Akron Coffee Roasters Tasting -- Akron, OH


The Akron Art Museum is now selling Akron Coffee Roasters coffee in their cafe. As a way to help kick off the sale of this coffee and to help area coffee lovers become more aware of their favorite beverage, the museum hosted a coffee tasting event led by the Akron Coffee Roasters. This sold out event was informative and a great way to spend a Thursday evening.

The Akron Coffee Roasters (obviously based in Akron) are very persnickety about coffee in the best way possible. All of their coffee is specialty coffee, sourced from individual farms and mills, roasted in house and then sold to people like you and me. Each coffee that they roast and package is seasonal, because the coffee beans that they're receiving are always changing due to a variety of factors. The tasting event at the Akron Art Museum included three African coffees, because that's what is currently in season, as well as a blend. All of the coffees were paired with a cookie from the West Side Bakery.

The Four Coffees:

1.) Gitesi: From Rwanda, of the bourbon variety, tasting of vanilla, allspice, and Darjeeling tea.
2.) Karinga: From Kenya, of the SL-28 and SL-34 variety, tasting of citrus candy, tea, and cardamom.
3.) Konga: From Ethipopia, of the heirloom variety, tasting of strawberries, cocoa, and cinnamon.
4.) Interrobang Espresso Blend: 50% Colombia, 30% Mexico, 20% Tanzania. 




The Four Cookies:

1.) Ginger Drop: Ginger and molasses cookie coated in coarse white sugar.
2.) Raspberry Jam Pots: Cream cheese cookie dough with raspberry preserves and toasted coconut macaroons.
3.) Neapolitans: French sable dough with vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.
4.) Mocha Viennese Swirls: Chocolate and coffee cookie with corn meal crunch, dipped in chocolate.



Tim and Al, the owners of Akron Coffee Roasters, did a wonderful job running the tasting. Both were very knowledgeable about their products and the origin behind each. The farms that their coffee is sourced from are small farms of about 160 trees per coffee farm. They know how much farmers are paid for the coffee and they name each batch of beans after the region or mill that it comes from in an effort to connect the coffee back to where it came from.

In order to be specialty coffee, the coffee must score above 80% on a set scoring list. One of the components of the scoring list is flavor notes, which can be seen in the chart below. Coffee, like fine wine, should have many different flavor notes, although different tastes will likely be apparent to different people.




The Akron Coffee Roasters also provided unroasted beans from the Gitesi and Konga coffees for us to check out. The difference in how the two smelled was incredible, and the Konga beans had a nice fruity scent which was similar to the flavor notes of "strawberry jam" that the coffee was said to have.

  


After the event many participants purchased bags of coffee beans -- all of the ones we tasted were available for sale. You can check out the Akron Coffee Roasters website to purchase online, find a place to purchase a bag of coffee beans in the Akron area, or to find a list of locations which serve Akron Coffee Roasters coffee freshly brewed.  




Since I was already at the Museum and admission is free on Thursdays, I checked out the art galleries for a bit before heading home. I snapped photos of the two pieces below, both were amazing. I'll do a follow-up post with a full review of the Akron Art Museum once Dave is able to attend with me, he really enjoys art and I'd like to check out the museum together.


By Mickalene Thomas.
By Natalie Lanese

I'm excited to attend more collaborated events between Akron Coffee Roasters and the Akron Art Museum -- as of Thursday, it sounded like more events were in the works for the future. Tim and Al are incredibly knowledgeable about the coffees that they have roasted as well as coffee in general. There was an eclectic group of coffee drinkers in attendance -- at my table alone there was a partially retired nurse, a musician, a graphic designer, a recent graduate in applied mathematics and a polymer engineering student (and a lawyer/hobby blogger, me!). But everyone around the room seemed to have a wonderful time at the event and I'm sure I'm not the only person who learned a lot.

My rating for the Akron Coffee Roasters Tasting at the Akron Art Museum:


Comments

  1. wonderful meeting you and sharing some tasty coffee and cookies with you ! (I headed over to West Side Bakery the following day to buy some additional raspberry jam cups :) - Great Blog Alecia !!! ~ Beth (the graphic designer) & Chris (musician / Band Half-Cleveland )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was lovely meeting you both! I'll see you at the next Tasting or maybe even around Akron :)

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