French Vanilla Cold Brew

We drank this can of Trader Joe’s French Vanilla Cold Brew on our front porch on a nice, sunny day. 

Pretty can

Our neighborhood had been super noisy all day because they were resurfacing the street out front.  In fact, our house even SHOOK part of the day because the rolling machine also had a “vibrate” function to wiggle and jiggle the new blacktop I guess, and it also wiggled and jiggled our house.  But in the end the noise and the vibrations were worth it because we have now have a nice, smooth street.

A fresh, new street.  Ahhhh.

Anyway, back to the drink.  The 8 fl oz can says the cold brew is made of 100% Arabica coffee.  I bought it a couple of months ago and it got lost in our fridge, but the best buy date is October 8, 2017, so it was still “fresh” when we busted it out.  It was super cold, too, which was good!   I served it with a tasty carrot cake with walnuts donut from our fancy local donut store, Sugar Shack (Sugar Shack website).

Afternoon snack in the sunshine

David’s take on the cold brew: “It is like a coffee flavored Yoo-Hoo drink.  (I, of course, was then curious and asked, “And do you LIKE Yoo-Hoo drinks??” to which he answered, “Not so much…”).   But this is not bad, though, if you like this sort of thing.  It’s not bad actually.  If you like a cold drink, and you want to have coffee, or you wanna have a lot of caffeine going into ya, it’s not bad.  I will give it a 3.5, cuz it does its’ thing quite well and when it is cold it is quite nice.”

David was leery when we bought it...

But liked it better when he drank some

Susan:  Cold brew coffee is trendy, so maybe David and I are just not trendy enough for this stuff…  (Although the day we drank this David did wear a trendy shirt that says, “National Sarcasm Society – Like We NEED Your Support”.)  As far as the coffee, I guess it was good, but it didn’t really taste all that much!  I would like it better if it had a little more coffee punch to it.  I am by no means a cold brew expert – is it always a bit weaker than regular coffee?  I thought it would be the opposite, so my taste buds were surprised.  (David said it like SUN TEA compared to tea made from boiling water, soaking tea bags, then cooling it.)

We usually each just drink one cup of coffee with breakfast each day, but the day we drank this we needed an afternoon pick-me-up.  David had worked hard teaching all day and we were going to a play, so we thought this coffee would help keep us awake.  David also drank some Pepsi with the donut, thus ensuring he had sufficient caffeine to stay wiiiide awake for the show. 

See, if you hold the can the right way you can show passersby how hip you are!

I guess if you are hip and trendy, and if you like to drink cold brew, and if you want people to KNOW you are drinking cold brew, you can HOLD THIS CAN proudly and everyone will know what you are drinking.   Neither of us feel well versed enough in the “art” of cold brew to really rate this product accurately, so I am gonna cheat and just copy David’s score of 3.5.

New Item (well, new a few months ago when we bought it...)

Price – $1.79

Rating – 3.5

Bonus photo for people who look all the way down here to the bottom - us on a night out on the town!
 (Walking to the theatre we happened on this pretty fountain)

Monsooned Malabar Coffee

Monsooned Malabar Coffee

Monsooned Malabar is a new coffee on the Trader Joe’s shelves (Spring 2017).  It is a medium roast 100% Arabica whole bean coffee, and the label bills it as “full body, woodsy aromatics”.  AROMATICS?  Hmmm, they are using what I think of as an adjective as a noun here, aren’t they?  Let’s look up “aromatics”, shall we??

I checked out http://www.cooksmarts.com/articles/add-flavor-aromatics/  and learned this:  “Aromatics are combinations of vegetables and herbs (and sometimes even meats) that are heated in some fat – like butter, oil, or coconut milk – at the beginning of a dish. The heated fat helps these ingredients release addictive aromas and impart deep flavors into the dish that’s being cooked.”

Well, this is COFFEE so I know they do not mean that definition.  “Aromatics” as a plural adjective sounds awkward to me, but maybe that is just because I haven’t used it that way before.  Let’s assume they have a grammar expert on payroll at Trader Joe’s corporate and roll with it, ok?

NOW LET’S STOP BEING GRAMMAR NAZI-WANNA-BEs and SKIP TO THE REVIEW!!

This can (10 oz) is smaller than most other Trader Joe’s coffee cans.  It is a short, squat can with pretty monsoon-like artwork. 

Coffee - the civilized way to start a day

Let’s see what David thinks of it, “I like it very much.  It is very smooth and very richly full-bodied.  “Wood-sy flavor” be any better if I knew what to call it??  (Bwahahaha – a little breakfast humor there from David, riffing on the “woodsy flavor” line on the label.)  I am gonna give this a 4.5.”

David tasting the product (and reading the paper).  He is using my currently 2nd favorite coffee mug - HRC.  Isn't it pretty?

As for me, I don’t get the “woodsy flavor” reference.  It doesn’t taste like sitting round a campfire (burning wood) or Deep Woods Off insect repellent to me.  When I mentioned this to David, he thought it meant “wood like autumn”, but that doesn’t make sense either, since they are selling it in the spring… 

$6.99 a can

I agree with David that this is a nice, smooth coffee.  It is not quite as strong as I prefer my coffee, but I liked it.  I think it is perfect for David (who prefers his coffee a bit lighter than I do).  I have no complaints about this coffee.  I can’t say it is the BEST cup of coffee I have ever had in my whole life, but it is better than some of the weak, boring varieties we have tried from TJs.  This is a fine cup of joe.  I give it a 4.

And since ol’ Neil Gorsuch endured day 2 of grilling today, I will include a photo of my current favorite coffee cup here.  It features none other than Notorious RBG, the most bad ass Supreme Court Justice ever.  May she be healthy and strong for at least 4 more years!!!  GO RUTH!!

RBG - fearlessly defined

Price:  $6.99

Rating:  4.25

Mini Sugar Hearts

David and I normally review Trader Joe’s stuff TOGETHER, sitting at the same table, chomping on the same food, and then reviewing it.  Today was different…  David was working (teaching), and I was working from home.  I was tempted to open a package of Mini Sugar Heart Cookies we got at Trader Joe’s last night and have some for breakfast, but I felt bad doing that without David here…  But I NEEDED a cookie…  So let’s just say - my guilt didn’t last long, and I ripped that bag open and sat down to try these puppies out!

David looked like a fan of these cookies in the store,
but when it was time to OPEN them and EAT 'em he was no where to be found!

Boy was I surprised!!  First off, these cookies are teeny tiny!  I took a photo of them on a small plate next to half a kiwi so you could see their size.

Adorable little heart cookies!

I am not sure why I expected these cookies to be bigger.  I guess it was because of the picture on the packaging showing a big ol’ cookie getting dipped into a small tea cup.  Of course, when I look at the package now that I have eaten a cookie (or two or three…) I see that the drawing is totally out of proportion and was not meant to be an accurate representation of cookie size.  My bad.

Purple!  And see the BIG cookie in the tiiiiiny yellow tea cup ?  Subconsciously tricked me!

This bag of cookies caught my eye on the Trader Joe’s “New Products” end cap last night.  It does not look like most TJ’s packages – it is PURPLE, which is a color not often used in their palette I guess, because it really stood out.  The package describes these as “sugar sprinkled cookies”.  From the packaging, I expected these cookies to taste like a French cookie called a palmier.  We lived in Paris for a while, and I learned that French desserts are almost always gorgeous, but to my palate almost always bland tasting and unsatisfying.  French desserts (in my opinion) are rarely worth the energy to eat (and even more rarely they worth the expense of buying them…).   So, I THOUGHT, from the looks of the packaging pictures, that these would be palmiers and I wouldn’t really like them. 

Flashback Photo!!!  Us on the banks of the Seine in Paris.  Hey, neither of us had any grey hair back then...

I was wrong!  They are not palmiers and I DO like them!!

They are little, rather bland (in a good way!), heart shaped cookies.  The “sugar sprinkled” claim does not seem all that accurate to me, as they are not very sweet.  But not being sweet doesn’t mean not good!  The package emphasizes over and over that you want to eat these cookies with coffee or tea (I had mine with a double cappuccino).  As TJ’s puts it, “If coffee and tea could fall in love with a cookie, the romance would be with Trader Joe’s Mini Sugar Hearts”.   I think that is a good recommendation – these pair well with a hot beverage.  I didn’t dunk mine, but that would be a good thing to try with these.

A serving size is listed as 14 cookies!!!  I admit, had I read THAT in the store I would have KNOWN that these were going to be baby sized cookies!!  I am in favor of the size – to me they are one bite cookies.  I like these!  They are simple and plain.  I think BISCUIT is a better name for these than COOKIE, as they are not sweet. But they are good biscuits!  They would be nice any time of day: with an afternoon cup of tea or your morning coffee.

Very affordable Valentine's treat.

These are CUTE.  They are little hearts, which make them nice for upcoming Valentine’s Day.  I think you should give them a shot.  Heck, you should get some for your Valentine and surprise her/him.  They are more creative than your run-of-the-mill box of chocolate and will be more appreciated than one of those silly life sized stuffed bears that you see advertised this time of year.  (Note to men – just don’t on the expensive life sized teddy bears, ok?)  But hey – if you take me up on my suggestion to get your sweetie these cookies, get her/him a little somethin’ else to go along with them, ok?  Cuz they are only a buck 99….  And she/he is worth WAY more than that.

Price: $1.99

Rating: 4.25

Bonus flashback photo.  Ahhhh, memories.  This is a gentleman who we often smiled at in Gare du Nord train station in Paris.  He couldn't talk. and he lived in the station.  He had his knees wrapped with heavy cloth, then covered by RUBBER.  Hence, I am a bit embarrased to admit, our name for him was "Kneesie".  One time we talked to a homeless lady who was sitting by him and she told us his real name was Marcel.  He was VERY SWEET.  We sometimes brought him food.  Often he was asleep/passed out in this exact spot where he is sitting now, so we would just leave the food by him.  Things I love about this photo:  Kneesie's smile, the little Camembert cheese box next to him (typical!), his wheelchair covered in stuff, the fact that his fly is not all the way closed (also typical), and the fact that I held his hand.  His hands were not, how shall I say, clean...  He couldn't walk, so would pee in a water bottle and dump it RIGHT BEHIND HIM (which in this photo is right behind US...) in a little groove.  Kneesie's section of the train station was a bit smelly...
 But oh he was sweet!!