Brown Bear Original Blend Coffee Beans

Brown Bear Original Blend Coffee BeansAnother blend from the guys at Brown Bear - this time a strength four. Everything looks "normal" about this one - the raw beans, the ground beans, the brewed beans.... nothing to write home about so far. But, while it's brewing we read the packet - "rose water finish". What the f*#k is that? Firstly - who on earth has been drinking rose water to know what it tastes like? If that's the kind of thing these Brown Bear boys get up to in their lunch break, then we've got to ask are they even from this Earth? And not only that - they don't claim it fully tastes of rose water - only the finish! What the?! There must be something wrong with our taste buds then, as we're getting no roses here at Judge Towers. If anything, it's a bit ashy this one. But not in a horrible way - just in a good first-thing-in-the-morning kind of way. Hmm... on re-reading they claim the finish is also liquorice. I think their marketing boys must have been on some heavy hallucinates when they knocked this one out. Still, piss-taking aside, the coffee's good - works well as a wake me up - nothing fancy and easy as hell to make. Just grind-brew-glug. That's it. So, one point off for the marketing bullshit, gives it a 7/10

What the Manufacturer's say: 

"Brown Bear Original Blend is deep, rich, chocolatey and punchy with a powerful liquorice and rose water finish. Earthy notes throughout with an underlying spicy chocolate feel. Excellent body that cuts through milky drinks well."

Where you can buy it: 

You can try Amazon  good luck!

6.28571
Average: 6.3 (7 votes)
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Comments

The 'original blends' tend to do more for me than the fancier brews and this is no exception. This comes pretty close to being the 'classic coke' of the coffee world, despite all that rose water bollocks on the packet. A robust, full taste without any added chicory or 100 year old aged malt barley infused with truffle oil with a saffron glaze complete with a buy one get one free offer for Alton Towers. There wasn't the usual mush of ground coffee granules at the bottom of my cup, which is always a bonus and pushes this up to a 8/10.

Wholly in agreement with the Judge's review for the most part. Good stuff, nothing especially fancy, just a good solid brew. On the marketing gumph, I agree with earthy and chocolatey... the rest is a load of rubbish. They say it cuts through milky coffee well... well it does and it doesn't. When I have got the balances just right, it's been splendid, but I actually haven't found this one the easiest to make. Variously I have (a) ground it too coarse (does seem to need quite a fine grind) (b) made it too weak (probably the result of coarse grind) (c) made it too strong and (d) made it with too much milk. Maybe I'm really fussy or maybe I'm just not that competent with the old cafetiere! But it has taken me a little bit of trial and error to get it right compared to some of my regular brews. I'd buy it again, their customer service is good (arrived next day, a Saturday too) and so is the coffee.