Review: Storyville Coffee fresh, but lacks taste
Entry updated Feb. 12, 2008 at 9:15 a.m.
Update: I called Storyville today (1/22/07) after my third bag of coffee had still not arrived. It turns out it was never shipped. But as a make-good, they're giving me two free bags of coffee (a $17 value).
Seattle's Storyville Coffee has a fresh business model for coffee -- literally.
And having tried their Prologue blend for the past two weeks, I can attest that fresh is a good thing. Not everything though -- you still need taste, something that Storyville needs to improve.
Storyville is attempting to disrupt the market for folks that perhaps care about the coffee they drink, but are unaware of how the beans' freshness, and how you prepare it, can better your drinking experience.
I'm pretty savvy with how to prepare coffee, but Knoxville, Tenn. isn't what you'd call a coffee haven. I find it very difficult to get high-quality beans with the roasting date disclosed.
So when I saw the folks behind Storyville on one of the network morning news shows preaching the virtues of freshness, I signed up for their introductory offer on their slickly designed Web site.
This offer provides the following:
- 4 weeks of freshly roasted coffee (8oz. bag each week)
- 2 Storyville coffee mugs
- Instructions and DVD
When the first bag of beans arrived a few weeks ago, I was taken aback by the seamless marketing materials. Everything from the bag to the note signed by the roastmaster said expensive design studio.
Not that I have anything against expensive design. It all felt very "Apple" or "VW."
Unfortunately, the DVD was cheesy trade-show crap reiterating the blandness of "big coffee."
But the enclosed instructions were spot on for preparing good coffee:
- Heat filtered water until just before boiling
- Grind beans in a burr mill grinder to a course consistency
- Pour ground beans in your French press, then pour water over grounds. Stir with spoon, and replace top.
- Let coffee brew four minutes, press and serve immediately
The coffee -- Storyville calls it their Prologue blend, they also have a de-caf Epilouge -- was very fresh tasting. It had no oily aftertaste like you'd get from Starbucks' beans.
The flavor wasn't spectacular however. It's not that it was bad; it just didn't belong in the upper echelon of coffee.
Also, you really need to prepare Storyville coffee using a French press. I attempted to do this using my Saeco drip coffee maker, and the brew came out watery.
Of course, most coffee snobs already know that the French press produces the best tasting coffee. That is, unless you roll with a Clover.
But if you have that kind of money you probably employ your own barista.
The 8oz bag Storyville sends you each week is enough for two American cups of coffee each day of the week, give or take a cup. Since I drink at least two cups a day, this wasn't enough to satisfy the fiance.
Also, if your coffee is delayed for some reason -- I'm still waiting for my third bag -- you're forced to visit Starbucks for your morning fix.
And that's not fresh at all.
Five comments
I might have to look into getting a french press for my desk at work. It seems like a much better (and tastier) solution to getting coffee while at work than some cheap drip coffee maker.
There is this place in D.C. that has dynamite fresh coffee. Out of this world.
@Pat
As long as you have a grinder that produces a course grind, a French press is the best way to produce coffee. Just make sure your water is almost boiling, but not boiling, and that you let it brew four minutes.
Coffee Pronto in Annapolis, MD has a Clover, which is reason enough to visit.
The Bodum vacuum coffee brewer heats the water to just before boiling, sends the hot water up into the container in which you have put your freshly ground coffe and makes delicious coffee similar to what one expects from the French press. My model features a clock timer so the brewing may be arranged to occur a few minutes before we arise for that first excellent cup of great coffee. FWIW, the Storeyville beans can deliver as good a cup as most can hope to find if one tinkers with the strength til the proper amount of coffee is used. The course grind recommended simply requires a bit more coffee than finer ground beans to extract all the desired flavor. I suggest you try it again with more coffee and see if you don't rethink your initial impressions. Storeyville coffee is competitive with other really good tasting coffees, but the elaborate packaging and shipping drive the per pound price into mid twenty dollars and I can have other excellent roasts delivered for about $5/pound.
@Texas coffee drinker
Thanks for the comment.
While I enjoyed the Storyville beans, I don't think they're worth the money. They were fresh, but lacked the taste that I found in other high-end beans.
I did experiment with both different coffee makers and amounts of coffee BTW.
I enjoy Storyville coffee almost every day. Usually just a drip pot at the office and french press at home. We also get Boaca Java delivered. I'm sure that the fancy packaging puts the price a little higher, but I think it's a nice touch. Which ever way I drink Storyville, press or drip, I find it to be some of the best I've had.
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