Bean Review: Klatch Coffee's Crazy Goat Blend

When my dear friend, coworker, and dentist extraordinaire Dr. G recently traveled to Temecula, CA and brought back a 12 oz bag of Klatch Coffee's Crazy Goat Blend for me to review for The Phoenix Bean, I knew I was in for a special treat. With over 25 years in the coffee business, Klatch is known for their many award winning roasts and exacting standards: they only buy the top 1% of available beans that come onto the market.

Founded by the Perry family in 1993, Klatch Coffee started as a micro roaster with one retail store in Los Angeles. Klatch is now a global wholesale roaster with several retail locations throughout the greater Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Roastmaster and green buyer Mike Perry has a background in chemical engineering and has spent his years at the helm of the Klatch roastery perfecting his "peak of flavor" style of roasting.

In 2019, Klatch was one of only two coffee shops in the US to have access to the Elida Geisha Natural 1029 variety from Panama, which in its green, unroasted state sold for $1029 per pound. The top scoring coffee ever in competition, only 100 pounds was made available. A roasted Elida Geisha Natural 1029 can be purchased on the Klatch website for $100 for 18 grams (which is just under four teaspoons).

There are scores of other roasts available on the Klatch website, thankfully with much more affordable price points. Their website features the most comprehensive collection of coffees I have seen from a single company. There is a dizzying array of choices: single origins from places such as Yemen, Hawaii, Ethiopia, and El Salvador; specific roasts such as espresso, Italian, and French; decaf options; and multi region blends including the Crazy Goat Blend I had the opportunity to sample.

Crazy Goat Blend gets its name from the story of coffee's origin when it was discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi who witnessed his goats energetically prancing about after eating from an unknown tree with bright red berries (coffee cherries). Once the herder tried the cherries, he joined the merriment of his goats and the rest was history. Crazy Goat Blend is a medium/dark roast with beans from Brazil, Columbia, El Salvadore, and Sumatra. The growing altitude of these beans ranges from 1600-1900 feet.

I decided to grind the beans and place them into my trusty French press. After allowing the water in my kettle to reach 203 degrees, I poured it over the beans and steeped them for 4 minutes before plunging the press downward. When I tasted the resulting cup, I noted a smooth, nutty flavor. It was not especially bold in my opinion, despite its medium/dark roast profile. The company classifies the blend as robust with "notes of dark chocolate, tobacco, and hints of spice". I can agree with the notes of chocolate, but not being especially astute in the flavor profile of tobacco, I may have to defer to more sophisticated palates. Overall, Crazy Goat Blend is a solid choice for your morning brew. It is a bright wake-me-up, with no overwhelming bitterness. If you're ready to taste for yourself, check out the Klatch website: https://www.klatchroasting.com/ If you try it, leave me a comment and let me know if you taste those hints of tobacco.