq’s GlobeNewswire. This is a fairly unprecedented finding, and while Puroast doesn’t openly disclose the roasting method that achieves these results, they do say that they spent some time coming up with it. Their full story is worth a read, as long as you can get past Comic Sans as their main font choice.

Puroast reached out to me to do a review for them. I’ll take their health-benefit claims at face value – I have no reason not to believe Dr. Shibamoto’s findings, and the folks at Puroast seem honest. With that in mind, I approached this review with one main question in mind: is their coffee good? Their slow roasting technique and small, dedicated beginnings echo many stories I’ve heard from other specialty coffee shops. So do they fit the bill?

Puroast logo
The Coffee

Puroast sent me their signature “Low Acid House Blend” which, according to them, is perfect for all day, every day drinking.

House BlendThe first thing that I noticed was not a positive. Puroast sent me pre-ground coffee as opposed to whole bean. Perhaps this was a simple oversight, but I couldn’t find the roasting date anywhere on the bag. As you may or may not know, pre-ground coffee has a very short shelf-life before it starts going stale; pre-ground coffee begins losing the flavors that make the coffee unique in about three days. Due to mail delay and how soon I was able to brew their coffee, it’s likely that the product I tasted was already stale.

The other huge concern with pre-ground coffee is that, besides visually looking at the coffee, I had no way of knowing  what type of brew method the coffee was intended for. It was clearly close to a medium grind, but the bag was void of any specifics as to the actual grind size or recommended brewing technique.

Sending a batch of pre-ground coffee was at best an oversight, and at worst a sign of ignorance to coffee shelf life. Because Puroast seems like a group of well-seasoned coffee professionals, I’ll choose to believe the former.

As for brewing, I used my Hario v60  with a coffee:water ratio of 28g:415g. I went with a 50g bloom for 30 seconds. The total brew time was about 3:00. Before tasting, my main clue as to the staleness of the coffee was that it didn’t bloom. At all. The water basically drained straight through the grounds – never a good sign. This was probably a result of the grind size as well.

When I’ve tasted stale coffee in the past, it’s been extremely bitter. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case with Puroast’s house blend. While this was a positive, the taste itself was not.

The coffee was, in a word, tasteless. It lived up to Puroast’s promise in that it definitely was not acidic, but on the other hand it was also not…anything. It tasted like what somebody who has never had great coffee expects coffee to taste like. I can’t say the taste was bad, but I also can’t say it was good. It was about as uninteresting as standard-fare commodity coffee, without the smokey notes of over roasting characteristic to that ilk.

Final Thoughts

I can’t in good faith recommend Puroast coffee. In the sample that I was given, nothing unique stood out save for the lack of acidity. On that, they kept their promise.

What I will say is this: if you are someone who has a sensitive stomach towards anything acidic, by all means give Puroast a try. But in my experience, acidity is not a bad thing. Many of the best coffees I’ve had the pleasure of trying have been incredibly acidic. Acidic notes in coffee are closely tied to the “bright” taste that sets many specialty coffees apart from Starbucks, or commodity coffee.

Puroast fills a niche for everyday coffee drinkers that have a sensitivity towards acidic coffees. From what I was given, however,  Puroast does not make great coffee, especially when compared to the fantastic specialty coffees that I can get from my local roaster.

The Coffee Guy

You can buy Puroast’s coffee here.

Rogers Family Company Coffee: the Intersection of Commodity and Specialty

rgctm_logo Commodity coffee and specialty coffee are viewed as polar opposites in the coffee community today. In reality, they are appealing to two very different markets. On one hand, commodity coffee is looking for the every day coffee consumer that grew up drinking tar from a mug. They want to wake up, open their can of coffee grounds (a la Maxwell House or Folgers), and feel the familiar “click” of pressing the button on their time-weathered coffee pot. Specialty coffee, on the other hand, is meeting the needs of the coffee enthusiast and the coffee professional. Often, all it takes for the “every day consumer” to turn into the “coffee enthusiast” is to have a single cup of specialty coffee. Still, the division exists. Coffee enthusiasts and professionals are seeking to upgrade their ritual to the whirrr of a burr grinder and the smell of their brew as it blooms in a Chemex or V60.

Is it possible to meet somewhere in the middle? My initial response is no. But Rogers Family Company challenged this notion when they sent me four of their coffees to try: the Fog Chaser, French Roast, Colombia Supremo, and Breakfast Blend. Let’s get started.

The Snapshot

The Rogers Family Company (RFC) website is wrought with large, high definition images all throughout. It touts specials, coupons, and various tiers of pricing, and is easy to navigate. It’s clear they have a great team of professionals that know what they’re doing, but ironically it lacks the very thing that stands out about their name: a sense of family. It feels more like the Walmart of coffee than it does a small-town Mom & Pop store. That’s not necessarily a negative, but it’s something that jumped out at me.

The coffee that I received was pre-ground and in sample-size 2oz bags. The ground size wasn’t specified on the bag or on the included receipt, and the bags weren’t resealable. This meant two things for me: first, I didn’t know what I was supposed to brew it with. I opened one of the bags and saw that it was probably a slightly-coarse Medium grind, which means trying the coffees in a French Press was a no-go; luckily my press pot broke a couple weeks ago anyways. That leaves me with an Aeropress and Clever. Luckily, both of these brewers do a good job of extracting the unique tastes of coffees even if the grind size isn’t perfect.

The second thing this meant for me is that I would have to consume all of the coffee relatively quickly. Despite the bags’ claims that the “specialty valve” on the packaging, combined with the vacuum sealing, kept the coffee at “roaster fresh” taste, ground coffee is ground coffee. I didn’t know when it was roasted, when it was ground, or how long it was exposed to air before being packaged. As soon as I cut the top off each bag it was go time. Ground coffee takes about two or three days to go stale when directly exposed to air.

Drink it fast!

Because I only received sample sized bags, I can’t speak for the usual customer experience when RFC ships out coffee. But I can say this – a little bit of detail goes a long way. Tonx coffee, for instance, provides zip-lock resealable tops built into their bags. In addition, while I was sent pre-ground coffee, whole bean coffee is the default setting when you go to purchase form RFC’s website. I recommend to always buy whole bean coffee so that you can grind it to the proper size for whatever brew method you choose. In addition, whole bean coffee stays fresher longer.

The Coffee

When it comes to taste, RFC walks a fine line between commodity coffee and specialty coffee. The coffee I was sent to test was under their “San Francisco Bay” name, which appears to be their flagship brand. It’s all arabica coffee, so in that sense it is very much on the specialty coffee side of things. However, with one exception, the coffees all seemed rather mediocre. Not bad, not awful, not gross. But definitely not up to par with Intelligentsia, Counter Culture, or Stumptown. Still, it’s worth pointing out the good and bad in each individual roast.

Fog Chaser

Unsurprisingly, this coffee had a hazy taste, with some dark woody notes. Aptly named, to be sure. It flared with some acidity on the edges of my tongue, which was welcome, but overall played very bland notes. Hints of apple and wood – or is it applewood? – floated in and out of the cup. I didn’t dislike this roast, but it didn’t especially stick out.

Colombia Supremo

Very palatable coffee, and definitely closer to specialty coffee quality. This was my second favorite roast and provided rich, earthy tones. It had some slight burnt notes as well, which were unwelcome. Overall, this coffee was worth a second cup.

French Roast

This was by far my least favorite of the four. The packaging reads, “We roast this longer, turning the beans almost black, and brining the natural oils out, for an intense, caramelized taste.” In my tests I could see what they meant by “carmelized” and “oils,” but I don’t think it had the desired affect. The coffee tasted like ash and was closer to Starbucks than it was to anything else. Which, I suppose, is still a leg up from Folgers, so it’s not all bad.

Rogers Family Coffee Breakfast Blend

Breakfast Blend

This was easily my favorite roast. The coffee smelled delicious coming out of the package and while brewing. It produced a light and easy going cup, but with a nice solid body. It was consistent with a smooth finish, and I thoroughly enjoyed drinking it. Notes of maple and oak permeated the cup, and I can definitely say it would have gone nice with some bacon and flapjacks.

 

 

Final Thoughts

I think RFC believes in their product, and strives to make it the best that they can. I also think they are appealing to a different audience than, say, Counter Culture Coffee is. Nowhere on their website do they tout the “specialty coffee” moniker – instead they refer to their product as gourmet coffee. And in that sense, they 100% accomplish their goal. RFC’s product is better than any you will pick up in a can from your grocery store – it really is gourmet. Can a company walk the line between commodity coffee and specialty coffee? Rogers Family Coffee appears to do it with ease and, if appearances are any indication, it has served them well.

In principle I cannot recommend them above Tonx, Stumptown, or your local specialty coffee roaster. I can say that if you need an alternative to the stale can of Folgers sitting in your cupboard, RFC is definitely a step up. Their business principles are solid, their product is good, and they have a passion for what they do.

The Coffee Guy

Find Rogers Family Coffee here:

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