This was Blue Bottle Coffee's Bella Donovan.
After we tried five different flavors of Stumptown coffees and
the last three didn't impress us, I thought we should try a different brand. There are other "the third wave" coffee brands I have been interested in. One of them was Blue Bottle Coffee. Recently I read an article about how high-tech and data-driven they are to consistently generate a great cup of brewed coffee by any of their barista at any their locations. That sounded fascinating and pushed me to go to their online store.
First I asked their customer care team by email which coffee they recommend for French press, informing we like dark but not sour. They recommended two kinds of coffee beans. One was Bella Donovan. I simply accepted their advice. Bella Donovan is a blend of beans from Ethiopia and Sumatra. They describe it as "a well-worn wool sweater," "warm, comforting, familiar - a coffee to curl up with." Also, "deliciousness: red berry, milk chocolate, caramel."
The beans smelled nice. The coffee looked dark. Ok, the taste was...well, it was difficult to express, but we didn't agree with their description. Especially, it wasn't really familiar. The coffee tasted unique. J found it earthy, even rocky - a coffee of rock climbing. We might enjoy the coffee when we would like to taste something different or unexpected.
