Creativity when it comes to coffee seems to be never ending. It makes sense. In a super competitive market, everyone want to have a reason why you should buy their coffee. Sometimes, the creativity has to do with the latte art, where baristas are always pushing the envelope with what they can do. Other times, its mainstream chains having their special drinks like Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte or their Christmas drinks like the Toffee Nut Latte (a guilty pleasure of mine!).
The home coffee market also has a wide range of creative products. The product I found at one of the local grocery stores is certainly creative to me.
The Blendy coffee pack that I found looks to be a Christmas or Winter special edition from the outside packaging featuring colorful snowflakes in red, gold, and white. The translation also says that it is a limited design and a special edition.
Inside, the packages are also very unique. Almost the entirety of the packaging is written in Japanese, except on each of the eight individual packages. Each of these features a number of motivational or heart-warming phrases such as “Everything is Gonna Be Ok”.
After looking at the different choices, I picked out a package with the expression “Don’t Forget Your Lovely Smile”. The individual package opened quite easily, and inside I was the instant drip package.
Many times I’ve had the instant drip coffee the packaging either requires you to have a pair of scissors, or you have to very carefully and gently pull apart the two sides. Blendy makes it easy by providing a nifty little perforated top that tears off neatly and cleanly.
I debated which of my mugs to try for this drink and decided on my 2002 Korea-Japan World cup mug, in honor of this being a product from Japan. The mug has seen a lot of action over the years and is easily one of my favorite go to mugs.
The package says that the coffee has a mellow aroma, and as the water slowly filtered down through the coffee, I could definitely smell the warm rich flavor coming up to my nose. It did have a nice mellow aroma.
After about four to five top ups of the little drip filter, the coffee was ready to drink.
The packaging says that the coffee is a medium dark roast, and also a mixture of Colombian and Vietnamese beans. On the first sip, it is definitely a darker roast than many other packaged coffees. The taste was a little bitter, but also with a light fruit flavor as well. As I slowly worked through the cup, the flavor became more pleasant as I adjusted to the bitterness with other undertones and different bits of acidity coming through.
I thoroughly enjoyed the full cup, and I will definitely be working my way through all eight packages. One of the problems with imported products is that you never know if it will available again as things seem to come and go here. However I will stay on the lookout for Blendy coffee as the medium dark roast is a great way to have a cup of drip coffee with out a lot of work.
