Coffee for Bloggers?

[Sorta cross-posted from OMI--L]

Because I'm one of the hip now a-go-go kids (cough sputter) in the Blogads network, from time to time companies try to curry favor with me. If they only knew.

This time around it's Boca Java, which has put out a coffee line for bloggers (whatever); they've sent me several half-pound bags of beans, a gimme cap and a coffee mug. John and I used to own a coffee house so we're pretty picky about our brew; this could be fun.

First up is Blogs of Bravery, described as "'The Real Story in Real Time.' Front line fuel from a blend of South American dark and medium roasts to create a well balanced smooth taste." Illustrated with a picture of a soldier precariously balancing a laptop on his camoflaged knee, the cracked-open package smelled very sharp. In fact it smelled a lot like a Batdorf & Bronson Nicaraguan we'd gotten recently. And on taste test, it performed almost exactly like that coffee did.

Straight up, this stuff has a leading flavor of burnt rubber. There's no other way to put it. The aftertaste is better than that description might sound, in fact rather nice, but this is not a brew we'd drink black. And "smooth" is the last descriptor I'd think of. We kept coming back to "sharp" and "burnt rubbery."

Adding sugar burnished that sharp edge and took the rubbery taste right out. A further addition of whole milk (I'm out of cream more's the pity) produced a really nice cup of coffee.

The "black" enthusiasts are probably snorting about now. But for a coffee to take cream and sugar and still come out tasting like coffee and not melted coffee ice cream, the coffee has to be of a certain type. We've found the ones that smell sharp to be that type. If you take your coffee "full chrome" you'll like Blogs of Bravery. If you take it black, chances are you won't.