Blue Bottle Coffee started as the quintessential boutique coffee business: a micro-roasting operation in Oakland housed inside a space about as large as a suburban walk-in closet and a single retail location in San Francisco. Since its founding Blue Bottle has attracted a strong following in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, and now operates two roasting locations: one in Oakland, California and another in Brooklyn, New York. It is one of the original specialty coffee roasters and has grown into one of the largest, most well known and respected roasters in the world.
Blue Bottle is known around the world for their high-quality coffee. As a coffee enthusiast, I was excited to try the Blue Bottle Coffee Cold Brew Set. This set features their Three Africas blend, which is a combination of African coffees known for its complex flavor profile. After using it for a week, I'm ready to share my thoughts.
Blue Bottle Coffee subscriptions can range in cost from $11 to $52 per shipment. At their smallest half-bag shipment size, the cost per ounce can get a bit high, but is fairly consistent with the price per ounce for shipments that size from other subscriptions. At the full bag size, the cost per shipment is pretty consistent with other subscriptions, as well, and maybe even a bit less expensive since shipping is included.
Generally, you’ll get 12 oz of beans every other week for $17, or double your bag for an extra $11. They also offer half bag and triple bag subscriptions.
This month’s featured whole bean coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee is amazing. It features another unique blend of flavors and mesmerizing scent that would definitely make a great mood setter. Blue Bottle Coffee‘s notes do a great job of laying out the growing conditions and peculiarities of each coffee.
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Featured in front of the coffee bag is the name of the coffee, its weight, and the date it was roasted. All coffees are shipped within 24 hours of roasting, which is the industry standard for the best roasters.
Every subscription shipment arrives in a simple, brown kraft box with the iconic Blue Bottle icon on the front.
Each of the coffees I have tried from Blue Bottle have been excellent, unique single origin offerings. If you enjoy a high-quality, yet curated coffee experience, the Blue Bottle Coffee subscription is an outstanding option.
Quick Facts:
- Small-batch roasted coffee
- 12-24 hours steeping time
- Up to 2-week storage in refrigerator
- Three Africas blend combination
- Complete brewing kit included
The Three Africas blend:
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This popular Blue Bottle blend combines a wet-processed Uganda with a wet-processed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe and a dry-processed or "natural" Ethiopia Sidamo.
Est. Very complex; big-bodied. Blueberry, ripe lemon, dark chocolate, hints of bourbon whisky and musk in aroma and cup. Round, quietly resonant acidity; syrupy, gently lively mouthfeel. Certified organically grown.
The Three Africas blend is truly a standout. It offers a perfect balance of fruity notes, subtle acidity, and deep sweetness. When brewed as a cold brew, it produces a smooth, full-bodied coffee with hints of berries and citrus. The flavor is rich without being overpowering, making it enjoyable for both coffee connoisseurs and casual drinkers.
The flavor profile of the Three Africas blend is truly exceptional. It offers a complex mix of jammy notes from the natural Ethiopian coffee, pleasant acidity from the washed Ethiopian, and body and sweetness from the washed Central African. When cold brewed, it produces a drink with impressive depth and luminosity that spans the coffee spectrum.
I found the cold brew to be smooth and well-balanced, with a nice interplay of fruit notes and deep sweetness. It's refreshing and easy to drink, yet still complex enough to satisfy more discerning palates.
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I particularly like its smooth rich finish. More than any other coffee subscription, Blue Bottle tries to capture the feel and essence of its coffees rather than declaring flavor notes with absolute authority, but they do give you a good place to start.
Three Africa's blend
Caffeine Content
Blue Bottle doesn't provide specific caffeine content for their cold brew set. However, cold brew generally contains more caffeine than regular coffee due to its concentrated nature. Based on my experience, it provided a good energy boost without feeling jittery.
It's worth noting that you can adjust the strength (and thus caffeine content) by changing the coffee-to-water ratio or diluting the final product to your liking.
POUR OVER MONDAY, BLUE BOTTLE THREE AFRICAS-HOW TO DO POUR OVER COFFEE
Convenience and Ease of Use
The Blue Bottle Cold Brew Set is quite convenient, especially for those who enjoy making cold brew at home. The set comes with everything you need to get started, including the coffee and brewing instructions.
One minor inconvenience is that you need to plan ahead, as cold brew typically needs to steep for 12-24 hours. However, once brewed, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, which is great for having coffee ready to go.
The cold brew set is straightforward to use, even for those new to making cold brew. While it's not as instant as some concentrate options, the process is simple and yields great results.
Cold Brew Set
Blue Bottle Coffee Subscription Details
Being able to easily customize your coffee subscription (how often coffee ships, the size of your shipment, what’s included, etc.) is one of the most important features a coffee subscription can offer.
- Pause subscription: You can choose to pause your subscription at any time. When pausing you can choose to either skip your next shipment or pause it until any date you select (within eight months).
- Shipment size: You can select between 6oz, 12oz, 24oz or 36oz for every shipment.
- Shipment frequency: You can select between every week, every other week, every three weeks or every four weeks for subscriptions.
- Coffee: You can select if you want an assortment of single origin, blends or espresso beans.
The variety of coffee you receive depends somewhat on the coffee subscription you select. Blue Bottle offers 11 different subscription options. Eight of the 11 options are single coffee subscriptions, so the coffee you will receive every time will be the same by design. The other three (Single Origin Assortment, Blend Assortment and Espresso Assortment) offer rotating coffee offerings.
All coffee is shipped via either USPS First Class, USPS Priority or USPS Priority Express. In their FAQ section, Blue Bottle estimate shipping time to be 1-5 days depending on the method and your location. For my subscription, each shipment arrived within four days of roasting.
Commitment to Quality
One of the things I appreciate about Blue Bottle is their commitment to quality and freshness. The coffee is roasted in small batches and shipped quickly, ensuring that you're getting the best possible product. This attention to detail really shows in the final cup.
As I mention with every review, coffee certifications aren’t the end all be all and have their flaws. For Blue Bottle, they don’t require their coffees to be certified organic or Fair Trade, but do say that 85% of the coffee they purchase is organic.1 And while they do purchase some coffee from producers that are Fair Trade certified, they realize that many simply do not find the certification worth the cost.
Everything about the signup experience for Blue Bottle’s subscription is well designed and well thought out. It is clean, simple and easy to use. You start by selecting the style of subscription you want and then move to quantity and frequency. After signing up the account area is easy to use as well. There aren’t a ton of options, but the ones they provide are clearly presented and easy to adjust.
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tags: #Africa
