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Happy Cup! French Pressed and Reviewed
It’s coffee review time! Secret Agent Josephine here, reporting for duty. If there is a coffee to be reviewed, I shall review it!
It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it.
Today I am reviewing Happy Cup Coffee from Portland, specifically their Morning Madness blend. Also I’m going to French Press it so if you’re someone like me who had to google how to use a French Press maybe this post will help you.
First of all I love their company name. I know my coffee cup always makes me happy. It also makes me happy that they have a great logo and lovely packaging design. I always judge packaging. It does make a difference. I honestly think that coffee tastes better when it comes out of a sharp looking bag and gets poured into my favorite cup. I’m very particular about these things.
The second thing that makes Happy Cup Coffee special is that they hire special people to help them roast it. And by special people I mean people with disabilities. How cool is that? This bag you see right here was packaged by Alec. I didn’t really expose the photo well so you can’t see his name stamped on the bag but it’s there. I like that personal touch.
I don’t know who Alec is but I’m hoping it’s that super smiley guy they have a picture of in their brochure.
Now let’s get down to business and review the actual coffee. The beans they sent to me were not as dark and oily as I usually like mine but I realize not everyone likes their coffee super burnt like I do. Moving on…
It smelled delicious when I ground it up. Mmmmmm!
Since I’m sharing step-by-step photos I figured I might as well include this tip that I learned from Bethany. Basting brushes work great for sweeping out those clingy bits of ground up coffee. It might seem like a fiddly extra step but since I’ve been doing this, my coffee grinding area and the cupboard where I keep all my coffee supplies is so much cleaner!
Four heaping tablespoons into my French Press…
Fill with hot boiling water.
Stir lightly to make sure all the grounds get soaked evenly.
Steep for four (FOUR! no more, no less) minutes.
Press down gently with both hands. Of course I can’t show you both hands because I’m always holding my camera with one hand. This is all sorts of awkward but my photography assistant was off playing with Pink Kitty and not available, as usual.
Then it’s ready to be sweetened in your usual manner. My usual manner is a swirl of sweetened condensed milk. (Though lately I’ve moved back to my usual glurg of half and half and a pinch of sugar. The sweetened condensed milk was getting too sweet for me.)
Time to taste! (I think my ugly face might have ruined this review. Please try to ignore.)
Result: A bit on the acidic side with a berry twinge but DELICIOUS! I think I should move to Portland.
Oh right, it rains all the time. Nevermind.
So guess what! Happy Cup wants to make you happy too! Happy Happy Joy Joy!
Comment below with your two cents on what makes your favorite coffee great and I get to pick three lucky people to receive a bag of their choice of coffee.
You can see what kinds of coffee they sell here. Just click on that little link at the top of the page that says “Happy Cup can be purchased online and at our Coffee Shop at 3331 NE Sandy Blvd.” and then the coffee section and you’ll see the flavors in a pop up window. Great names for coffee right?
I also get to pick one lucky winner to receive a gift box. Inside the gift box is a cute mug like the one I received, a bag of coffee and a t-shirt! Hot diggety! So comment away! I’ll pick a winner by next Monday.
p.s. I received this product for free but I was not paid for this review. Opinions are my own! :)
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Grow Big, Little Figgy!
It probably doesn’t surprise you that I’ve been hankering after a giant fiddle leaf fig tree. They are just so big and cool and exactly what my living room needs! I know, I’m jumping on the hipster bandwagon again but I really really do think they are amazing and I love plants. I have a green thumb after all. I probably could keep one alive. And wouldn’t it look so perfect against the white walls of my living room, balancing out the great wall of turquoise at the other end?
However, as you also probably know, fiddle leaf fig trees cost a small fortune.
So I bought a baby one off Amazon! I was worried. A plant in the mail for so cheap? Would it be dollhouse size? Would it be mangled and half dead from the trip?
Well, It came in the mail yesterday in a box all wrapped up with brown paper and puffy white popcorn and it’s fine. Like some of the reviews said it does have some brown marks on the leaves but I’m thinking with some tender loving care it will be just fine.
So I repotted it.
Then I set it up in my little Mexico corner. (Insert me rolling my eyes.) This is my latest furniture rearrangement due to Toby buying us cable so that we can watch the Olympics. It’s actually a really sweet thing that he did for Bug and I love the Olympics too but it’s thrown my OCD perfect-apartment-keeping into a tailspin. You know me, everything has to be in its place and all rules of Bren Shui must be adhered to. IE: cords cannot be seen, everything must look perfect from doorway views and of course everything must be balanced and pretty—thus my need for a giant majestic fiddle leaf fig tree!
Cords are showing, my desk is in the first thing you see when you stand at the front door (the horror! it’s always messy!) and there’s this big red file cabinet sticking sideways in the dining room. This is SO not Bren Shui. But it’s the best I can do and believe me I’ve tried EVERY option. Thankfully it’s only this way for a month. When the Olympics are over the cable is getting cut off and the tv is going back to where it came from. I can’t wait!
At least the other side of the room still makes me happy.
Now I just have to wait ten years for my fiddle leaf fig tree to get majestic!
