I’m not a real coffee snob in that if I find a supermarket brand that is acceptable, that’s fine by me. I do prefer to get fresh grounds and grind them myself, but with my mix of itinerant and deep rural lifestyle, that’s just not realistic anymore. It’s not a problem in Canada where Nabob Full City Metropolis or Co-Op dark roast coffee never fail to brew up a satisfying cup.
I haven’t had as much luck in the US finding a good and ubiquitous grocery store brand. I usually get Starbucks, which, frankly, isn’t that great, but at least is reliable. I am now on the dregs of the back of Starbucks coffee I brought from the States.
Before going to a coffee house here to get pricey whole beans, I decided to try out supermarket coffee offerings. Ley pretty much only had instant coffee. The only ground coffee was mixed with sugar. Dale says it’s great and has been chugging it down, but I don’t like sugar in my coffee.
So at Soriana yesterday, I checked out what they had for ground coffee. It was all pretty much the same, Mexican Arabica beans in a medium roast, no dark roast or even espresso available. A 250g bag of ¡Vive café! Santa Fe coffee was the cheapest option at 45 pesos. I don’t buy into the myth that the cheapest coffee is the worst or the most expensive is the best, so I decided to try that.
I opened it up this morning to check it out even though I had some Starbucks left. I figured that if the Santa Fe wasn’t good, I could at least mix it with the Starbucks to get something relatively palatable until I get something else.
Even though the bag said the coffee is good till January of 2016 (a full year from now), it smelled stale at opening, very woody. It turned the water brown and that’s it. It already had the strike of being a medium roast against it, but I’ve had drinkable medium roasts before and this sure wasn’t one! I’ll have Dale try it and see if it passes her test. She puts so much cream and sugar in hers that she herself admits that she doesn’t taste much coffee anyway.
I’m going to give one more grocery store brand a try only if I find a dark roast. Otherwise, off to the roasting house I go!
I can direct you to a great roasting house in Saltillo but not in Maz ;). Is your Santa Fe coffee from either Veracruz or Chiapas? Even if it says it is I guess it could be blended with other coffees.
The only way you can be sure you are getting what you want is ti try a cup in a coffeehouse and then if you like it, buy a bag of the same stuff from them. Probably an expensive route to go but at least you will get what you want.
Here is the Cafe el Faro within an easy walk. Not sure if they sell by the kilo but you could tell.
http://www.cafeelfaro.com/variedadescafe.html
I’m not sure where the coffee comes from.
Contessa has directed me to the Looney Bean, just haven’t had a chance to get out there yet. There’s one in Centro historico and one in the Golden Zone.
The one I linked to looks like it is close to the Embarcadero.
It looks closer than the Looney Bean on Olas Altas, that’s for sure. I’ll have to add it to my list for the next time I go wandering. Thanks!
If I were the spelling Nazi 😉 ………. just sayin’. LOL
Have you tried Dunkin Donuts coffee? I haven’t but my coffee snob of a cousin loves it. I could send you some.
Where’s the typo? I don’t like Dunkin Donuts coffee in the restaurants, so I don’t know if I’d like their store version…
LOL I think I may have been looking at something crosseyed!
I don’t know if you can find it in Mexico but I like Folgers Black Silk if I must buy a ‘market’ coffee. My coffee of choice however is Arbuckles’ Ariosa (The Coffee That Won The West).
In either case I make one cup at a time using an AeroPress coffee maker. Using the Arbuckles’ it is the best coffee I have ever made.