Quills Coffee's Zephyr Summer Blend

Why am I writing about summer blend coffee in the middle of fall? For the same reason I wrote about Octoberfest beer in the middle of winter. Because I'm always running behind on the million gazillion projects I've got on the to-do list in my head. One of those is this blog.

Found this at Quills Coffee in Louisville, Ky. when I visited on Labor Day weekend. Frankly, I bought this coffee mostly for the odd, pastel, 80s, Miami Vice-like packaging. I have always been a sucker for good advertising and good graphic design work. So what if it actually looks like some 7th graders art project from 1987, the fact is it triggered nostalgia inside me, an emotional response...which naturally led me to take out my wallet and buy some.

It also happens to be pretty damn good coffee.

Although it took me a while to "get it right" on which brewing method was the best. Lucky for me I have at least three coffee brewing systems in my home: a drip coffee machine, a stove-top Bialetti moka espresso maker, and now a pour-over contraption. Zephyr Summer Blend definitely lends itself best to the pour-over method.

It's easy to see why they call this coffee Summer Blend: it has a clean, smooth, non-oily texture to it, with rich, blue-berry and fruit notes and a tangy, tartness that -- again -- reminds one of fresh berries. You could easily see yourself sitting on the porch on a summer morning eating a bowl of berries and yogurt, drinking this coffee while you read the paper or whatever. It would be perfect for that. It is not, most likely, your January morning "I need coffee or I am going to slip into a coma and die" blend. It doesn't have that tongue rasping, eye-popping boldness to it, but instead a sort of Caribbean lightness. Or maybe I'm just influenced by the palm tree on the package.

Zephyr Summer Blend did not work too well in my drip coffee machine. Be warned. At one tablespoon per cup the flavors of the coffee weren't very pronounced and it was a pale imitation of what it could be once I put it through the pour-over. But then, you also use 3-4 tablespoons per cup with that method. At that rate a 12 oz. bag of coffee doesn't last too many summer mornings.