Review: Blue Line Coffee House Adirondack Maple Bourbon Coffee
(2022) A Philadelphia restaurant, Talula’s Garden, offers an incredible bourbon-based drink called the Treehugger. Naturally I call it the lumberjack, but take a Manhattan, add a splash of maple syrup, top with an Italian cherry, and suddenly refreshment has taken hold. Or head to Caleb’s American Kitchen in Peddler’s Village who offered a bourbon-infused maple syrup breakfast dish that demonstrated bourbon and maple syrup go together. What if there was an option beyond alcoholic offerings; Blue Line Coffee of Inlet, NY, hooked my attention immediately.
After a successful Black Fly Challenge campaign, the Blue Line Coffee House of Inlet, NY, website was navigated for an online order. Uncharacteristically ahead of schedule, I arrived for pick-up and they were ready with my order, complete with the bag of Adirondack Maple Bourbon Coffee beans. I have never been more excited to make the five-hour trek home, this time on account of a half-pound bag of coffee beans.
Blue Line Coffee House Adirondack Maple Bourbon Coffee is available in limited amounts for shipping.
Seasonally roasted, Blue Line Coffee starts with South African beans and ages them in Bourbon oak barrels. After aging, the beans are then tossed with Adirondack maple syrup, a commodity in upstate New York. The fear of missing out led to the impulse purchase that put me outside my event budget. The hope would be that Blue Line Coffee would deliver a guilt-free product.
On the first day, with the entire house smelling like bourbon and maple coffee beans, a cold brew roast was ground up. Upon dishing out the cold brew, the intense flavor of bourbon shone through, the acidity nowhere to be found, and somewhere in the middle a sweetness that must have been transported by the maple syrup. Curious to know how the warmer side tasted, mugs of hot coffee were guzzled, thus changing the complexity of the brew. Yet the acidity never showed up on the hot side either. These were quality beans. For the rest of the day the taste of bourbon and maple lingered on the taste buds. Immediately thoughts turned to Caleb’s American Kitchen and wondering if offense would be taken if a baggie of beans were produced in hopes the kitchen would brew Adirondack Maple Bourbon coffee to complement the syrup in one of the breakfast dishes.
This is the exact type of brew that gets us through morning procedures before heading out for countryside miles. The sweetness of the maple syrup carries the further sweetness of bourbon barrel aged beans in smartly selected roasts. This is the coffee that could be consumed all day out of sheer enjoyment. Add to the low jitters and it’s like the perfect coffee has been found.
If there was a drawback it’s that the Adirondack Maple Bourbon Coffee was a bit pricey- nearly twenty dollars for half of a pound. Considering the seasonal brewing and rare nature of the beans, the trade-off was welcomed. This is proper breakfast coffee. This belongs steaming in a mug next to a plate of hot pancakes slathered in bourbon syrup, maple sausage, and an order of eggs. If that isn’t something that gets the rider to the group ride gathering, nothing will.
