I can’t believe this is my third coffee review!
It seems like I just started this blogging journey yesterday some days, but it’s been almost three months now!
I must say I’m really enjoying this part of blogging.
Tasting coffee, researching small coffee roasters, learning their stories.
There are so many amazing small business roasters out there. I seriously have a laundry list of companies that I can’t wait to try coffee from.
I was so excited when I discovered Oak & Bond who I’m reviewing on the blog for May 2022.
In case you missed it, here’s the April 2022 coffee review post for Surviving Motherhood Coffee!
I honestly don’t know how I haven’t heard of Oak & Bond Coffee Co. before because I just love their brand. But, they were completely new to me for this review.
Keep reading to learn more about their coffee and my thoughts!
Oak & Bond is based in North Carolina and is owned by a husband and wife team.
I love the story behind their name, which they explain on their website. Here’s an excerpt:
“As an ode to the BOND of the married founders and the term Bond in the bourbon community, it seemed only fitting that BOND composed a portion of the Oak & Bond name.”
-Oak & Bond Coffee Co.
Although you can find Oak & Bond coffee on Amazon, I ordered directly from their website.
Shipping was fast and easy, and the packaging was great. Oak & Bond often has a promo code you can use for a small discount or free shipping. And, they have more options for coffee blends to choose from on their website than on Amazon.
I ordered the following blends from Oak & Bond:
Guatemala Finca Buena Esperanza
Session Blend
A Custom Barrel-Aged Coffee Box
Bourbon
Espresso Bourbon
The Custom Barrel-Aged Coffee Box is a great option to start with for those types of blends. You pick two barrel-aged flavors from their five different options. So, I suggest doing that so you can pick what ones you want to try.
And honestly, that’s what drew me to Oak & Bond in the first place, the unique coffee blends they do with bourbon barrels, scotch and rye whiskey barrels, and even wine barrels.
All of the bourbon barrels and rye whiskey barrels Oak & Bond sources are out of Kentucky. Scotch whiskey barrels are sourced from Scotland. And, wine barrels are sourced from Napa, California.
Before we get into what I thought about the barrel blends I tried, I want to touch on their standard ground coffee.
Both the Guatemala Finca Buena Esperanza Blend and the Session Blend were good, easy drinkable blends. They had a great taste, that honestly wasn’t anything special, but it was good coffee.
I’d drink either of them again for sure, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to buy them.
Between the two, I preferred the Session Blend which is a medium coffee roast with notes of milk chocolate, grapefruit, and brown sugar.
The Guatemala Finca Buena Esperanza, was also a medium coffee roast and had notes of rich chocolate, sweet honey, apricot, and caramel.
The Guatemala blend was a bit sweeter in comparison to the Session Blend, so that’s probably why I preferred the Session Blend more because I’m picky when it comes to sweeter coffee.
Although I enjoyed both of those coffee blends, what makes Oak & Bond unique and amazing in the coffee world is their barrel-roasted blends.
I would absolutely go out of my way to buy Oak & Bond Coffee’s bourbon barrel-aged blends again.
The bourbon barrel-aged coffee was some of the best, most unique flavors I’ve had in a long time.
Photo courtsey of Oak & Bond Coffee Co on Unsplash.
There are a lot of gimmicky things when it comes to bourbon and whiskey-flavored products, but this coffee is definitely not one of them.
You could smell the bourbon flavor in the can when you opened it. You could smell the bourbon flavor as the coffee was brewing.
It was strong and it kinda smelled like we had an actual bourbon barrel in our kitchen at one point!
When it was first brewing, I thought it might be too strong because I’m not a bourbon drinker.
But it was not. You could taste and smell the bourbon in the best way and the flavor was just amazing.
It was the perfect blend. And, it tasted like I was drinking bourbon-flavored coffee.
My husband loved it too! He said it was almost like drinking bourbon in the morning…almost, lol.
The flavor of the bourbon barrel-aged coffee was just perfect and I can’t recommend these blends enough.
The only warning/disclaimer I have with Oak & Bond is you do have to buy whole beans. I didn’t see an option to purchase anything ground, so if you don’t have a grinder, you’ll need one to enjoy their coffee.
This is the coffee grinder I have, which I mainly got because it was cheap, lol. I know we will need a better one at some point, but this one gets the job done for now (especially because I don’t typically buy whole bean coffee).
I always try to buy ground coffee whenever I can because it’s just one less step as a busy mom!
But, whole beans that you grind at home are better for flavor so I understand why Oak & Bond only has a whole bean option.
If you are curious to learn more about brewing coffee and the different processes, Oak & Bond has a great section on its website devoted to this topic. It’s spelled out clearly and is a helpful guide if you’re new to coffee!
My husband is a bourbon and whiskey lover, so I knew we needed to try some of those specialty bends first. And, I’m so glad we did!
Overall, I highly recommend Oak & Bond coffee. I know I will be coming back to them to try their whiskey barrel blends and wine barrel blends specifically!
You can find Oak & Bond on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Be sure to check back here at KT Likes Coffee every month for a new featured small business coffee roaster and review!