On my recent trip to Geoje Island, I stayed at two different mini hotels on the east side. The first evening we arrived later than expected, so right after dinner we went straight to our hotel. After arriving, I was a little surprised to find that while there was a kitchen unit, there was no coffee, not even instant, inside.
While understandable that the hotel doesn’t want to have to deal with the extra expense, it also meant that when I woke up the next morning, that there was no warm mug of coffee to greet me!
So, before going to the next hotel, I made sure that we stopped at Lotte Mart on Geoje Island to pick up some coffee just in case the next place didn’t have any.
It was a good thing that I made this decision, as sure enough, the next hotel didn’t have any coffee there either, although they did have lots of things ready if you wanted to have a Korean style barbecue.
At Lotte Mart, it was really difficult to choose which of the coffees to buy and try. It seems like every time I go shopping, there are another half dozen coffee products to choose from.
I noticed that Ediya coffee has created a range of single serving drip coffee products, and I decided to try one of those.
For those of you who are not familiar with Ediya, it is a chain of coffee shops here in South Korea, with apparently over 3,000 locations.
I decided to go for the Ediya Blend, which the package says has a dark chocolate, caramel, and nutty flavor.
The next morning, after waking up, I opened the package, and found the 8 individual packages. Unlike Blendy Coffee from Japan, all of the packages are identical, so I just chose one and opened it up.
This particular blend was a mixture of beans from around the world. The package listed the blend as a 40% Columbian, 40% Brazilian, and 20% Ethiopian Blend.
The package even included some helpful tasting notes. As you can see from the image above, it lists flavor, acidity, body, sweetness, and aftertaste. We shall see if the value for each one (out of 5) matches what I think!
The coffee is located in a disposable filter and had a nice easy tear top to open it up. The hotel also had some wonderful mugs to use. Nice and heavy, they looked like perfect for the job of trying this Ediya coffee out.
As the water slowly filtered through the coffee and into the mug, a wonderful aroma filled the room. The color was nice, and the scent was comforting.
It took about 3 to 4 refills of the filter to get a full mug of coffee, but it was worth the wait.
Luckily, the little hotel had a wonderful view overlooking a bay on Geoje Island as well as having an impressive view of the mountains. The weather was also wonderful! It was a gorgeous autumn morning with clear skies and the sun slowly warming up the land.
After finally getting a chance to have taste the coffee, I found that it was very nice. It was not overly bitter, and the chocolate tones were apparent from the first sip.
The caramel flavors were a little subdued, but it was easier to notice the nut tones.
Overall, the coffee was quite good. It was smooth, and the beans produced a wonderful aroma and flavor when brewed.
So, how accurate were Ediya’s tasting notes? The flavor was relatively accurate. As I mentioned, the chocolate and nut flavors were easy to distinguish, and the caramel less so.
The coffee was not very acidic, which also matched the low score of 2 out of 5. The body of the Ediya Blend did not see accurate to me. While the company lists it as a 4 out of 5, which I assume means that it is quite heavy, I found the brew to actually be quite nice.
The coffee was an average sweetness, but I found that the aftertaste was not very strong, and dissipated quickly. Still, 3 out of 5 accurate tasting notes is pretty good for a home product that costs less than 500 won per package.
For the price, I think that the Ediya Blend in Ediya Coffee Lab’s Persona Blend Series is a worthwhile buy.
I will definitely be trying some of the other Ediya home products when I get the chance, and I hope that they are as tasty as this one was.
