Friday, December 29, 2017

Mugged: Overwinter Coffee



Subject: Overwinter Coffee
Coffee Mugged: The Lemon Drop
Rating [see key]: 6+

For a couple of years in the early 21st century, I called Upstate New York home. While it took me some time to warm up to it, I genuinely do miss being close to the raw beauty of the Adirondacks, the exorbitant snowfall and visiting the old towns that remind me of Bedford Falls. 

At the time of my residency, the land didn't have a lot of good coffee, but in the past couple years I have been blessed to observe that the regional coffee scene is slowly evolving. One shining city of improvement is Buffalo, which had nothing really worth praising when I was last there, but now boasts several reputable operations dishing out great coffee. One such establishment is Overwinter Coffee, a small-scale roaster with a mobile espresso bar that currently offers three single origins: an Ethiopian, a Brazilian and a decaf Mexican. Since I am not planning on visiting Buffalo anytime soon, I was thrilled to take a bag of Overwinter's Ethiopia Chelchele for a spin in my home laboratory, sampling the coffee via pourover, french press and siphon. 

The pourover produced a coffee with bright notes of lemon and apple, as well as strong notes of creme brûlée, brown sugar, graham cracker and a little arugula, proving clean, sweet and delicious. The french press similarly smacked of caramel, apple, brown sugar and lemon, also imparting a few additional flavors like cherry, rhubarb and a little shiitake. The siphon also proved delicious, with caramel apple, lemon, cherry muffins and a little nutmeg, making for a candied brightness that really emphasized the coffee name. 

Needless to say, my Overwinter experience was over the moon. Whether you are traveling through Buffalo or you're looking to sample some excellent coffee, check out Overwinter Coffee. 


note: coffee was provided free of charge and the above view is objective feedback.

2 comments:

coffeemakersavvy said...

Is there any difference in the taste of coffee when brewed using a single serve coffee compared to when using a conventional coffee maker?

Bill said...

Depends more on the variables. If you have a quality coffeemaker that delivers the right temperature water in a controlled pour, it can deliver coffee just as good as a pourover.