Some fine coffee

As part of Amazon's "Vine Voice" program, I'm given the opportunity to sample, at no cost, a variety of products that Amazon sells. All Amazon asks for in return is an honest review of the product on its site. How do you become part of Amazon's "Vine" program? Simple. File lots and lots of reviews at Amazon and you'll eventually be asked to join. Anyway, here's a review I just posted of some nice coffee that Amazon sent my way.

My bag of Melitta Cafe Collection Parisian Vanilla Ground Coffee has been a pleasant treat these past few days. The coffee's strength and complexity sits somewhere between a "normal" cup of coffee (the kind you might get at Dunkin Donuts, for instance, or brew from your supply of canned supermarket coffee) and more rich and complex "coffee house" style coffees. In other words, this is great when you want a basic cup of coffee, but still with a hint of something extra. Actually, you get two "something-extra" hints here: a shade more complexity than regular coffee, and the vanilla flavor.

It's sometimes said that one should avoid flavored coffees because their manufacturers often use the flavor to cover up lesser-tier beans. I don't think that's the case here. The vanilla is (happily) subtle to begin with, but regardless, it's pretty apparent that the coffee itself is of high quality. It's rich and flavorful, with a burnished, non-acidic finish.

And just to be clear, it's not a sweetened vanilla flavor that's used here, just a subtle undercurrent that slightly enhances your coffee experience. You can add your own sweetener if you want a sweet vanilla taste. Myself, I just add a little half-and-half and I'm happy.

If you like flavored coffees on a regular or semi-regular basis (I'm more in the latter camp), this is a fine product to pick up and add to your cupboard. Even if you like a flavored coffee only occasionally, you may use this up faster than you think.

The accompanying photograph, by the way, is a Kindle Taproom exclusive. Once my cat got out of the way, I was able to take a nice shot of the product.