Grind your own

I'm sure you all grind your own coffee beans, right? Right?

Anywho, there are 3 types of bean grinders out there. The first is the Blade Grinder. Usually the least expensive of the 3. This can also be called a mill grinder. The grinding action consists of a tiny blade that spins around very quickly, chopping the coffee beans into small pieces. The longer you run the blade, the finer the coffee grounds are. Warning though, if you grind the beans too fine, the resulting coffee will be very bitter.

The next type of grinder is the flat plate burr grinder, which grinds the beans between two hard burrs on top of each other. The result is coffee grounds of consistent size. Most burr grinders have settings for different sizes.

Perhaps the best grinder is the conical burr grinder. This grinder grinds very slowly, which creates very little change in the flavor of the beans, due to the lack of heat created during the process. This grinder is also less prone to clogging than the plate burr grinder. This is then an excellent choice for flavored coffee blends which contain more oils/liquids in the beans. However, this is a larger unit and usually somewhat expensive.

Starbucks French Roast Via

Sorry to all of my followers for the lack of posts lately. I've been quite sick with some stupid sinus thing lately, and when I have such an issue, and an accompanying sore throat, I prefer cold beverages to warm.

So, Starbucks just announced their "Trenta" size for various iced drinks. Pretty stoked for that come summer. Now, we just have to survive this upcoming arctic blast...did you see a high of 3 on Friday? Craziness.

Anyway, Starbucks also recently released their French Roast for Via. It's promoted as intense and smoky, their darkest and boldest coffee. To my pleasant surprise, it's not very smoky. All other descriptions are on point.

Bean rating: 4 out of 5. The French Roast, is in fact, my favorite of all the Via options.