Coffee flavors: Are they a standard thing?

[Tripler]

Weird question, but I ask this as a guy who sold paint for a few years.

Are coffee flavors standard? I.e., if I pick up a pack of “Kona Blend” on the East Coast, will it be the same as something I pick up in Minot, ND? I fully understand that some stores have minor differences (i.e. Benjamin Moore’s “Antique White” is more yellow than Sherwin Williams) but as a general rule, is there some sort of standard for coffee flavors?

I’m ashamed to admit it, but I like ‘Snickerdoodle’. I’m just hoping it’ll be the same when I move.

Tripler
Coffeeholic, and unashamed of it for 15 years.

[Nametag]

They’re not “flavors,” they’re sources. Kona coffee is from Hawai’i, Sumatra is obviously from Sumatra, etc. Each of these regions has areas which produce better coffee than others, and some of the plants will produce better beans than other plants, and some coffee brokers and roasters go to more trouble to get the best beans than others. It’s my experience that a high quality, say, Moka Java is pretty much the same everywhere, but the various blends will vary from shop to shop.

And I don’t even want to know what “Snickerdoodle” coffee tastes like.

[gotpasswords]

Snickerdoodle Coffee is a trademark of Neighbors Coffee, so it should be easy to order online.

For the uninitiated, it’s a blend of cinnamon and hazelnut, and said to taste like drinking snickerdoodle cookies.

[BobT]

“Kona blend” can vary quite widely. It only has to have 10% Kona beans. The rest be just about anything.

The state of Hawai’i has very strict standards on what is Kona coffee. It is only grown on one side of the Big Island.

100% Kona Coffee is very expensive. “Kona Blend” isn’t.

[bbeaty]

(small hijack) I wanna taste some caphe chon or “Civet Cat” coffee. If you search on those keywords, be prepared for a bit of TMI. Remember the old Cheech & Chong bit “What’r we smokin’,man?” “It’s a mixture of maui wowie and labrador.” “Labrador? What’s that labrador…?”

[Tripler]

*Originally posted by Nametag *
**They’re not “flavors,” they’re sources. Kona coffee is from Hawai’i, Sumatra is obviously from Sumatra, etc. Each of these regions has areas which produce better coffee than others, and some of the plants will produce better beans than other plants, and some coffee brokers and roasters go to more trouble to get the best beans than others. It’s my experience that a high quality, say, Moka Java is pretty much the same everywhere, but the various blends will vary from shop to shop.
**

Okay, I see your point. But then again, there are flavors that seem generic enough in name and I’m curious about 'em. I mean “Mocha Java Blast” would seem to any red-blooded coffee fiend to have some sort of chocolate flavor in it. But is it a standard amount of how much chocolate flavor?

Originally posted by gotpasswords
**Snickerdoodle Coffee is a trademark of Neighbors Coffee, so it should be easy to order online.

For the uninitiated, it’s a blend of cinnamon and hazelnut, and said to taste like drinking snickerdoodle cookies.

**

Then if it’s a trademark, it must have been broken, 'cause I bought two 99-cent packets of it last night. Unless they’ve trademarked the amount of cinnamon they use.

So I’m sensing that there are some sort of guidelines that if I shop in a Safeway in Arizona, and shop in an A&P in New Jersey, the blends will roughly be the same thing . . .

I’m an engineer. Maybe I’m thinking way too deeply about this.

Tripler
Maybe I just need another cup ‘o’ joe.