A Coffee For All Seasons

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Okay, my first question is: What were they thinking? No, seriously, what were they thinking?

Yes, I know why they named it The Brain Coffee, and it ties to one of their epic tales, as usual, but obviously this should have been 4 season coffee.

Why? Well, let me explain. King Harv’s sent me a testing package of Brain Coffee. This was useful, as at the moment for some reason, my body decided I don’t need to sleep anymore, and between insomnia and nightmares, I have considered in fact drilling a hole in my head and pouring the coffee in.

Anyway, the more I tried it out the more I was amazed at how misnamed it is.

I started with unadulterated coffee. It’s got a lot of body, and the body is immediately present. It starts out at a high volume, right at the start of the sip, presenting initially as dark, earthy, and with a smoky bitterness most reminiscent of wood smoke. Then there is a blueberry note, arriving mid-taste. It sits in the background but doesn’t resolve in clarity till later. Even more present in the background is cinnamon and a kind of sweet cinnamon flavor, like a cinnamon pastry. That is even present mid. A cinnamon forward baked good.

The feeling was of camping in the woods, early spring, with the big sky above and morning breaking all pink and orange in the East and you’re sitting by your wood fire, eating a lovely blueberry pastry for breakfast. At the end there is a sort of savory taste, very light, kind of like you just got some beef broth hotting up to sip before your hike, and you’re smelling that.

Sweetening with sugar reins in that big earthy bitterness of the front end, but leaves the hardwood flavor intact. Actually it makes it easier to pick out, because it’s not buried in the smokey forward.

It also changes how the blueberry presents. Sugar brings out the tartness and makes that background blueberry really pop and have almost like a luscious sort of sensation.. You know how when you’re eating really fresh berries and you get the tartness at the back of the tongue that makes them kind of more-ish? You can even still taste that cinnamon pastry note, but I don’t feel the sugar brings it out. In fact on the back end it buries it a little because that juicy blueberry note really takes over.

Sugar also all but kills the beef broth note. It’s there on the back end, and actually plays well with the blueberry weirdly, though I understand leaving that off the package, because it seems incongruous, but it’s actually very pleasant.

You’re now in the woods in fall, and you have gotten some nice fresh blueberries to eat with your pastry.

Now milk and sugar, which is how I usually take my coffee, with a light hand with the milk, puts the cinnamon pastry note front and center. Like, it’s impossible to miss. The coffee literally tastes like I added cinnamon to it. The hardwood flavor is there still, but it’s now supporting flavor for the cinnamon. Kind of rounding it out and adding dimension, but still presenting as fundamentally a cinnamon flavor with benefits. Almost like a rare and expensive variety of cinnamon you can’t have every day, but still recognizably cinnamon.

And I can confirm you actually get that effect to some degree, even with just milk, though not as strongly. And yes, the beef broth note comes through with milk only as well, and if anything is more detectable, if you know you’re looking for it than it is straight coffee.

So, you’re now in a log cabin in the New England woods, in winter, and you have your soup on the hob, but you’re enjoying a lovely cinnamon pastry, and looking out at the falling snow making the outside like a postcard.

I never drink my coffee with cream (or very rarely) but I’m honor bound to try it because a lot of people do. It’s fine. Like the milk, it really brings out the cinnamon note and makes me think whatever contributes to the cinnamon is something that’s forced to the surface when you add fat, like adding a single drop of water to the whiskey actually intensifies the flavor by forcing the oils to aggregate in a single layer.

Okay, so something that isn’t always appreciated is that coffee and lemon actually play pretty well together sometimes, but you have to have the right coffee.

Turns out this is the right coffee. Even just a squirt of lemon, no sugar, is shockingly good right off the bat. It changes everything about how the coffee presents.

The wood and cinnamon notes in the front end, with the added acidity now present as a complex, refreshing herbal note.

And that note dominates the front end and continues into the back end and melds with the blueberry.

Oh, man, and then if you add just a leettle sugar, it does loose some of that complexity but damn it is a refreshing flavor. Very herbacious and fruity.

This coffee likes to be paired with lemon juice much better than the average coffee and while the flavor can be pieced back and described, the gestalt is a refreshing late spring/early summer drink, not quite like anything you’ve had before.

Drinking it immediately evokes for me the desire to set out an evening meal on the veranda of my seaside villa (look, it’s my ideation. I can totally dream up a seaside villa) and plan a loose, relaxed dinner party with some friends. Maybe more early afternoon given that it’s coffee. But the image is the same. A relaxed dinner on the balcony with the sound of the sea in the background. Leaving the cares of the world behind.

So you see, I think the branding is slightly off, and now you know why.

This is a coffee for all seasons. A solid coffee that can be done in multiple ways with very little effort, for use as anything from a daily driver to special occasions.

It reminds me a little of a grand touring car, something designed to be comfortable to use on an everyday basis, but that has a lot more going on under the hood than it appears at first glance and can be far more exciting and interesting at a moment’s notice, when you’re feeling sporty.

And that’s it. King Harv’s The Brain Coffee, now on sale for $19.95. A coffee for all seasons.

47 thoughts on “A Coffee For All Seasons”

  1. Well I am past due to order from them – having so many good local and other places to get coffee from certainly is a wonderful problem to have so that one’s definitely going to be part of said order! Of course it was going to be part of whatever order I placed from them next anyway but the sales pitch here didn’t hurt. 😉

  2. What!!!!

    You put milk/cream in your coffee!

    That Makes Mud! [Very Big Crazy Grin]

    More seriously, it sounds good but I’ll stick to my Hurricane blend from King Harv’s (without the milk). [Grin]

  3. Goodness. You tempt someone almost innately impervious to the charms of coffee to try some of this. The only problem is that there is no way my palate would get all the enjoyment out of it that you did.

    You really should be writing ad copy for King Harv’s–apart from the extent that you just did. They could pay you in coffee–again, apart from the extent that they just did.

  4. My wife and have both rolled through bouts of not sleeping. For me, it’s been a life long struggle until I stumbled up Magnesium Glycinate (or bisGlycinate) as a daily supplement. Now, like a good cup of Colombian coffee first thing in the morning, it works so well, it’s something I can’t do without.

    1. Yeah, magnesium glycinate is good stuff. Helped with muscle aches, but also a lot of other things.

      (Don’t take plain magnesium, unless you really need to do #2.)

  5. Dang, I gots to get me some of that. It sounds like it’s got everything I like best in a coffee; that big, smoky flavor up front, with a full-bodied palette smoothed and augmented by a bit of cream (no sweetener, just a little bit of heavy cream). And I bet the wife would really appreciate the cinnamony flavor profile, as she drinks hers sweetened with cream.

    1. I too like my coffee with 1/2&1/2, but no sweetener. Heavy cream if no 1/2&1/2 available. No coffee if neither is available, sigh. Which is what happens when we go on vacation. It is a lottery on whether the hotel “free” breakfasts have 1/2&1/2 options. Never in the room. Powder stuff or the, not 1/2&1/2, flavored creamer varieties, yuk. When we stop for actual breakfast (even in evening) that have real 1/2&1/2 for their coffee, is the only time I get some. Then hubby always ask if I like a little coffee with my cream. Not quite that bad, but it is lighter brown, compared to black coffee.

      🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵🍵

      1. I greatly appreciate high-quality coffee and can taste the difference, but I’m not actually very picky about my coffee. Even crappy powdered creamer and Folgers will do the job; for a long time, when I had to pinch every penny until it begged for mercy, my home brew was Maxwell House (for only a few cents more per big-ass can, their French roast had a lot more flavor than Folgers). As long as the coffee still tastes like coffee, I can live with it. The one thing I won’t do is add sweeteners to it. I’m not supposed to have sugar anyway, and the sweeteners covers up the best part of the flavor as far as I’m concerned.

        Actually, I may have to walk back the “not picky” assertion just a bit…to me, the only real coffee is brewed (drip or French press, either one). Espresso…meh. I’d have to be really desperate before I settled for an Americano.

        1. I didn’t drink coffee until I was 25. Then someone gave me coffee with 1/2&1/2.

          I have gotten picker on the actually coffee portion over the last 40+ years. While I prefer not instant, beyond that just need 1/2&1/2. Right now preference is the Hawaiian blend pods at Costco. Just ordered what Sarah reviewed and King Hawaiian non-acidic package. Haven’t ordered from them before. See how much coffee that results in being. Other than the format, ordering online, cost of the non-acidic package isn’t much more than what getting from Costco.

  6. Good on you Sarah. I like coffee. Really doesn’t matter what type. When I was in the Navy we would put a little over half a cup of salt in a 5 gallon urn to keep it from being bitter. Always worked.Some of the best I had was in Naples ( and yes I counted my fingers after shaking the tratroria’s owner hand to make sure they were still there). Good strong expresso.

    The rule of thumb was, and still is, there is coffee and no coffee. There is no such thing as bad coffee.

  7. Good on you Sarah. I like coffee. Really doesn’t matter what type. When I was in the Navy we would put a little over half a cup of salt in a 5 gallon urn to keep it from being bitter. Always worked.Some of the best I had was in Naples ( and yes I counted my fingers after shaking the tratroria’s owner hand to make sure they were still there). Good strong expresso.

    The rule of thumb was, and still is, there is coffee and no coffee. There is no such thing as bad coffee.

  8. When I was in Florida, we specifically scheduled getting up early and driving through traffic jams on the way home in order to get to the farmer’s market where King Harv’s is. David is awesome!

    I brought back coffee for OldNFO & LawDog, and two more pounds of coffee for me… the car smelled glorious all the way home, unlike most end-of-vacation cars.

    The only, most terrible thing – we bought whole bean, and had no grinder. Alas! ’Twas fixed promptly upon getting home.

    I shall have to attempt to wax rhapsodic like you, when in my cups… of coffee…

  9. Ony coffee I have ever liked is Cafe Cubano. But I have to be south of Orlando to find the good stuff.

    That stuff was -gooooooooood-.

                    1. Check the levels before you screw with dosing. I presume you already have a standing order from your long suffering doc.

  12. Sarah,  

    Absolutely fascinating review of this coffee! It almost makes me wish I drank coffee as I would probably order some. But in truth, it would be totally wasted on my indubitably non-discriminating taste buds.

    My brewed beverage of choice is loose-leaf black tea, of the FTGFOP (Far Too Good For Ordinary People) level. My daily tea-brewing counter currently holds more than a dozen three-ounce tins of teas from places like Sri Lanka (four high-mountain Ceylon estate teas), India (two Assams, two Darjeelings), and Kenya (two very different varieties) plus some traditional blends like Irish Breakfast. I can in fact detect and savor differences in aroma, flavor, and color of the tea liquor among all of these.

    But never in my most tea-enthralled moments could I possibly describe any one of them to the level of detail you have used here. The subtleties of their flavor profiles, initial, mid-level, and back-end notes, even body and nose, are beyond my ability to distinguish and define even to myself, let alone in words that would convey the differences to anyone else.

    This review is simply a masterpiece of observation and descriptive prose. I salute you! Enjoy the coffee!

  13. Superb review of the coffee. This reminds me of my husband who described a taste of Scotch as: “Standing by a campfire and getting a big whiff of smoke after someone has dropped a marshmallow into the flames.”

  14. Yeah, that’s quite the review. I have a palate that allowed me to enjoy ten out of twelve MREs so such subtlety would probably be wasted on me, but you make it sound tempting.

  15. With so much to love in life it makes you wonder why all these sad people can’t find something to make them happy. Don’t like coffee never have, not even in the military where some had coffee mugs grafted on their hands. But hey that is why variety is the spice of life. Enjoy your coffee knowing there’s more for you without me driving up the price by increasing demand. There’s always a silver lining even if it is obscured by milk and cream.

    1. “Have a cup while you are here Grundig” Merlin offered.
      “Don’t mind if I do” Grundig eagerly said, Merlin had some really good coffee.
      He walked over to the nearest table grabbed a mug sitting there, put it under one of the glass spigots, turned the valve and out flowed a very good cup of coffee. At another spigot he received cream and another some honey.
      “Okay what is so important that you had to interrupt my morning coffee break?” Merlin asked.
      “A magical bookcase alerted this morning” Grundig informed him.
      “Not an unusual occurrence still not worth interrupting my coffee for” Merlin warned.
      “It was whose magical bookcase that went off that makes it special” Grundig teased.
      “I am waiting” Merlin impatiently replied.
      A few storm clouds had started to form in the laboratory accompanied by low rolling thunder.
      “It was Munger’s bookcase” Grundig quickly offered. 
      The gathering storm seemed to vanish into the ether it had sprung from.
      “So, after all these years that little pain in the ass’s bookcase finally went off, good. Any word on who this new sage is?” Merlin happily asked.
      “A human girl named Julie Archer, Wiz code 72237, that’s all I got from the bookcase before it went offline” Grundig quickly explained.
      “Oh, that’s even better, this Julie Archer is a runner. Munger the little wood elfin prick deserves that. Have a Danish they’re very good this morning” Merlin amusingly said.
      “Don’t mind if I do. You still upset about last night’s wizard poker loss?” Grundig amusingly asked.
      “A tad, he beat you too” Merlin said.
      “Yes, that was why I was going to ask if I could listen when you tell him” Grundig slyly asked.
      “Gossip around the water cooler later on?” Merlin asked.
      “You know wizards, they gossip worse than old village women, a juicy morsel is always good to spread around” Grundig opined.
      “Yes, there is that, and yes is the answer to your question, the boredom around here could use a little reprieve. Gossip of that nature also fits that bill and face it bored wizards are a very dangerous lot to control. Happy wizards not so much” Merlin opined.
      Grundig chuckled.
      “Shall we finish our snacks first, this Danish looks divine, and the coffee is quite tasty?” Grundig asked.
      “King Harvey’s for the coffee, Petit’s for the pastry” Merlin answered the unasked question.

  18. I guess my question is – how did you get a testing oackage? 

    you wrote once about their Mars coffee. It’s now our favorite. Now I want to know how to test more. 😀

    1. so, what happened is that I read about them in Legal Insurrection. When the principal there had trouble for running the blog, they sent him a selection of free coffees.
      Under “support people who don’t hate you” I thought I’d send son, the coffee fiend three months of their high octane coffee.
      So, I went on line, flinched at the price, ordered it.
      Five minutes later, I had an email. They said they were tired of paying for Facebook adds and giving money to people who hated them. Was I the real, live, unadulterated Sarah A. Hoyt who flap gums at ATH and write sf books?
      On my confirming that they asked for my address. The rest is history.
      Well, there’s a sequel: on my posting the first review, a hun and regular reader, who runs Harmony Coffees somewhere in Kansas asked to send me a sample package. I should do a review of her offerings, particularly Nocturne. I think very highly of Nocturne.
      https://www.harmonycoffeeroasters.com/

  19. Uhhh.. what size is the package. It oddly does not say “1 lb” anywhere on it, nor on the webpage…

    1. Huh. You’re right, it doesn’t. But clicking through some of their other coffee offerings, which all say 1 lb on the website, those have apparently identical packaging to this one, with the same size of their apparently-standard label, and same relative size of label to package in the picture. So it’s a safe guess that it’s a 1 lb bag same as all their other offerings.

  20. One thing I really like about King Harvs Coffee is if you write a note, David will usually write something back, a Thank You note, best wishes etc. A couple years ago I suggested that he had a lot of coffee and that maybe a random sampler would be a cool idea. My order came with a thank you note for the suggestion, and the next time I ordered, the Mystery Variety Pack was available. Its not just the great coffee, but its the taking the time to write out those notes of gratitude that keep me ordering from them. Also Mars is my favorite as well.

    1. Just got my order this morning. Just waiting for the Amazon order that has the adapter for the Keurig Mini Single in it. Got the “Brain Coffee”, I mean “Coffee for All Seasons”, and the non-acidic pack. Will see if order more. About the cost of the Costco Tully Hawaiian blend pods, for the pack. We’ll see if I have spoiled myself. Also marked the “Harmony Roasters Coffee” Sarah mentioned in a comment.

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