Stumptown, Holler Mountain Ground Coffee

Stumptown, Holler Mountain Coffee is quoted on the package as a signature blend. The smell of this moderately ground coffee leaves me curious. On my first taste of this coffee, it seems nothing like the flavors promoted on the package: coffee beans, caramel, hazelnut, and citrus. There is something complex going on with the flavor of this coffee. I had to let it rest on my whole tongue so all my taste buds could inform my understanding of a coffee maker’s experienced pallet. The flavors prompted on the package are not used to add flavor directly but are used to create a unique experience regarding how coffee tactilely reacts in the consumer’s mouth. There is something very blue-collar about this coffee, but at the same time, it transcends to something gourmet. With effort, there is a caramel buffer at the sides of the tongue, a distant nuttiness with the coffee, and a late, back end of citrus without the acidity.

This coffee reminds me of a blue-collar ideal of working in the Southwestern sage. The following day, this ideal leads me to compost a thick amount of it into a filter and run it through a drip coffee maker rather than pour hot water over it into a decanter. Using this process, the coffee now becomes bolder with emphasis on the blend of coffee beans. Its scent now hangs in the air and is stronger with the strength of the roasted beans. Unsweetened, the pour over assessment above has a more pronounced flavor of coffee. I add two packets of raw sugar. This is where Stumptown, Holler Mountain reveals its bold intent. Strong, coffee with a distant nutty buffer and a tart finish. I’m ready to jump in the pickup and head to the job site. Pour me another.

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