Coffee and maple.
It's absolutely a thing. And no, it's not really all that weird of a combo, like, say, chicken and donuts. In our house, my lovely bride Sandy puts maple in her coffee all the time. I do, occasionally, as well if I need a slight change up from plain black brew.
So to get them together, infused, in something like Trader Joe's Autumn Maple Coffee is a must-buy for us. So how good is it?
Listen: If you haven't figured it out yet, we're mapleoholics here. And as two adults with more-than and close-to full time jobs and a van load of young kids, we're definite coffee addicts too.
But...this stuff is only okay at most.
There's a couple issues. First and foremost: It only comes pre-ground. Wha!?!?!? There is an absolute difference in coffee taste for fresh ground vs pre ground, and for French press vs regular drip. At home, we're French press people...but you need coarse ground for that, less any grounds don't get caught by the filter. We don't have that option here.
So we dragged up our Hamilton Beach BrewMaster from our basement stairs (because where else would you store your coffee maker you usually only use when hosting a large mass of people?) and dug out the paper filters and fired it up.
When hot and ready...ugh. The coffee just doesn't taste right when hot and piping fresh. There's this really almost acidic kinda bite, and it's oddly bittersweet. Instead, wait for the coffee to cool for a few moments. That's when the maple flavor develops a bit more and is actually pleasant.
I've heard from some folks how aromatic the coffee is when brewing. It is quite maply when the bag is opened, but when percolating, at least in our case, not so much.
Some of the issues I mentioned might be mitigated somewhat if you're a cream-and-sugar fan for your coffee. I'm not. So take what I said there whichever way you see fit.
Neither Sandy nor I are huge fans. The maple coffee is a decent buy at best, which is kinda disappointing for us. I'm not sure of the price tag but it's probably around $8 or $9 for the cannister. We'll be charitable and say double threes.
Bottom line: Trader Joe's Autumn Maple Coffee: 6 out of 10 Golden Spoons
I’ve never found an artificially flavoured maple coffee that was even decent. It usually smells cloying and tastes bitter. Some things just can’t be faked.
ReplyDeleteMore maple stuff when it isn't even maple season. TJ's is getting weird....
ReplyDeleteI agree that brewed hot this was only so so. Cold-brewed however, it is amazing!! I highly recommend it, the maple flavor bursts through and the coffee is very smooth.
ReplyDeleteThis was available as a sample today and I can't imagine it being great black, guessing it's just as you described. It SMELLED really great with half and half, and it tasted..nice...but the flavor was.. low, and I've never felt that our store is bad at brewing. I'd never had maple+coffee before this. I would bet it is way better cold brewed, as Todd mentioned! (But that's a super rare treat for me, since I can't tolerate cold drinks)
ReplyDeletei am not a fan of flavored coffee but this is one of the best I ever bought. They no longer sell it at trader joes ...so now i am stuck buying it from amazon double the price. but its worth it...
Delete^Totally agree.^ This was excellent coffee.
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