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Killer Beans Coffee Review
By Jesse | March 11, 2008
Wow, apparently promoting my contest over at Social Cigar paid off! Amber Anaya another Social Cigar member comes at us with a Coffee Review. You still have time to enter.
My what a name! How did I happen upon such a coffee with such a unique name? By way of a man who has my heart, ever grasping it to hold on securely…. My Husband.
This coffee by no means is your ordinary cup of Joe. David, being the avid cigar smoker and connoisseur that he is…is always watching out for me. My passion for coffee, the good, the bad, and the ugly is what it is…. A Passion. He found this brand of coffee on one of his MANY cigar forums that he frequents, and there are many of them!!! Anyways, He found Killer Beans and was curious as was I. So we visited the website and found first of all, the prices aren’t bad. That always impresses me! Then we found the coffees……..
Names like: African Assassin, Brazilian Bombshell, Caribbean Cut-throat, Electric chair espresso, Mexican Mayhem and Venezuelan Vendetta!
Very unique names and sinfully delicious flavors and aromas to match made me an addict to something I was already a slave to……Coffee. So, I bought a few bags to start, to try them out. So far I was impressed with this coffee and wanted to try it. All the cigar smokers on my husband’s forums say it’s all the rave, a damn good cup of java. Coffee is another match to smoking cigars as is liquor. I was very surprised to know that the gentleman who sells the Killer Beans is also one of the members my husband talks to.. Way Cool!!! They were ordered and shipped very quickly. Here it is……My experience with
The Bean: Nicaraguan Knife Fight
The Grind: Med. Course
The Aroma: Earthy
The Taste: Smoky. Hints of Wood
The Cup: very syrupy on the on the tongue.
The Method: Senseo and Drip
My description:
Keep in mind my nose was stopped up during this cup. I was still able to enlighten myself! The overall presentation was very bold and earthy. The color in the cup was like an onyx jewel. The first taste was bitter yet enjoyable. As I traveled through the cup, the hint of wood became apparent. I was very impressed with this flavor coming out so soon into the cup. The smokiness was only dominant on the tongue after the swish and swallow. Very pleasing to me, but I personally like the bitter, smoke, and earth taste as do I like these characteristics in my cigars. Very enjoyable cup of java, a favorite of mine already!
Popularity: 9% [?]
Tags: Bash Entry, Coffee, Coffee Review, Killer Beans Coffee
Topics: Drinks |
March 11th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I’m also a big fan of the Nicaraguan Knife Fight. Typically I use a French Press for it.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Whoa. Let’s do more coffee on the site. There are some great companies out here in Chicago!
March 11th, 2008 at 11:24 am
“African Assassin, Brazilian Bombshell, Caribbean Cut-throat, Electric chair espresso, Mexican Mayhem and Venezuelan Vendetta”
It’s all marketing, and I know, as a cigar smoker and consumer, I should welcome ever more hyperbolic marketing efforts (as they are indeed the drving force behind cigar sales), but apparently even I have my limits.
I couldn’t do it - that is buy coffee under names such as these.
It’s of course merely a personal opinion, but usually to me BS names mean BS attitude which can translate to BS product. My perception of this as BS attitude is not improved by their touting of their “flav-aroma” (quotes are their’s) - I’m surprised the term is not yet trademarked.
It doesn’t matter if the product gets a good review. The BS is still there and it means something to me.
Certainly I may be wrong - it’s a visceral trigger thing.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I find humor in the names and it does make the brand stand out from all the other stuff online. I know in his local shop he actually calls them more common names, because once he was out of the labels for Nicaraguan Knife Fight when I ordered a pound of it and he let me know that coffee was the same but just a different package.
Jerry is a really great guy and takes pride in his coffee.
The Nicaraguan Knife Fight is one of my favorites and after drinking it I find it doubly hard to stomach the stuff they have here at work.
March 11th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Sounds like good coffee, and the prices are very reasonable. I may have to order some of the 1/2 lbs bags to see which one(s) I like best.
A brand I’m fond of is Kicking Horse Coffee. They make excellent coffee, which I often enjoy with a cigar.
Some of their names are a bit unusual, too, but they make sense in the context of the BC Rockie Mountain culture.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Personally I like the names. And I really like the coffee. (Though it’s been quite a while since I had any.) Where’s the fun in everybody selling the same “French Roast”? I think creativity like this is to be encouraged. Because in the end we as consumers win, by having a maximum of options.
And if you don’t like the unusual names, there’s always Folger’s and Maxwell House! I know at least one of those is boring to the last drop!
March 11th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Jerry from Killer Beans is a great guy and a very trusting one at that. No other company will send you the product (first) and say “just send me a check” to someone that orders from a website.
He has opened a coffee/roasting shop in Lafayette, Indiana called K. Dees Coffee. My understanding is that the names mentioned above will change to K. Dees African, Brazilian, etc once he runs through his stock of bags. This might have changed as it has been a while since I have spoke with him about it. He told me people tend to like the Killer Bean name.
Not knowing me he told me to stop by his new place next time I come through town so I did. I found him still in construction. He took about an hour to stop what he was doing, fill me a cup up and give me a full tour of his place (BTW impressive place). He then donated a couple pounds of coffee for a benefit dance back where I live. To me he is a top notch guy.
He also has history in cigars but we didn’t get into that much.
Here is the K. Dees site: http://www.kdeescoffee.com
As for me my go-to Killer Beans are the Caribbean Cut-throat and Nicaraguan Knife Fight. Still need to try the Mexican Mayhem and Electric chair espresso.
Brian, Folger’s and Maxwell House? Never again!
March 12th, 2008 at 11:52 am
“if you don’t like the unusual names, there’s always Folger’s and Maxwell House! I know at least one of those is boring to the last drop”
Can’t think of any other options?
This is the sort of response I can’t understand - if you don’t like the name or style or taste of this one premium product, good options for you are low-quality products. What? Why? ‘I don’t care for the Ferrari Testarossa.’ ‘Luckily they make Geo Metros for people like you.’
I will say, I know what style of coffee I am getting if I order (or pick off a shelf) French roast/ espresso grind. I don’t know what type I am getting if I order a Knife Fight.
Also, it is easier explaining to a 12 year old that espresso is the way they make the coffee daddy likes, as opposed to explaining why “Knife Fight” is an appropriate and amusing name for coffee. “But why are knife fights funny?”
Adam notes the Kicking Horse brand and says: “Some of their names are a bit unusual, too, but they make sense in the context of the BC Rockie Mountain culture”
This succinctly illustrates that a not unreasonable inference to be taken from these product names would be that cut throats and knife fights, vendettas, assassinations and executions, and just general mayhem make sense in the context of Latin culture.
Probably not. Anyway, violent imagery at the breakfast table is cute and funny on so many other levels.
Then again, I have asked “Hey, gimme a second cup of poison, wouldja?”
March 12th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I almost hate to admit it, but FNA makes a good point. Those names could easily be construed as offensive or even racist. I don’t know if they cross a line, but they come close.
Of course, that’s an issue to take up with the coffee company, not with Jesse and the other guys here at Cigar Jack.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
“that’s an issue to take up with the coffee company, not with Jesse and the other guys here at Cigar Jack”
That brings up a point I am sometimes made to wonder about, not only here but at other blogs/forums.
I realize this is called a blog, not a discussion forum, but all I want to do is talk about stuff. Sometimes I am just making a comment that is not intended to go anywhere, other times, I am looking forward to a back and forth discussion.
You know, you say that, I say this, you rejoinder, I counter etc and so on.
Not that I want to talk about the potential for real or imagined racism in these coffee names, but to me, that seems a valid ‘talking point” in this thread about these coffees and their names.
Isn’t it?
March 12th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Speaking of coffee in general, here’s a question:
What do you think of restaurant coffee?
In my experience the vast majority of coffee served at restaurants is, if not crappy, certainly no better than not good.
I dine out quite a bit and have had coffee at almost all levels of dining establishments, from grasy spoons through chrome palace diners through French restaurants costing $100 per person without drinks/wine.
It’s just as bad almost everywhere.
Seems to me, it must be harder to screw up espresso, because that is much more often acceptable or even good.
What dop you think?
March 12th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Jesse,
Thanks so much do the fine review, I hope your nose isn’t stopped up any more.
I’ve been in the coffee business for almost seven years now. I spent over 180 days a year for four years traveling Central America and beyond to find the growers that I buy my beans from…and I’m still working with all the same growers today.
I have a true passion for the beans that we roast. Our roasting plant is located in Calgary (Canada) and shipped right to my door here in Lafayette, Indiana where our coffee shop is located. Our coffee shop is named K. Dees Coffee and Roasting Co. and we opened in late October of 2007. Business has been very good and we’ve got quite a loyal following already. The coffee here at the store is labeled under the K. Dees name as I thought Killer Beans would be a little too much for this town. K. Dees and Killer Beans are exactly the same beans, only the label is different.
To put to rest some of FNA’s fears, I’m not doing anything more than trying to stand out in the crowd with my product. After spending several great years in advertising at Leo Burnett in Chicago working with my client’s (Phillip Morris, United Airlines, General Motors, Kraft, Kellogg’s and McDonald’s) I think I have a very good idea of how to matket a new product. With sales over 8,000 lbs per month I feel that I’m doing something right wouldn’t you say!?! To even think that “real or imagined racism in these coffee names” is a very childish attitude, even more so since you’ve never ordered from me, talked with me on the phone or met me in person. I’m NOT a racist, but I am offended that you would say so…I know you wouldn’t say that to my face.
The growers that are my dear friend’s enjoy the names…hell, they even find them funny. One commented to me years ago that if I had called the brand “Uncle Jerry’s Happy Beans” that I would have been out of business in a few months. And I have to agree.
That being said, I find it quite odd indeed that you would bash a product and the producer of said product without ever tasting it. I use only the best of the best of each crop. I pay much more than “Fair Trade” prices for all of my beans and the money goes right into the growers hands…not one middleman is even in the picture.
If you like a product that you use, great. If there is a product that you use and you don’t like it, fine. “It doesn’t matter if the product gets a good review. The BS is still there and it means something to me. Certainly I may be wrong…” Let me assure you that there is nothing BS about my product or myself and I do take offense to some of your comments…you seem to have made your comment personnel and not professional.
An apology would be nice don’t you think!?!
As for the rest of my extended client base, thank you so much for all of your support throughout the years, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of you! I very much look forward to providing all of you with more super premium coffee in the years to come!
Jerry Kalal
Killer Beans Coffee Co.
K. Dees Coffee and Roasting Co.
Doi Chaang Coffee Co.
1016 Main St.
Lafayette, Indiana 47901
765.423.7400
March 20th, 2008 at 7:14 am
To Start off with, Mr Jerry we would like to commend you on your product, this coffee is one of, if not the best, coffees we have tried. From the first taste anyone can tell you take pride in your coffees and business.
A comment for FNA, being of latin descent myself, I do not see anything implied by the names of these coffees. This was a simple coffee review that was submitted for the simple enjoyment of this coffee and how well it pairs with cigars of any kind. Yet you want to find anyway you can to find something racial in it. Well unfortunately I guess a thank is in order, for showing us that bigotry and racism is alive and well in your home.
This is great coffee, sold by a great guy, and we felt it deserved to be posted on this great site. We are sorry you are unhappy in life and feel the need to find the negative in everything. So now that you have had your few minutes of fame let us go back to enjoying our coffee and cigars.
I wish you and all here long ashes and may your coffee pot never run out of coffee, Killer Beans coffee that is.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
David and Amber, thanks so much for your review and for your follow up post. I’m very happy to hear that you’re both enjoying the beans!
Remember, coffee is food!
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I will also attest to those being some great beans. The limited edition “Smoke and Aces” blend I picked up sometime last year was fantastic. (I hear it was similar to one of your standard blends, do you remember which one?)
March 25th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Brian, thanks so much for your support. The “Smoke and Aces” coffee was indeed my Caribbean Cut Throat and it seemed that everyone enjoyed the hell out of their beans.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Well the unique names is a marketing mainstay so from a business standpoint, it would not be wise to be Plain Jane. We all need something on our side to make us stand out in such a competitive marketplace. Kudos to you Jerry, I’ve only heard wonderful things about your coffee and will have to get some soon to see what all the hubbub is. As for the whole FNA thing, come on, racist coffee? I don’t think your blends are adding to the world’s problems (they aren’t are they?) and really a cup of coffee is just that … a cup of coffee. Get over it. Like I said, you seem to have a loyal following Jerry and that’s something that I admire. Thanks for the review Amber!