Coffee beans review: Pelican Rouge Blend 1863

Another bag of beans to review – yay! I am always excited to find great tasting but not pricey coffee beans. Why wouldn’t I? For one, I always drink coffee in the morning. So it is something that I need to get started with my day. And because I drink it daily, buying expensive coffee beans is not something I don’t want to do daily. Of course, there are times when I buy something a bit over the budget (like this bag of beans I reviewed here), but I don’t want to be too spoiled with it.

Amazon is really a great place to look for quality products and if lucky, in a reasonable price range, too. For quite a while, I was content with the beans on sale through DiscountCoffee but the lack of “new” options can be a bit tiring.
This is the second Pelican Rouge coffee beans I bought from Amazon. The first bag was Pelican Rouge Concerto and it was also a great option. Now let’s talk about this bag: Pelican Rouge Blend 1863.

 
Similar to other coffee beans we bought from Amazon in the past, this arrived well-packed and in fantastic condition.
Let’s talk about the beans. Grinding the beans exudes amazing aroma and definitely gives you a pick up while making a cup of coffee. Just the whiff of the beans, you can tell that it is quite a strong blend. It doesn’t smell burnt, though. But the scent gives you an impression it is a medium-dark roast.
Making a cup of coffee with this beans is really nice. Even if made with milk (in my case, I always have a latte), the body is not overwhelmed with the milk. I think the ratio of the robusta and arabica is perfect to maintain that “coffee” taste/after taste even if you enjoy your cup with milk. The taste is not diluted so it is something that I really appreciate.

Using this for an espresso is not bad either. While there is the distinct acidity robusta beans leave in your palate, it is not off-putting at all. So for espresso lovers out there, this bag of beans is a great option, too!
Now, let’s talk about the grind and making the shots. Our grinder is the Sage Smart Grinder, which I bought a couple of years ago as a Christmas gift for my husband. And we use a Gaggia Classic to make the espresso. The first cups were alright – was able to produce an espresso without issues. However, we noticed that after a couple more cups, the Classic starts to “block” (ie no espresso dripping at all when the Gaggia is running). It seems that the beans are a tad bit oily so cleaning the espresso machine needs to be done a bit frequently. It needs to be done to avoid blocking the espresso machine and wasting beans in the end.
Overall, it is a really good bag of beans. I will definitely re-purchase but will have to make sure to clean the machine often.