What was your Pandemic hobby? Mine was becoming nerd-Ishly self-reliant for my twice a day iced…read morecoffee habit. After purchasing some additional equipment to supplement my home Cold Brew set up, I was able to cold brew and make home pour overs that I flash chill in a ColdWave Beverage Chiller.
When you home brew, you need roasted coffee beans. Since I was largely homebound in the early Pandemic days, I was motivated to buy the best coffee beans from US roasters who ship to my house in CT. JBC from Madison, Wisconsin is one of the roasters that appeared on multiple best US roaster lists. In addition, JBC is one of the roasters that regularly submits its coffees to "Coffee Review", which performs blind taste reviews, scores coffees and reports the scores on its website. Especially within its normal price range, JBC is one of the highest scoring US roasters that I've noticed. That's why JBC is the roaster I order from most frequently.
My orders in the past two months have included coffees from Kenya, Ethiopia, Columbia and the Indonesia island of Sumatra. "Coffee Review" rated five of the six JBC coffees I ordered as 94 or 95, which fall in the Top Rated Category. I suspect the other hasn't been rated yet but will score similarly. Many of the other roasters that routinely score this high charge much higher prices than JBC. In this regard, JBC's cost for 12 ounce bags of whole beans in my recent order ranged from, prior to the 10% discount, $18 to $20.50. At these prices, I actually save money home brewing high end coffee instead of getting whatever the local drive-thrus are selling.
I can't speak highly enough of JBC's customer service. My recent order is representative. Over the July 4th Weekend, I ordered three bags so I could receive a 10% holiday discount and free shipping. JBC fresh roasted the coffee on 7/6 and shipped my order that day. I received a tracking number, but I know not to worry with ever-reliable JBC. It was waiting in my mailbox for me on 7/8 - high-end coffee, two days after it was roasted.
Not to bury the lead, JBC's coffee is routinely fresh and outstanding. Their flavor notes listed on their website and bags are right on. If you home grind and brew, I highly recommend JBC.