This is a new one from the guys at Brown Bear – it’s a super strength 5 roast and so should be right up our street, as regular readers of the Judge’s musings will know we like ’em with a bit of grunt. Following in the Brown Bear tradition of marketing nonsense, the side of the packet claims that this one tastes of almost every berry/fruit/biscuit the world has every known – we’d love to go to one of their branding meetings and see how they come up with all this as clearly they are under the influence of something when they take pen to paper and even Oscar Wilde couldn’t compete with these nutters. Despite the verbiage, this has been a breath of fresh air to us – the first really decent coffee we’ve had in a while. We’ve had too many so-so brews lately where we’re struggling to enthuse. But this is right up there – smooth, strong and so easy to grind and make – a child could do it. And although it is strong, it’s not in a face smashing kind of way – you could feed this to an legion of primadonna’s and we guarantee they’ll neck it straight down without a wimper. The only thing we can dock it for is the blurb – it’s a resounding 9/10
What the manufacturers say:
“Brown Bear New Latin has a distinct chocolate biscuit and butter in the aroma with smooth marzipan and subtle honey-roasted nut in the start. Progressing to a rich, smooth butterscotch and hazelnut flavour in the finish with persistent buttery chocolate digestive notes throughout and slight stone fruit (apricot) mid notes. Good syrupy body with a golden crema. 100% Arabica.”
Where you can buy it:
You can tey Amazon
Best of 2015
I’d begun to feel disenchanted by the recent selection of beans on offer. Many seem to be primarily concerned with creating the strongest or most obscure flavours. I should however never have doubted Brown Bear’s brew nor the power of a decent coffee. This not only re-invigorated my morning, but also my faith in the humble coffee bean. A resounding triumph for Brown Bear, and the best I’ve tasted in 2015.