Friday, January 21, 2011

The New Alterra Coffees... Where Do You Start?

Predictably, many people are not quite sure what to order based on their previous Flavia favorites.

It's easy to find a new Alterra flavor that will satisfy just like your Flavia. The key to figuring out what you're likely to enjoy from the new line is in the type of roast you're accustomed to. The new Alterra flavors are just as tasty and satisfying as your old Flavia recipes- but the recipes are definitely different, and that includes flavor intensities. Some of the flavors that used to be light are now medium, and some of the flavors are altogether new. The following is an explanation of how you can be sure to order flavors comparable to the ones you've always liked.

Flavia and Alterra have 3 basic levels of roasting, with 2 flavored varieties.

The lightly roasted Flavia coffees are Breakfast Blend, Kenya, House Blend, and House Blend Decaf. The new Alterra coffees that correspond to these light roasts are Morning Roast, Alterra House Blend, Alterra House Blend Decaf, and Alterra Costa Rica.

Medium Roasts from Flavia included Kona, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, and Columbia. With Alterra, the medium roasts will include some flavors of the same name, but some new flavors as well: Kona and Columbia are the familiar names with new recipes, while Altera Artisan Roast and Foundry Blend are the newcomers.

Your old Flavia dark roasts included French Roast, French Roast Decaf, Sumatra, and Espresso Roast. These names are carried on the the new Alterra dark roasts, with one new addition- Barista's Blend, which many say is the equivalent of the old Flavia Intense Dark Roast.

If you'd like to see a nice, colorful chart that shows this same data, follow this link:
http://www.coffeeasap.com/images/alterra-vs-flavia-lg.jpg

At CoffeeASAP.com, there is still a limited supply of your old faves, but the new ones are ready to sample!