thejavaman
BoM December 2012
Prolly a gimmick more than anything. I'm with Sean on being concerned about the robusta content. Robusta is low grown, much cheaper to grow, more resistant to disease, mechanically harvested (ripe & unripe) & most of it is just plain bad quality. It pretty much tastes like burnt rubber too. Most grocery store blends use as much robusta as possible to lower their costs. I've seen videos of moldy, low grade robusta being steam cleaned to be sold to Kraft (owner of Maxwell House) for pennies on the dollar. Robusta has the kind of acidity that gnaws at your stomach too. However, it's much higher in caffeine compared to the higher grown, slower to mature/ripen, more flavorful, hand picked arabica varietal. All specialty coffee comes from the arabica varietal. I am believer in high quality, estate grown robusta (grown & cared for like arabica) for use in espresso blends (no more than 10%), because it adds body & crema to a good blend. Long story short, I'd pass on this stuff. I personally am much more concerned with quality & flavor over caffeine content.