Stirling Kenya Dark Roast Coffee - What Do You Think Of Stirling Coffee? (An SWCT Review!)

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Stirling Kenya Dark Roast Sweet & Bold Espresso Coffee

I've been drinking store bought coffee my entire life, usually the stores house brand. Then I upgraded to Kirkland 100% Arabica bean coffee, and have been enjoying that the past several months, its got better flavor, and is stronger then your usual house brand. But this time, I decided I was going to take a chance on the worlds famous Stirling coffee, and see what I thought of it. I love Stirling soaps, so I shouldn't be surprised if their coffee is equally good right?

Well, just as anything else on B&B, your all wonderful and beautiful enablers, and you got your ways to convince us to upgrade to artisan. So thats what I did, spent way too much for 32 ounces of earthy bean deliciousness. Since my expectations were well, not really expecting anything groundbreaking, you can imagine when this coffee threw me through a loop. The initial scent whiff off the bag is intoxicating. Now I see why they double bag it, otherwise people would be smelling it through the closed box, and would invite someone to steal my coffee out of the box in shipping.

Once opened, (a simple seal pull tab, revealing the ziplock enclosure) the full strength of the medium grounded coffee defies gravity, and the scent smacks me in the face. I said to myself, "well, were off to a good start here." I'm using the Hamilton Beach 49987 Single Serve Brewer, better known as, "The Scoop." I put enough grounds in my filter to make 14 ounces of coffee. I ordered this ground for my convenience, especially since my current grinder is on its last leg, and I noticed that the grind is grounded slightly finer then my Kirkland coffee.

I began the brewing process, oh my gosh, my house smells so good right now, I am not even kidding, what is this magic? The coffee grounds didn't seem to clog my filter up as bad as my Kirkland coffee BTW. Once finished brewing, I added some of my sweetener and French Vanilla creamer, and took a taste. I was like, wait, what the heck? Whats this? This don't taste like my usual coffee at all! Let me take more sips for science!

My taste buds are telling me that its a nutty flavor. I have never had a coffee that tasted like that before, not once! Its most certainly coffee, but its something more, its nutty, its sweet, its smooth, its oh my gosh delicious! The coffee bag says SWEET & BOLD ESPRESSO. Well you got that right! Plus I brewed it BOLD as well. I got this coffee good and strong, and its not sending me running out to the nearest airlock. When infact, this coffee is making me thirsty for more. But, this coffee costs a lot per 32-OZ bag, and so I need to ration it and not go crazy now lol. One of the things I like about it, is its not acidic like some coffee tends to be, so that means I don't get any acid reflux from it, despite its dark roast nature.

I've learned, a lot of that has to do with the roasting process, and its clear that Stirling knows what they are doing. And I also really appreciate the flavor of stronger darker roasts. I will most likely buy the Kenya coffee again, because I think its really quite amazing. Rod's wife Mandy is the one who primarily runs and operates the coffee portion of their business, its clear that my taste buds are safe in her hands. Of course, for any proper science, I am going to have to drink a whole lot more of this to be absolutely sure. But so far, I am freaking loving it! So, this means that Stirling Kenya Dark Roast coffee, is getting the SWCT stamp of approval! 5 out of 5 stars!

 

[emwolf]

I've been tempted many times to order the Stirling. Normally when I want something really good I go with Peet's coffee. But the darker roasts have fallen out of favor with me and I prefer lighter roast predominately South and Central American. Although I still have a pound of Jamaican Blue Mountain from my last trip to Jamaica.

 

[MaineYooper]

I have tried and enjoyed many of Stirling's roasts. I believe Mandy, Rod's wife, is the roast master for them. I think I ordered samples of every medium and dark roast they had!

 

[MilkCrate]

I have had several bags and flavors of their coffee and they are very well done. They are roasted well and shipped quickly. The freshness is there because they don’t sit on shelves for extended periods of time either. I do order the beans and grind my own.

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

There's Coffee In That Nebula

I am so glad to hear other's like their coffee as well! I wonder which coffee flavor I should buy next, if I don't stick with Kenya for the next time. I think they have one that is supposed to be considered fruity flavor? Frankly I don't really get that. But then again, I didn't know coffee could have a nutty flavor, so perhaps anything is possible. lol.

Stirling has some outdated video's on their channel, showing both their soap production shop, as well as their coffee production facility. I saw that roaster of their's, and that sucker was so tall, you'd need a ladder to reach the top of the hopper lol. I'd love it if they made new video's on their channel showing the modern day process, but I think Stirling is pretty busy to be honest with you. lol

And you know who's keeping them busy? Folks like me, buying soaps every month from them hehe. Once I discovered how good Stirling soaps were, I found my winner, the shear value you get for the money and all that. But now that I have sampled their coffee, I am hooked. I do prefer dark roasts though, I prefer the flavor.

If any of you have any recommendations on other dark roasts from Stirling, please don't hesitate to recommend. This is all about sharing the wonderful world of coffee with each other. Because a life with coffee, is a life worth living.

 

[snowman]

A little background on me. I ground my own beans w/ a Baratza burr grinder and my favorite brew method is pour over via a Bonavita 1900. For many years I drank dark roasts but over time I slowly drifted to mostly medium roasted beans. Far too many dark roasted beans are overly burnt for my taste. I'm looking at you Starburnt. My daily go to beans are Caribou medium and I drink coffee black. Nothing added.

I added a 12 ounce bag of Colombian beans to a Stirling order earlier this summer. Sorry to be the t**d in the punch bowl but it was very meh for me. Not bad mind you, but certainly not top tier or something I would order again. Take that opinion for what its worth, I'm by no means a coffee expert, just an expert on my own taste buds.

I might add that Stirlings usual top notch customer service with accurate timely deliveries were appreciated once again. They do a great job and I do hope this venture works out for them, I just wanted to add my own experience to round out the conversation.

Odds are that the next time I order from them I'll likely add a different medium roast to the cart cuz, well, why not?

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

A little background on me. I ground my own beans w/ a Baratza burr grinder and my favorite brew method is pour over via a Bonavita 1900. For many years I drank dark roasts but over time I slowly drifted to mostly medium roasted beans. Far too many dark roasted beans are overly burnt for my taste. I'm looking at you Starburnt. My daily go to beans are Caribou medium and I drink coffee black. Nothing added.

I added a 12 ounce bag of Colombian beans to a Stirling order earlier this summer. Sorry to be the t**d in the punch bowl but it was very meh for me. Not bad mind you, but certainly not top tier or something I would order again. Take that opinion for what its worth, I'm by no means a coffee expert, just an expert on my own taste buds.

I might add that Stirlings usual top notch customer service with accurate timely deliveries were appreciated once again. They do a great job and I do hope this venture works out for them, I just wanted to add my own experience to round out the conversation.

Odds are that the next time I order from them I'll likely add a different medium roast to the cart cuz, well, why not?

Hello Snowman, thank you for providing your background! I don't mind at all, because this is what this thread is about, its not just my review, but I was also seeking opinions from other's, on what they thought of Stirling coffee. I see you do coffee the fancy way using the pour over technique, pour overs remind me of straight razors, it requires a lot of technique to use them does it not?

I watched a guy do pour over on Youtube, he put a little water in the filter, then he stopped, so that he could begin stiring the grinds in the filter. This was the point in which I do pour over wasn't for me, as I don't have time or patience for that lol. Then after stirring, he then began pouring water again. I can see how the challenge would make some happy though, keeps you on your tows I suspect.

For the record, I've had store bought Colombian coffee, and I never thought it was any good either. I think its just mainly the flavor coffee beans from where they are grown we don't like very much. Stirling, like everybody else, gets their coffee beans from multiple countries. Where Stirling differs from other's however, is because they have their own roaster, they roast the beans fresh, and sell them within a week while they are freshly roasted.

I discovered this, because I looked at the date label for when Stirling roasted my Kenya beans, and it was literally only a week prior to them shipping out my coffee. This means its fresher then any coffee you can buy at the local grocery store. This is because super market coffee was roasted probably half a year, to a year ago, and been sitting on warehouse distributor shelves for months before being delivered to the store.

Thats just the reality of how super markets work, when you have so many people in the world, a single store could never keep up without distributors, and things just sit for months at distributors. This is why small batch artisans have become the thing I think. Its the whole idea of, it aint sitting around to become stale for months, its made to order small batch and fresh. And that is a concept I am really warming up to.

Please keep in mind, like me, you've only sampled one Stirling coffee flavor so far, there are many more to choose from. But I thank you for delivering your opinions on their Columbian coffee. Yes, we do know with everything in life is YMMV, which is why we must test them, for science! LOL! I discovered Stirling has one more coffee classified as a DARK ROAST, and thats their Tanzania coffee, which I just ordered yesterday BTW.

So, I can't wait for that to arrive, as I am sure I will love it as well, since its a dark roast. The other Stirling coffee flavors that they have, are mostly light to medium roasts, with one being a medium-dark roast I believe. The dark roasts were the only coffee's I was willing to buy in the full 32-ounce size. The other coffee flavors I will try out in the 12 ounce size for obvious reasons. Don't want to spend too much if I don't like them as much.

But at the same time, I have to keep up my coffee supply, so ordering larger then sample sizes makes sense for me, regardless of what flavor I choose. Thanks again for providing your opinions on Stirling coffee, I love the conversation! If you would like to see the coffee maker that I use to make coffee, here's the thread link bellow...

I Just Got A Hamilton Beach 49987 Coffee Maker!

This is my first time visiting and posting in the Cafe forum, I think I should celebrate that by brewing a cup of coffee! ☕ I actually have a Presto 12-cup percolator, a really nice stainless unit. I grind my own beans that I get from the store, (I usually get French Roast) and brew a pot...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Hello everyone! I appreciate hearing many of your opinion's on Stirling coffee, as I believe that we all benefit from each other's experiences. I just received more coffee in the mail today, I know, how exciting!

Stirling Tanzania Deep & Bold Dark Roast, 32OZ of deliciousness.

How Magnificent!

Checking the grind...

Grounded to medium perfection, my brewer appreciates that!

Now lets fill that filter scoop up to the MAX level, cause were gonna brew 14 ounces, and I like my coffee strong!

Let us hit that BOLD button

Now, we double check we have it set to 14 ounces, and we do, so without further or do, lets brew!

Am I the only one who has a coffee brewer in their computer room? Please tell me, because I sense that I am a bit nutty. I like my coffee close to me, but reality is, I just don't like to have to walk that far into the kitchen to make some, I am lazy. HAHA!

This is not to be intended on a full review for Stirling Tanzania coffee, I just wanted to talk about it. Its difficult to describe the flavor of this coffee, it isn't quite as obvious as Stirling's Kenya was. Where as Kenya was more of a nutty flavor, Tanzania, is more of a fresh flavor, almost as if it has a bit of plant leaf flavor mixed in.

I am not a professional coffee connoisseur or barista, so I am not gonna be able to describe coffee the way some of you can. Having said that, it is a delicious dark roast that is smooth and to my liking. I think I prefer the flavor of Stirling's Kenya dark roast Espresso more, but I also enjoy this as well. Very smooth flavor, and very delicious, as my taste buds thank me, and so does my body for waking it up lol.

I will be buying more Stirling coffee next month, in the medium roasts, but I will get those in smaller 12 OZ bags. At the end of the day Stirling coffee is top shelf quality, and I can recommend it without a shadow of a doubt. So do me a favor will ya, brew yourself a cup of coffee, you've earned it, you deserve it, and your body will thank you for it.