And we have a new player on the arena… HAYB coffee is already in my city thanks to “Specialty Place 23” coffee shop. These coffees arrived straight from Poland and i cannot be more happy about them. Why is this so? Because their products are funky! Have you ever tried some funky coffee? The one that has all these fruity and exquisite nuances of Kenyan and Ethiopian coffee and adds another layer of interesting flavors… Have you ever tasted red wine, cuba libre or some beer notes in your cup of coffee?
HAYB (How Are You Brrwing) coffee looks as it sounds - colorful and eye catching. These are this kind of labels and bags that you will definitely see on the shelf of a coffee shop. And you will find all the nformation you need on the label. One thing that I couldn’t find on the package was the roast date… Later on I understood that it was printed on the top of the bag that you have to tear when opening the coffee. But I was searching this after opening the coffee, luckily we have phones with cameras and we shoot everything around us and I found the date on my photos. 😁
The special thing about this coffee is that it was barrel aged! It is the first time I try a coffee that was processed and aged in barrels. And the barrels used for this coffee hirst had bourbon in them an after that they were used for aging some stout beer in a Polish craft brewery. And this really puts this coffee in the “funky” category.
We live in interesting times full of experiments in retail industry - foods, beverages an what you can think of. And we need just a bit of dedication of searching and finding the ones tgat will fit us best. And spedition and quick transportation worldwide makes delivering what you want to where you want in a matter of days.
Now to the coffee itself… Right after opening the bag I caugt the special aroma of these beans. I have never ever came to something even near to this. And the beans have many different layers in their aroma. From meter or two away they smell really fruitful and a bit like coca cola jelly beans combined with some orange freshness. When you reach the bag, this shifts more towards chocolate liqueur and stout beer aromas.
When I ground the coffee, the aroma boosted and felt extremely intense. My wife tood me that she will never mistake this aroma, and every dingle day she knows which coffee I am brewing right when she enters the room. And trust me… this one is extra special and when I say that I’ve never tasted something like this, I mean it 100%!
This coffee is reccomended for aero press and filter with its lighter roast degree that leaves all the beautiful aromas fresh and well preserved. I tried it on the eapresso machine ince, but it is bot really what I seek and like in my espresso cup.
Today I brewed straight into the cup, because my wife was sleeping with the baby and I wanted a single dose! It worked pretty well!
When brewing you can see different layers of aroma from different distances. From a bit further away you can easily catch there ripe fruit and pineapple notes, and when approaching the filter, this shifts towards these heavier ones. When I was brewing this coffee for the first time i started looking around for some fruits that I was sensing, but there were none. I understood this was all from the coffee itself!
In the cup? It is all of this magic again and again. This is easily the most complex coffee that I have ever tried! And the first layers in the aroma come as aftertaste, which is quite long and delicate. The body is sweet and reminds of these liqueurs like baileys, maybe some cuba libre nuances. Of course the base coffee flavor is there, but it is accompanied by so many different ones. I can say that I am in love with this coffee! And the price was reasonable, maybe a bit cheap. The bag of 250 grams cost me about $18. Still may seem a bit expensive to some people, but definitey worths to be paid for the dedication and different thinking of these Polish roasters.
What about you? Do you like funky flavors? Do you think that this coffee will fit your palate? Would you pay a bit more to enjoy this complexity and flavorful coffee?
I’ll be happy to hear from you.
See you soon and have a brew-tiful weekend! Bye!