The Roaster
Cosmic Coffee is a small-batch roaster based in San Jose. After starting to roast coffee in Hawaii, its founder, Carlos, brought the roaster to California in 2012. It has been based there ever since. Their attention to detail is so great that they use a proprietary mineral blend in the water they use to make cold brew. When Cosmic reached out to let us know they have a Swiss Water decaf, we had to give it a try.
Disclaimer: Products reviewed here were provided complimentary in exchange for a fair and unbiased review, and our opinions are our own.
Roaster:
Cosmic Coffee
Roast:
Dark
Origin:
Blend (Ethiopia, Honduras and Indonesia)
Decaffeination Method:
Swiss Water Process
Taste:
Medium-dark chocolate, toasted marshmallow, cherry
The Roast
I cupped Cosmic’s Eclipse Decaf, a dark roast blend with coffee from Ethiopia, Honduras, and Indonesia. As of this writing, Eclipse is the roaster’s only decaf offering. The beans were roasted within days of my receiving them.
It immediately presented with a hazelnut aroma, and dark chocolate was also present in the beans’ smell. These woodsy qualities came to the fore even further after brewing, opening up a piney aroma. In all, this gave the beans a pleasant, outdoor quality, something that came on even stronger once I sampled the coffee.
Tasting Notes
Cosmic mentions a campfire in their description of the coffee, something I found to be an apt comparison. This wasn’t because the coffee was overly smokey, but because of the toasted marshmallow and campfire notes that the beans presented. Some of the nuttier notes of the aroma were replaced by pleasant cherry with creamy undertones. The smokey notes that were present were nice and round, reminding me of applewood. There was plenty of medium-dark chocolate going on in there, too.
The cup’s mouthfeel was rich and full, as it should be for this kind of coffee. Though fairly dark, it fell almost on the medium-dark end of the spectrum to my palette. It was low acid, but not to the point that the coffee felt dull. There was also a slight candy apple sweetness to the cup that I felt balanced out the smokier flavors.
Final Thoughts
All in all, if you like dark roasts, this will be a slam dunk. Even if you don’t, this is a very approachable, laid-back cup of coffee. It’s a fantastic option for an evening cup, which I’ve already gone back to enjoy as a late-night sipper. Even with these mellow qualities, it will hold up to a splash of cream. Eclipse is currently listed as a seasonal offering, and I’m excited to see what else they have in store for decaf drinkers in the future.
