Saturday, March 15, 2008

Update: Joffrey's Java Test. I Got My Bag --- And It's Not Great (Sorry, Joffrey)

I got my test bag of coffee mid week and finally got around to trying it today. I didn't want to disrupt my normal pre-work ritual with an unproven source of caffeine. Part of my reluctance was the corny name - "Jamaican Me Crazy". Har har har. Ugh. Lame. Cutesy names like that don't win me over with their clever sense of whimsy, they repel me. Not because I'm any kind of coffee purist or anything. I just hate all things corny. I'm not sure how I missed the fact that the flavor in this test was going to be "Jamaican Me Crazy". It is right on their page, a couple of times in fact. Guess I was just so excited to be jumping into some nutty 2008 blogger outreach program that I overlooked that key detail.

But I gave the coffee a shot this afternoon in case the product was better than its name. And I suppose it might be, depending upon your tastes. The aroma of the grounds is nice. Would make for a pleasant candle, or perhaps one of those toilet paper roll air fresheners. But when I actually drank the coffee the aroma, to me, was a bit overwhelming. A little too sweet. And the coffee had an aftertaste that I didn't especially dig.

But I still applaud them for doing this whole beta test. I think they could do a little more to bring the posts of the various beta testers into their site experience beyond the simple linking that they are doing. But at least they are willing try something a little innovative in the first place. Next time out they can worry about improving the program.