There is nothing better than getting to sample a new coffee. Well there is one thing, getting to sample a new coffee and share it with others. Today I had the pleasure of trying out the new offering from Weaver’s Coffee., The Astral Blend. This coffee is special for a couple of reasons. first off it is Fair Trade Certified, Organic and has a conscience. 5 % of all sales from the Weaver’s Coffee will go to Breast Cancer Research. As per their own website…
“By purchasing this product, you are supporting breast cancer research, funding for local hospitals and community organizations that provide breast health education, breast cancer screening and treatment. This special coffee also supports a better life for farming families through fair prices, community development, and environmental stewardship.”
You Can’t argue with that type of commitment to changing the world a little bit with each cup of coffee you drink. But all of that doesn’t mean any extra warm fuzzies when it comes to taste,. If a coffee doesn’t taste good, it won’t have too much of a chance to make a difference.
As per usual all coffee’s submitted are run through the same process a nice coarse grind and a 4 minute steep in the trust french press, this time however my first experience is via drip brew in my office. The French Press came later, and only served to reinforce my experiences. Sometimes necessity demands that i bring large samples into work to share with other coffee lovers and this was one such time.
The Journey
- Smell: The Start of your journey
- Taste: Obvious and penultimate
- Mouthfeel: Besides the taste how does it feel while drinking
- Notes: Anything I might notice or want to share
Pop open the 
bag seen on the left of the page and you see that right away the Weaver’s Coffee people know coffee. A resealable bag is a fantastic Idea, and the bag of course has the ubiquitous vent to off-gas any extra CO2, keeping the coffee fresh.
Smell: This coffee, simply put smells unbelievable. I love the smell of coffee, but man this was a Rich Bright and clean smelling coffee. Clean is an odd word to put there but honestly the coffee smelled fresh, like line dried linen.
I brewed the first batch at my office, a wonderful stress reliever, people were coming out of offices all over remarking on how fantastic this coffee smelled brewing. Literally filled the whole floor with a beautiful aroma.
Taste: If it smells good it needs to taste good. This coffee was a full bodied, and earth cup. A slight bitter tone to it overall, but not too bad, just enough to keep the taste nice and crisp. No sour notes, only a slight sweetness to it. A light hint of the oil on the top of the cup.
Mouthfeel: The Astral Blend had a nice round mouthfeel, leaning a bit more towards the back end, it was a very well balanced cup of coffee and had a surprising clean finish.
Notes: These are the darkest beans I have had in a couple of months. Deep chocolate with a shiny residue. To be quite honest upon opening the bag I was a bit worried. I’m not usually a fan of dark roasted beans unless they are an espresso. I was expecting a completely different type of flavor out of them. These did not taste like dark roasted beans. Except for the fact that it was a very balanced cup, with a nice even roast characteristic to it.
Cost: Direct from Weaver’s Coffee you can get the Astral blend at $14.95 for a pound of the lovely brew.
Astral Blend on the Left, A dark medium roast on the right
Conclusion:
I would give this blend a great 5 out of 5 score on pretty much every category I can think of. A wonderful balanced blend lending support to a good cause.
*Full Disclosure: I was sent a lovely care package at no cost by the fine Folks at Weaver’s Coffee, for the purpose of writing this review. this agreement in no way affected my opinions of the unit nor was a desired outcome asked for or agreed upon.
