BlackOwl UrbanCoffee

If you follow me on Twitter (I hope you are) then you will see what coffee we are currently drinking and enjoying. There is nothing better than a cup of coffee made from freshly ground beans and South African roasters make incredible coffee.

The usual way we get to try out new beans is from The Coffee Magazine’s Discover Great Coffee Club. There are always 6 x 250g packets of beans from different roasters throughout South Africa. There are four deliveries a year (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) and you can choose to subscribe for the year or take a once off subscription. We have finished all the beans from the last batch which was Winter and the Spring batch should be arriving next week. One of the packet of beans in the Spring batch is from BlackOwl UrbanCoffee in Johannesburg, specifically their Americano Arabica blend.

We were very fortunate to be able to try all their coffee already as they sent me samples to try (and 2 bags of beans).

Here is a bit about each type of coffee :

Americano
– Medium Roasted Arabica Blend with a consistent balanced flavour profile. This blend has multifaceted flavour notes, hints of lemon, subtle spiciness, delicate chocolate with a floral acidity. This medium bodied blend has real
character and is perfectly balanced.

We really enjoyed this blend and found it to be an enjoy all day coffee which was especially nice with its aroma of subtle spice. We used our coffee plunger to make the coffee. Looking forward to receiving the bag of beans with Discover Great Coffee Club.

Socialite
– Medium Roasted Single Origin Tanzanian bean which is bright and vibrant, with a deep rich character. Full of body that is intense and creamy, sweet berry-like, fruity flavour with notes of cedar.

A Socialite is “a person well known in fashionable society and is fond of social activities and entertainment”. This is a perfect name for this wonderful coffee as I can see myself serving it at a function. We enjoyed its subtle fruity flavour and it was made in our coffee plunger and I also had a cup made in our AeroPress. Very glad that BlackOwl UrbanCoffee added in a 250g bag of beans.

Dr Who
– Medium Roasted Arabica Blend which is rich in flavour, with layered liquorice undertones and a hint of cocoa. Muted acidity with a strong body.

We could actually smell the light liquorice scent and this coffee goes really well with a slice of chocolate cake. The coffee was made in our coffee plunger.

Urbanite
– Medium/Dark Roasted Single Origin Ugandan bean which is full of body and has a somewhat lower acidity than other East African coffees. The rustic fruit tones, deep huskiness and mild earthiness create a unique flavour profile
combined with hints of plum, deep red wine tones and bakers chocolate.

This was a nice coffee but we didn’t enjoy it as much as we did the Americano, Socialite and Dr Who. Of course that is our taste opinion, but everyone is different in how they like their coffee. The coffee was made in our coffee plunger.

Erudite
– Medium Roasted Single Origin Ethiopian bean, jam-packed with pleasant citrus notes and a hint of milk chocolate. It’s smooth and has a soft body with a very delicate clean finish.

We enjoyed this more than the Urbanite coffee but our definite favourites were Americano, Socialite and Dr Who. It was a lovely smooth drinking coffee and is perfect for that last cup at night. We made it in our coffee plunger.

If you are JHB based you can visit BlackOwl UrbanCoffee at 63 5th Avenue, Northmead in Benoni. Please visit their Facebook page to see the shops that stock their coffee. If you are not JHB based you can email them sales@blackowlcoffee.co.za to order.

1kg beans R200

250g beans R70

250g ground R70

75g filter R18 (only available with Dr Who and Americano)

Free delivery to your door on orders over R200.