Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

I recently ordered coffee from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a publicly traded company located in Vermont. It was not my first order, but it may have been my last.

GMCR has a special order/re-order feature called Cafe EXPRESS. After signing up for it you can have coffees sent on a recurring basis. The part that got my attention was saving a dollar on each bag of coffee ordered through Cafe EXPRESS, therefore saving on shipping costs. Another benefit was a free gift and I wanted another excellent (except for the lid) GMCR vacuum travel tumbler. None of this came to pass.

I did the Cafe EXPRESS sign-up, made my coffee choices, and briefly saw a web page saying that I had save two dollars on two bags. Then something happened in their order system; the page quickly shifted to the regular order page, and my sign-up, money saved, and tumbler simply vanished. Gone. No record of a Cafe EXPRESS order. As it happened I had an order alright, just not the one I intended. It went through their regular system. When I got the order confirmation I began a series of emails regarding the order's mistake. The GMCR customer service rep, Jessica, replied, "Because you were not taken directly to the Cafe EXPRESS sign up page, you were not prompted to join the club." Well, yes I was prompted. I SAW THE PAGE SAYING I SAVED TWO DOLLARS! However, Jessica told me how I, and they, could rectify (someone's) mistake, but doing so would be a cluster f. I decided to forget the idea of rectification, but kept in mind the clunky experience that I'd never had with them before.

A week later the coffees arrived. One bag of Lake and Lodge, and one bag of Sumatran Lake Tawar. Mmmm. GMCR uses specially made vented bags that have very narrow seams on the edges, not down the middle of the back. The Sumatran's bag had come apart at one of the narrow seams and had spilled precious and costly coffee into the shipping box. GREAT! Ordering problems, and now this! I fired off another email to Jessica, who kept a calm and cool demeanor as I told her that I wanted a replacement bag at no additional expense or burden on my part. That is, take it on faith because I was not going to spend two dollars in gasoline driving across town to mail back the burst bag. Jessica and Green Mountain handled it with aplomb and agreed to do so. All she wanted was the bar code/production info. I supplied it on the same day I got shipping confirmation on the replacement bag.

It took about three weeks from initial order to getting the replacement bag into my coffee cabinet, and will be another week or two before I get to open it because I had to finish off the Lake and Lodge, which is too light duty for my taste, and a bag of Starbucks Sumatra I already had open.

Yes, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters made good on the burst bag. But, you know what? After all this I never did save the two dollars and didn't get another vacuum tumbler. And the tumbler was what I really wanted!

I Love My Coffee

Slurp. Buzzzzz. Slurp. Buzzzzz. Do you recognize this scenario? It’s COFFEE! Billions of people worldwide enjoy, need, their daily dose of caffeine in the form of delicious coffee. I enjoy it, too. Not so much for the buzz as for the flavor. I came to enjoy coffee quite late in my life. For years about the only coffees available where I live were the popular national brands. I hated them. They all tasted the same to me and creamer didn’t help much. But the buzz! Man, they had it. I didn’t like that, either. If I watered down the coffee to get rid of some of the buzz, there went what little flavor it had. Years later I learned that these coffees consisted of robusta coffee beans, well known for their high caffeine content. I didn’t know that what I really wanted was coffee made with gourmet quality Arabica beans. Neither did anyone else. That is, we didn’t know until the West Coast gourmet coffee trend headed east. Now I enjoy talking coffee, buying, brewing, and drinking coffee, as well as the never-ending search for my perfect cup. There are lots of perfect cups, too. I’m not a coffee snob, I don’t ever intend to roast my own beans, and I’m not going to quit my day job to become a roastmaster. I just now know enough about coffee to think I know what I like; a coffee that’s bright, full-bodied, almost syrupy, and has a lingering finish of chocolate, mostly. But I’m open to the finish, as long as it lasts a bit. There are thousands of web pages dealing with coffee; the growing, harvesting, grading, roasting, cupping, grinding, bagging, ad infinitum. If you want to know more do what I did. Do a Google search and go from there. I am just sharing my love of great coffee. My first experience with a gourmet coffee was great. An early morning company function had me wanting some to perk myself up. I went to a nearby gourmet shop, told them I wanted just a coffee, and was served a large cup of what the lady said was Sumatran. My goodness that coffee was great! What in the world happened to coffee between the last cup, years ago, and this cup, I asked myself. Surely I could brew at home and not have to buy every cup. So I began a learning experience. After going through several brands, blends, single origins, and roasts I settled on Starbucks. However, it seemed that regardless of which Starbucks varieties I chose and brewed they all were bitter in the cup. In reading web posts by others, many had the same opinion. By the way, my coffeemaker is the excellent quality Bunn NHB professional home brewer. It’s sleek, takes up little space and will brew a full pot or less in three minutes because of its always-hot and ready reservoir of water. Depending on the coffee, the results are impressive and I have never had one problem with my Bunn. If you really enjoy the wonderful flavors of gourmet coffee, not just the buzz, and are using something less you’re wasting money and probably not getting a great cup. The Bunn NHB is available for less than $100 on-line. Use Bunn’s filters, too, for a better cuppa joe. Starbucs had good coffee profiles, but bitter to me. So I continued to search for a coffee made for me. I found it in Seattle's Best Coffees.

Quite by chance I found what I liked in Seattle’s Best Coffee’s arabica beans. I've enjoyed every Seattle’s Best variety I've tried. My favorites are Henry’s Blend and Seattle’s Best Blend. Their caffeine content is just about right for me. There are SBC coffees that I've not tried because I can't find them, much to my dismay. In addition, I’ve had several 100% Kona coffees from Hawaii – great, but not quite the body I like. Kona Cloud is the best Kona I’ve had. A Jonesboro, Arkansas physician (cardiothoracic surgeon) owns the Kona Cloud coffee plantation in Hawaii, and the roasterie is located in Jonesboro, but he’s not the roastmaster. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is a publicly traded company, and another good roasterie with many excellent choices, and there are hundreds of other roasteries across the country with their specialty coffees. But, I always keep Seattle’s Best Coffee in the pantry. A burr coffee grinder is a good device to have as many coffees are offered only in whole bean. Grinding fresh beans then immediately brewing adds a dimension not attainable by buying ground. And don’t be afraid to mix different coffees in the brewer. You just might make a blend that's perfect for your tastes. Remember, coffee does not have to be bitter to be delicious. Time now for another cup of Seattle’s Best. Enjoy your Coffee! - # -