Distributor's Website: http://www.figbros.com/
Now if you're a reader of this blog, you know that my coffee comes from Papa Nicholas, but every once in a while, another coffee brand will catch my eye. This was so with Spice Exchange Trading Company coffee which I found on sale for $4.00 for a 12 ounce package; flavors chosen were Butter Cream and Vanilla Cupcake. With names like those, how could I resist? I should have; oh, I should have.
In the store, I didn't notice any unusual odors coming from the bag; then again, there was no odor of coffee either, so only thought the packaging was very tightly sealed for freshness. Yeah, think again. After getting home, I opened up the first package of Butter Cream coffee and that's when the odor hit me...hard. A distinctive chemical smell very similar to formaldehyde; once you've taken biology and dissected a few animals, you know the smell. So I thought, maybe it's just me; perhaps I touched something and the smell was still on my hands; no, but I decided to brew up a pot anyway.
As the coffee brewed, the smell got stronger; I poured some in my cup, added my half n' half and stevia, brought it up to my lips, and whoa! that smell was awful. I was brave though and took a sip and all I tasted was chemicals; no coffee flavor, no delightful taste and aroma of Butter Cream; just foul chemicals. Down the drain the brewed coffee went, into the trash bin the package went. So what did I do? Decided to try the other package to see the results which were the very same. No enticing odor or flavor of Vanilla Cupcake; only the strong, foul odor and taste of chemicals. Disgusting!!!
The store where I purchased the coffee was 3 hours away from me, so I couldn't be bothered to return the packages there. $8 wasted, but a good lesson learned that good coffee is worth the price paid.
So if you happen to be shopping around and see Spice Exchange Coffee for sale; turn and run if you value your taste buds, sense of smell and money.
Mary Cokenour
