San Francisco Bay Coffee Organic Rainforest Blend, 80 OneCup Single Serve Cups

Product Detail

• Blend of Rainforest-grown coffee that produces a smooth, yet full-bodied taste with lively acidic notes


• Compatible with Keurig K-Cup brewers and other brands of single serve brewers


• 160 OneCups are 97% biodegradable so you can protect the planet while enjoying delicious coffee


• Inspected repeatedly before, during and after roasting to make sure all is right every step of the way


• Grown responsibly, Fairly Traded coffee, USDA certified organic

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I tried out this coffee because very few fair trade & organic subscribe and save options out there and it was almost half the price of Coffee People, Tree Hugger, K-Cup Portion Pack for Keurig K-Cup Brewers (Pack of 50) or Green Mountain Coffee, Colombian Fair Trade Select K-Cup Portion Pack for Keurig Brewers, 50 count when ordered through Subscribe & Save. That said, the truly price sensitive among us will point out that San Francisco Bay 100% Organic Coffee Rainforest Blend Whole Bean 3 Lbs allows you to make a whole pot of coffee for about the same price, or use a MyCup/eKobrew if you still are in love with the single cup thing. (I'm forbidden from using MyCups because I can't seem to use them without getting some coffee grounds all over the place and my wife considers coffee grounds on the floor to be grounds for divorce.)



First, the actual cups themselves are fascinating. I think they are able to get the lower price because they are using a K-Cup compatible packaging without actually having to pay a licensing fee to Green Mountain (which has a patent expiring in late 2012). Green Mountain is apparently suing them for infringement, so that may end up having an effect.



These alternate cups are smaller and I suspect a bit more environmentally friendly than K-Cups, but not by a huge amount. They have coffee filters holding the beans in, instead of plastic. The downside of this is that they can dry out, so they come in plastic bags holding a six or so each. The filters don't work quite as well as K-Cups, so I have ocassionally found some grounds in my coffee. It's not a huge deal to me, but might be for you.



They also advertise that it works in various non-Keurig systems, but I was a Keurig early adopter so I haven't tried any of the others.



Okay, for the coffee taste test, this stuff is STRONG. All the fair trade, organic, eco-friendly, hippiesh vibe (complete with a photo on the side of the box of the whole extended family smiling in front of rustic commune looking backdrop) does not prepare you for this. This is coffee that drinks you back. It's smooth without tasting burnt or overly bitter, but full-bodied doesn't really begin to describe it, unless that body was of a heavyweight boxer... and this coffee was a boxer, it would be Joe Frazier. If this coffee was a spaceship, it would be the Death Star. This isn't some coffee that gently wakes you up after being mixed with foamed milk and maybe a shot of flavored corn syrup, this is coffee that wakes you up by beating you over the head and shouting at you like the Drill Instructor from Full Metal Jacket.



Okay, so maybe I'm a bit jacked up from my two HUGE mugs this morning, but this stuff has the caffeine to back up that taste, and with a newborn and a toddler, it's the only thing that gets me moving at this-clock-has-to-be-broken-it-can't-really-be-that-early AM. And keeps me moving, because it leaves me with a mild case of the shakes. Three will have me wired all day.



So after singing the praises of this coffee, why would I rate it only four stars? As much as I'm a huge fan of this coffee, my wife won't even go near the stuff... for precisely the reasons I listed above. She'll stick to her sweet donut shop concoctions. So YMMV.