# Happy donkey beans



## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

Hey,

I'm putting together an order for a few things from happy donkey, and thought I might as well throw a bag or two of beans in. Any recommendations?

Ta


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

The beans are cheap and cheerful. In a nutshell, the Brazilian is smoother than the Italian, and the Mocha is good in milk.


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## Flanners (Mar 21, 2011)

I prefer the Italian blend, the Brazilian blend has changed to my taste buds recently and is not as smooth and nutty as it once was. Their Puly stuff is good value.


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

Yeah but the Puly doesn't taste nice as espresso, although it does give exceptional crema


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## Flanners (Mar 21, 2011)

Yes it does! If it tastes as good as it smells...............


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

Is the Italian blend comparable to anything; say maybe Costa beans? I'm just unjustifiably put off by the fact that it contains Robusta. I'll need to just try it...


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

It's fine (but I prefer the Brazilian blend). Just bear in mind it is half the price of gourmet stuff


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

Bought some of the Brazilian and the Sumatran.

Firstly, the Brazilian, it's quite dark, slightly on the burned side, but overall is good. Seems easy to brew, and I'm currently having it via the Aeropress at work. It does have a slight acrid smell, but I think this may be the darkness of the roast.

The Sumatran I prefer. It's also dark, but doesn't have the slightly acrid small of the Brazilian. It has toffee and vanilla flavours. No fruitiness, but then not much acidity and no sourness. Easy to brew. Had to loosen the grind back a couple of stops for one reason or another though as it choked my machine when I moved from using Monmouth Kenyan.


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## Edwin (Feb 20, 2011)

The Puly stuff is too lightly roasted for my liking.


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

I've just made a Happy Donkey Sumatra Mocha espresso. Surprisingly good, but only for those who favour the dark side. Not subtle, not a trace of citrus but I actually did get a bit of the blackberry/blackcurrant claimed on their site. Certainly dark chocolate predominates. And I love dark chocolate. 100% arabica. £2.99 for 250g - not as cheap as Classic Italian but still a bargain.


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

Edwin said:


> The Puly stuff is too lightly roasted for my liking.


I have heard the Puly stuff is made from beans rejected by HasBean for being too dark.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Cant question that Happy Donkey beans are well-priced but I find for my palate roasted waaaaay too dark, struggle to get any flavours beyond generic 'coffee roast flavour' and I then have to strip-clean my grinder of the quickly-built-up oils , and , it smells of charcoal.


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

The Brazilian blend is proving much better as an espresso that via the Aeropress. Not sure why, but it seems to be much richer in flavour via espresso (even when made up to americano volume).

As espresso the acidity and sourness are perfect, and it even has slight floral/black tea notes. The only downside (not sure if I mentioned it already), is there's a slight cat pissy smell to it. No, the cat didn't piss in it first.


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## Edwin (Feb 20, 2011)

RoloD said:


> As I might have said before, it seems the espresso drinking world is split between those who think the Italians basically got it right and those who don't.
> 
> As much as I do enjoy interesting fruity new-wave coffees - usually at coffee shops where the baristas really know what they are doing, rather than when I try to brew them myself - I still, in the end, come back to the more traditional high roasts. That 'generic coffee roast flavour' as you call it is still what I love. I'm still searching for something in between, which has all the traditional thick chocolate/caramel taste but with complexity.


Rolo - have a look at the thread on thecoffeebeanshopltd.co.uk


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## stuartmack1974 (Jan 28, 2014)

I was given two bags of the Brazilian free with my iberital, but I have to agree with those who says it tastes beyond dark, more like burnt. When I saw the crema it looked muddy and it tasted a bit muddy too. Guess that's why it was free. I'm going to order from Rave or Hasbean.


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

Has Bean are like the antithesis of Happy Donkey!


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