Cafe Altura Whole Bean Organic Coffee, Regular Roast, 2 lb BagUSDA Organic

In my efforts to find a coffee that my husband and I really like, I think we have tried half the coffees on Amazon!This is finally one that we both like and will stick with. It isn't too strong, but it has a lot of flavor. Just right for us.Let me say that neither of us like a dark roast, so for those who do, this will not be a good coffee. Try the other Altura coffees. My son-in-law gets both the Sumatra and the Dark Roast, and loves them both. I had ordered one of them, and liked the flavor, but it was too dark for us. Based on that, I should have known earlier that Altura regular roast would be the one for me. But no, I had to learn by my own mistakes!I will try to give you a list of what we tried, and what we thought of each.Coffee Bean Direct Yirgacheffe. I like Yirgacheffe coffee, but this one was hard to swallow. It wasn't a pleasant taste at all, and it was a 5 pound bag! After using about 3 pounds, we just couldn't drink it any more. I had frozen the beans, and now add just a few at a time to our morning coffee, as I'm too cheap to throw them away.Jeremiah's Pick Organic Breakfast Blend. A little bit stronger than we wanted, and it didn't taste fresh.Cameron's Gold Organic. We really liked the first bag, but the next few were stale, so cancelled the subscription.Lavazza Gran Filtro. Nope! Stale and not flavorful.Jacobs Kroenung Aroma-Bohnen. Not much flavor, and also stale.Weavers Organic Blend with Sweet Caramel finish. This is supposed to be one of the top-rated coffees, but it left a strange aftertaste, and we struggled to finish it.Equal Exchange Organic Coffee. A little too strong for us, though it was supposed to be a medium roast. Neither of us enjoyed the flavor.I often tried a coffee after carefully reading the reviews and have come to realize that what we like is very subjective. But stale coffee is never acceptable no matter what your taste may be.

I have been a Starbucks fan (of sumatra coffee)for the past several months, but it isn't cheap. I opted to try this coffee as the price was right, and it was organic. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this coffee is. I think I actually like it better than Starbucks (I know, heresy for true Starbuck fans) as it is a little more mellow in flavor but yet still full (a paradox?). For those of you who look at color and quality of beans, these are a beautiful dark brown, large, clean, and shiny (but that doesn't mean diddly in taste). Hey, want to try something new? Try this, I don't think you will be disappointed. One minor thing is it does come in a rather large quantity (32 ounces)which means you have an opened package for a while (assuming you grind your beans as necessary) but you can put it in an air sealed container or bag (the company recommends that and then refrigerate, but I have read a bunch on that best way to keep coffee and theories abound--some say freeze it--to me the verdict is still out as to what way you go). Just keep in mind, if you only use a little bit each day, the coffee will go stale after a while, I don't care what method you use to extend freshness, but that's only my opinion. I am following their advice and keeping it around refrigerator temp in a sealed container.

Before I begin let me just explain where I am coming from. Though I am by no means a coffee expert I have become a little more sophisticated just in the regard that I own a french press as well as a chemex cofffee maker and grind my own beans as well. Though I like some of the standard coffees out there (especially Peets), I am trying to broaden my horizons and try new coffees. I decided to give this brand a try just because I saw it was a top coffee seller on amazon and had received mostly postive reviews.When I received the bag I opened it up and it smelled wonderful. as many coffee drinkers know,opening and smelling a new bag of coffee beans is almost as good as drinking the coffee itself. As for the coffee though, it was superb. I think the best way I can describe it is to say not too strong, but not too weak so it's perfect for someone looking for the best of both worlds. also, it is not as acidic as other coffees (which I understand is a common chracteristic of Sumatran coffee in general) so that was a positive for someone like me who loves coffee, but is always popping antacids.There are a few things to keep in mind though. This is a huge bag! It's like 3 standard supermarket bags in one. so if you drink a ton of coffee a day or have a big family of coffee drinkers, that might not be a problem. However, for someone like me who is single and drinks one or two cups a day, it prevents a bit of a challenge. The instructions tell you to put the bag in a ziplock bag and refrigerate for prolonged storage, which is what I did. Two weeks later the coffee still tastes good, but not as fresh as when I first bought it and there is still over half the bag left! If anyone out there has any suggestions on how I should store this coffee other than refrigeration, please shoot me an email.But other then that the coffee is great. Just make sure you realize you are going to get a lot of it unless there is a smaller bag for sale on amazon, which I do not think there is.