The Good: Appropriately caffeinated, Good aroma, Reasonably priced!
The Bad: Not the most impressive flavor, Does not taste at all like caramel.
The Basics: Four Sisters Caramel Coffee is average, but it is still a good, affordable coffee well worth buying.
Not very long ago, I ran out of coffee and I found myself in desperate need of a new pack. As it so happened, I was at Big Lots and there they had 26 oz. bags of Four Sisters Coffee on sale, or at their regularly reduced prices, for only $5. Needing coffee and being able to get almost two pounds of coffee for $5 was too good a deal to pass up. The coffee is good, but it does not taste like caramel and in that regard, the low price more than makes up for the flavor deficiency.
Basics
One of the smaller coffee roasters and distributors in the United States, Four Sisters produces a number of blends. Caramel is one of the medium darkest blends by Four Sisters that I have found in stores and for the 1 pound, ten ounce foil bag. Caramel is fairly dark, but not particularly flavorful. At least Four Sisters does not make you pay extra for the flavoring! This is a 26 oz. foil bag of ground coffee. Because it is not whole bean, no grinding is required. With a resealable top that folds down, the Caramel Coffee is easily protected from absorbing scents of other foods.
Caramel Coffee is an aromatic blend that smells potently of coffee beans and it is a caffeinated blend.
Ease Of Preparation
Caramel Coffee is remarkably easy to prepare, no advanced culinary degrees necessary! First, open the bag. Four Sisters Caramel Coffee is vacuum sealed when first purchased. After opening foil bag, procure a scoop (not included) and measure out one heaping tablespoon for every two cups of water in your coffee maker. Caramel Coffee is intended for automatic (drip or percolating) coffee makers, like my Hamilton Beach coffee maker (reviewed here!). This is NOT an instant coffee. As a result, it needs to be brewed.
Consult your coffee maker's instructions for how to brew the coffee. However, as far as the basics go, you'll need a coffee filter, like the Melita coffee filters (reviewed here), which you put the Caramel Coffee in and then brew through your coffee maker. The directions recommend making a pot at a time. Four Sisters does not take a stand on refrigerating the container after opening it.
Taste
Four Sisters Caramel Coffee smells delightfully light. It possesses a sweet, slightly salty aroma that is exactly like what one might hope for from a Caramel flavored coffee. The aroma is inviting enough to make consumers want to sip the beverage, even when it is hot.
On the tongue, the Four Sisters Caramel Coffee is dry and dark coffee with a rich coffee taste. The Caramel flavor is surprisingly dark coffee without any hint of sweetness on its own. In fact, this is a good medium-dark blend that only smells like caramel, without tasting at all like anything other than coffee.
Interestingly, the Caramel coffee sweetens delightfully and takes on a salty hint of caramel with ordinary cream and/or a teaspoon of sugar.
While this coffee leaves the mouth fairly dry, it does not have an aftertaste.
Nutrition
This is coffee, not something that appears on the nutrition pyramid! Four Sisters Caramel Coffee does not contribute anything to one's daily recommended allowance of anything. In fact, the bag does not have any ingredients, so I am forced to assume all that is in this blend is coffee beans, which would fit what it tastes like.
This is a caffeinated blend, though and it feels like it! This has enough caffeine to pop one's eyes open between the taste, aroma and caffeine. Because it is a caffeinated coffee, it appears to not have undergone any of the chemical processes that sometimes cause complications in decaffeinated coffees.
Storage/Clean-up
Caramel Coffee ought to be stored sealed in its container with the top firmly on. Coffee is known to absorb flavors of food nearby it, so keeping the top on is highly recommended. There are different schools of thought on refrigerating open coffee and I have a very clean refrigerator with a lot of ways to segregate coffee, so I tend to come down on the side of refrigerate it. Stored properly, this coffee might have easily lasted indefinitely; there was no expiration date on the bag.
After brewing, coffee grounds ought to be disposed of. This does not seem like an ideal coffee to make a second pot with (second brewings I attempted came out 1/2 to 5/8 as potent as the first brewing) unless one is in a household with a number of people some who like powerful coffee and others who like powerful water. These grounds may be thrown in the trash when used or put in a compost pile, if available. Coffee grounds make great compost.
Overall
Four Sisters Caramel Coffee is wonderful coffee, though it does not live up to the promise of a caramel flavored blend. For its price, though, it is quite good and affordable.
For other coffee reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Seattle’s Best Level Three
Tasters Choice Gourmet Roast
Folgers Gourmet Supreme
5/10
For other drink reviews, please check out my Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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