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Hayman Coffee Review

Hayman Coffee is a London roaster that currently offers four coffees for purchase on their website: Jamaica Blue Mountain, Hawaii Kona, Panama Geisha, and their Award-Winning Brazilian coffee. When they asked me to review their coffee, I’ll admit that I was a little hesitant. A cursory glance at their website showed me that they offer Nescafe coffee pods as a purchasing option. I’ve wrote extensively about how I think coffee pods should die, and (in my experience) when a company offers them as a way to experience their product, what they’re really saying is “our coffee isn’t that good.”

Not only did Hayman prove me dead wrong, but they impressed me with an elegance not often found in American specialty coffee.

The Snapshot

Hayman Coffee is based in London, England and has been around since 2014. On their website they don’t say a ton about themselves, electing to instead educate customers on what Third Wave Coffee and specialty coffee is, and why that matters. I actually appreciate this; some companies get so caught up in “their story” that they tend to forget how they fit into the larger coffee community. This doesn’t seem to be a problem for Hayman.

Hayman Coffee’s selections are few in number, but great in price. As noted above, they offer just four coffees for purchase. As of the writing of this review, three of these four are available as whole bean, ground, and coffee pods. Notably, their Award-Winning Brazilian is only available in pods. You can purchase their Jamaica, Kona, and Panama Geisha in two sizes: 85g/3oz or 190g/6.7oz. Prices vary by coffee, but generally speaking its $35-$40 for the 85g size, and $50-$60 for the 190g size.

Keep in mind that a standard bag of coffee contains about 12oz, or roughly 340g of beans. A 12oz bag of Stumptown’s Hair Bender costs $15, while a higher-end specialty coffee like Onyx’s El Salvador Finca Santa Rosa Honey is $22.50 for a 12oz bag. You could buy two bags of Onyx beans and pay less money than for one 6.7oz portion of Hayman’s Jamaica Blue Mountain beans. That’s a huge gap, and it means most people wouldn’t be able to afford buying Hayman’s products regularly.

Hayman does score points in the presentation department. The coffees they sent me were packed in nice little boxes complete with cards outlining specifics about each coffee (growing altitude, tasting notes, etc). The coffees themselves were in inflated plastic tubes, likely filled with nitrogen (as this helps coffee stay fresh longer). I really enjoyed the elegant presentation, and it helped establish the kind of company Hayman is in my mind.

Hayman set a high bar for themselves to live up to; a premium look and price better come with a premium product. So how does their coffee taste?

The Coffee

I was sent Hayman’s Hawaii Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain for this review, and in my tests both coffees completely lived up to the specialty standard. With that being said, they were not the kind of coffees that I would pay $60 for. I enjoyed both coffees, but I likely won’t be purchasing more for my weekly habit.

I brewed both coffees using a variety of methods, but focused mostly on the Hario v60, Chemex, and Clever. Here’s the breakdown:


Hawaii Kona

Elevation: 550-700m

Processing: Wet

Acidity: Low/Med

Aroma Notes: Sweet, smooth, balanced.

Tasting Notes: Cereal; Malt, Cocoa; Chocolate, Nutty; Almond.

Review: Because of previous experiences with Hawaiian coffees not living up to the hype, I expected to hate this coffee. I liked it. I didn’t love it, but I liked it. It had the earthy, buttery, and chocolatey notes that I would expect from an island coffee, but it also had some muddy malt notes that weren’t as pleasant. It’s a washed coffee, so any more exotic flavors were probably muted in processing – still, it’s a balanced cup with low/medium acidity that’s pleasant to sip on.

Purchase Link for Hawaii Kona


Jamaica Blue Mountain

Elevation: 900-1700m

Processing: Wet

Acidity: Med/High

Aroma Notes: Sweet, nutty

Tasting Notes: Nutty; Hazelnut/Walnut, Brown Spice; Clove

Review: This was a delicious coffee. It had pleasant acidity, and while there were no fruit/berry notes, the acidity worked well with more nutty/brown spice flavors. Brewing in the Hario v60 brought out some really interesting light floral notes which were especially noticeable closer to the roasting date. I preferred a 1:16.5 brew ratio to get great clarity out of this coffee.

Purchase Link for Jamaica Blue Mountain


Both of these coffees are from well known islands that have adapted over time to meet tourist demands for coffee. Today, you can find both Kona beans and Jamaican beans that run the gambit from terrible to absolutely incredible. I’m happy to say that the beans Hayman sent me are closer to the “incredible” side of that spectrum.

Of the two coffees I tried I much preferred the Jamaica Blue Mountain. As a fan of higher acidity, this coffee spoke my love language. It had some subtle floral notes every once in a while, but was dominated primarily by a beautiful mix of nut and sweet spice flavors. This coffee was delicious in both the Clever and Hario v60, but I only ever experienced floral notes when brewing with the v60.

The Hawaii Kona coffee was good, but it wasn’t great. It did completely exceed my expectations, however, and for that I was happy. With deeper, chocolate flavors to compliment smooth, balanced aromatics, I was never disappointed when brewing this coffee. I preferred this in a Clever – letting the beans steep a little gave some complexity to otherwise flatter flavors.

Time-lapse of brewing with my Hario v60.

Final Thoughts

There’s no doubt that Hayman sells quality specialty coffee. The beans spoke for themselves – I enjoyed every cup I brewed. They’ve also nailed presentation: their packaging was pristine and their brand just gives off a premium vibe. Where they fail, however, is with the price.

I don’t have any insights as to what kind of profit Hayman makes on their coffee – I know that great beans from Hawaii and Jamaica can’t be cheap to import, and I imagine that’s one factor for raising the price. Still, charging $60 for 190g of coffee is just too much for too little. If I’m the type of person who would pay a premium for great beans (and I am), I’d much rather purchase a couple bags of 12oz beans for $40-$50.

I recommend trying Hayman Coffee if – and only if – you have some extra money to burn. They roast and sell high quality coffee that I really enjoyed drinking. I think you’ll like it too, even if your wallet doesn’t.

Colin

Allann Bros Coffee: Evolution in Motion

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Allann Bros Coffee was founded in 1972 in Ashland, Oregon – just north of the California/Oregon border. Like most of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon has a broad coffee culture with a brew-thirsty population. To fill this demand, it’s not uncommon to see coffeehouses come and go with some frequency. When a coffee shop, cafe, or roaster sticks around for any length of time, it generally means they have rapport with people in the area, and a great product. It’s important to keep this in mind when I say that Allann Bros has been in business for over 40 years – that’s no small task. My first question was how they managed to accomplish this. The answer? Evolution.

Allann Bros coffee bags

The Snapshot

Allann Bros. has undergone some serious changes and image overhauls since their founding. As best I can tell, the overarching spirit of the company has stayed the same while employees, coffees, and even growers/farms have changed. That’s fine – and I imagine just about any coffee company with Allann Bros. longevity has experienced similar changes. Coffee, after all, is a very different today than it was 40 years ago – at least in the minds of consumers.

If Allann Bros’ recent blog posts are any indication, the most recent changes to the company have likely been the most massive. The most recent post – from July 27th – has this to say:

For over a decade, Allan Bros has worked diligently to keep the price of our specialty coffee in check. As a commodity, coffee often undergoes significant price changes… often on a daily basis! Since 2008, we have absorbed much of the cost in serving fantastic coffee. As we approach the end of 2015, we have had to make changes to some of our cost structures, including adjusting pricing to be in line with acquiring and roasting some of the world’s finest green beans. While we regret that this can result in a negative reaction, please be assured that we work tirelessly to keep prices down, without sacrificing quality.

Read: “Prices are probably going to go up, but that’s because we’re changing who and where we’re buying beans from. In the end, it will mean better coffee.”

Personally, this is great news to me. Allann Bros clearly has a customer base that is accustomed to paying a certain amount of money for a drink, or a bag of coffee. These new changes may mean losing those customers that simply want cheap coffee. The fact that Allann Bros cares more about putting out a great product than keeping it at a specific price point speaks volumes to me. So, how does that product taste?

The Coffee

Allann Bros Coffee sent me two blends: “Phoenix and the Turtle,” a medium roast, and “Maestro’s Blend,” a dark roast. My thoughts on each are below.

Phoenix and the TurtlePhoenix and the Turtle
I’ll be upfront and honest: I did not enjoy this coffee very much. I
brewed several cups in my Chemex, and found the end taste to be very bitter, albeit with a slightly pleasant aftertaste. While Allann Bros claims this blend to be a medium roast, I found it to be far closer to a dark roast, and the taste profile backs this up. I found cocoa notes to be fairly clear, but besides that I largely found the taste to be smoky and earthy.

Phoenix and the Turtle had a mild mouthfeel, and reminded me more of smoking a smooth cigar than drinking a cup of coffee. The smoky, bitter taste combined with a smooth finish may have gone better late at night than first-thing in the morning.

Maestro’s Blendmaestros
After finding that I didn’t enjoy The Phoenix and the Turtle as much as I thought I would, I was sure I would hate the Maestro’s Blend. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m not a huge fan of dark roasts. This coffee, however, won me over in the end.

I brewed this blend in a variety of methods including my stovetop Moka pot, my Aeropress and a large French-Press. I found the end-results to be largely the same, but the methods that didn’t use the paper filter yielded a less bitter product.

The coffee was tangy, which is fairly uncharacteristic for a dark roast. While it was bitter on the back of my tongue, I found it to be a fairly mild taste at first sip. This shifting taste of mild to bitter, combined with the tangy spiciness made me want to take another sip…and another…then pour another cup. I found myself checking the bag to make sure this was indeed a dark roast, and not some imposter.

Final Thoughts

Allann Bros Coffee surprised me. I expected to find a Peet’s Coffee knockoff with a rich history and a shallow product. Instead, I found something in mid-evolution. I found a coffee company that isn’t afraid to grow and change. And, even better, I found that they can put out a truly intriguing product that I enjoyed. While Phoenix and the Turtle may not have been my favorite blend, Maestro’s Blend was absolutley something I would consider Specialty Coffee. It was roasted by folks who love the craft and have been doing it for decades, and the final result was a cup that I kept coming back for; it made me want to try their Single Origin roasts to see what else they can do.

If you’re interested in trying coffee that tends to be roasted on the darker side (at least in my experience), I would certainly recommend giving Allann Bros a shot. Based on their blog post from earlier this year, I’m excited to see where the company is going. If the small glimpse of their products is any indication, they’re headed in the right direction.

The Coffee Guy

Coffee or Tea? The Answer is Green Alert.

Green Alert, a new proprietary blend of fair trade organic coffee and tea, keeps caffeine drinkers energetic all day.

When I first heard about Green Alert I was skeptical. Very, very skeptical. My love affair with coffee and my newfound appreciation for tea have rarely intersected, and I’ve never once considered mixing the two. Nonetheless, the idea piqued my interest and I reached out to them for a review sample.

I received both versions of the product that Green Alert is raising money on Kickstarter to get to market: Primal and Refresh. Primal is a mix of Wulu Green Tea and a darkly roasted Sumatran Coffee, while Refresh combines Moroccan Mint Tea with Ethiopian coffee – also roasted dark. I’m not the biggest fan of dark roasts in the first place, and combining that with loose-leaf tea just seemed like a horrible idea to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The Snapshot

Lucas Rayala invented Green Alert the way all great things are invented: by messing around. One morning he decided to mix his morning coffee grounds with green tea in a French Press, and after a self-described “tentative sip” he was hooked. Even better – he didn’t experience the seemingly-inevitable afternoon caffeine crash, nor was he jittery throughout his workday.

He began experimenting with different coffees and various types of tea, inviting friends over to taste and give feedback. Pretty soon, he found some killer combos and wanted to share his findings.

On his company’s Kickstarter page, Lucas talks about why he believes Green Alert is so effective, but yields differing results from drinking coffee or tea independently. “When you combine coffee and green tea,” he writes, “you actually get more caffeine than your regular brew. Green tea also contains a substance called theanine. Caffeine and theanine are the key ingredients in typical energy drinks like Redbull, but Green Alert is made from organic, fair trade ingredients without any preservatives or additives — an energy drink you can feel good about drinking.”

An energy drink you can feel good about drinking.

He also goes on to talk about the antioxidants found in Green Alert, and the health benefits associated with both coffee and tea, including improved memory, lower cholesterol, and improved blood flow.

Green Alert

The Coffee, er Tea, er Whatever

I was able to try both the Primal and the Refresh blends. Because I’m just dipping my toe into the world of tea, I shared them with a close friend who’s been a tea drinker his entire life. Surprisingly, our notes were very close.

Lucas recommends brewing Green Alert at about 180ºF in a French Press with a 3.5 minute steep time. In our tests, we found that closer to 200ºF worked just as well and that you can play around with the steep time to taste.

I expected that while brewing Green Alert I would experience neither coffee nor tea – I figured that the smells and flavor profile would be a new beverage that I would either love or hate. Quite frankly, I expected to hate it.

The reality was exactly the opposite. While brewing, both the Primal and the Refresh smelled like you were simply brewing coffee and tea right next to each other. The Primal specifically gave off both the smell of fresh dark coffee, and the light freshness of green tea all at once, yet these odors complimented and danced around each other in a most pleasant way.

8682072828d8715d7575e24e4944e4ae_originalThe actual flavor of Green Alert was similar; while I expected a brand-new beverage that would perhaps have elements of coffee and tea, I found that both taste profiles were completely whole in my cup. I could taste the dark Sumatran – which was clearly roasted well – as well as the Wulu Green Tea all at once, and neither flavor crowded or influenced the other. I can’t express how surprised I was to discover this, and how happy it made me!

The Refresh was much the same. I’ve never been a big mint person, but I found the Moroccan Mint Tea to be as subtle as it was tasty, and a perfect compliment to Ethiopian dark roast. It was refreshing, crisp, and full of flavor.

I wasn’t able to test Green Alert using other brew methods, and I’m curious how a paper filter might impact the final taste results. Using an immersion brew method like the inverted Aeropress or the Clever Drip Brewer would be something worth looking into – though I suspect a big reason the French Press works so well is due to the nature of brewing tea. Nonetheless, I look forward to experimenting with Green Alert more – and perhaps that, more than anything, shows that I’m sold.

Final Thoughts

I don’t think my expectations have ever been proven more wrong than they were with Green Alert. On top of that, in no way was it an acquired taste. If you like coffee and you like tea, you’re going to like Green Alert – it’s as easy as that. Lucas Rayala and his team have seemingly done the impossible – they’ve managed to do both coffee and tea justice simultaneously. The result is a beverage that exceeds expectations and – according to their findings – leaves you without jitters or a crash.

I pledged money to Green Alert’s Kickstarter campaign, and I encourage you to as well. They are good people with a great product,   and they aren’t asking for much. As of this writing they have 16 days to go and have already reached almost 80% of their goal. I hope that you’ll help them get to 100%.

The Coffee Guy