How’s it going? Hope the coffee is flowing! Today I am going to be sharing with you my year end review for the coffee side of the blog. You can also read my amusement park year end review here.
In this post I want to reflect on a few of the coffees I sampled this year, some of the coffees and shops that surprised me, and other memorable experiences.
Overall, this was a really exciting year for me and Coasters & Coffee as I kicked off the blog in the middle of the year. I have wanted to start a blog for a while but finally built up the courage to do so and it has been a very rewarding experience even just in the short time I have had it. Thank you to all of you who read my posts and I hope you are enjoying reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. I would love for you all to reach out with new coffee suggestions next year as well!
One big difference with my coffee content as opposed to amusement park content is there is no off-season! So you can look forward to content year round, including my weekly coffee reviews.
Coffee I Brewed:
It has been a great year getting to sample and share my thoughts on so many different coffees. Surprisingly, based on the sheer number of new coffees I have had (about 40, I will do a better job tracking this though I promise!) my favorite daily drinking blend is still One Village’s Villager Roast (read my review here). The sweetness and acidity along with an excellent flavor profile just makes this such an enjoyable cup of coffee every single time.
I did sample a coffee this year that is my absolute number one coffee. However, due to the cost it is not a practical daily drinker, and in fact I may never get to experience it and all of its glory ever again :(. If you read my review of Semilla Coffee Roasters you will know of course, that I am talking about the unbelievable Jose Giraldo pink bourbon coffee. If you can afford this coffee just buy it, right now, stop reading this post for a moment and go buy it! The flavor profile is like nothing I have had before and it is so smooth and easy to drink. Maybe someday….
Perhaps the coffee that surprised me the most this year was White Horse Coffee’s Grand Prix Blend. You can read my review of this coffee here along with two of their other blends. Grand Prix is one of their dark roasts, but it packed a bold and sweet chocolatey flavor profile. This helps it stand out amongst dark roasts, and honestly caught me off guard. This is definitely a coffee I would love to get my hands on again.
Coffee Shops and Events:
In addition to my home brewing and attending the first annual Pennsylvania Chocolate and Coffee Festival (read my review of the event here), I also got to travel to some pretty amazing coffee shops across the US. One such shop was Gray Fox coffee in Minneapolis, Minnesota (read my review here). What stood out to me about Gray Fox was their Fox in the Woods latte. I am a black coffee drinker, and yet this latte was not only the best speciality coffee drink I had this year, it was just flat out a darn good cup of coffee! Gray Fox does a phenomenal job balancing the flavors of the latte while still allowing plenty of coffee flavor to show through.
The second, and most surprising shop, I visited was Spire Drink Co in Knoxville, IA (read my review here). Being in a very small town like Knoxville I did not expect a lot when I visited, however, this place is the definition of a hidden gem. I would go out of my way to visit again if I am ever anywhere near Des Moines. All four of their drinks that I sampled were fantastic and their menu is so diverse there is something everyone is guaranteed to enjoy! It is also owned by two remarkably kind individuals who take great pride in their local community and run the shop partially to give their neighbors a nice place to hangout and meet.
As we close out the year, I look forward to seeing where 2025 takes me with my coffee reviews, events, and hopefully some more incredible coffee shops and stories. I am so thankful to each and everyone of you who has read, liked, and/or shared my posts. I cannot wait to bring you all more coffee content! If you have not already, follow me on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date on my latest content. I should have some new and fun stuff brewing to begin the year as well.
