Aroma Espresso Bar : Espresso blend

Twas the night before Christmas in Manhattan. I was browsing the ware at the Christmas market in Bryant Park when I came across Aroma Espresso Bar. Little did I know at the time that Aroma was a popular chain in Israel founded in 1994. Drawn into the shop by the smell of their coffee, I instinctively glanced around for coffee beans and found that they were selling bags of 1/2 pound bags of their mysterious espresso blend.
Oh boy, do these guys know coffee! The medium roasted beans yielded a cup of espresso with just enough kick, strong aroma, and a deep but complex taste without too much acidity. I finished the bag so quickly I did not even get a chance to take a photo of their little paper bean bag. I will have to track down one of their shops in the city to get a bigger bag of beans next time.

Coffee Labs Roasters : Circus Dog Espresso

Another one found at Wholefoods, Coffee Labs Roasters is a small mom and pop coffee shop based in Tarrytown New York. Reviews on Yelp mentioned good things about their iced coffee, chai, and single origin drip coffee, but being an espresso guy, I picked up their Circus Dog Espresso blend.
The beans were a blend of Indian and South American, roasted medium brown. I found the coffee to be lacking any distinctive characteristic. The aroma, acidity, taste were all somewhat normal. Maybe I will have better luck with their single origin beans.

Starbucks Christmas Espresso Blend

I was given a $5 Starbucks coupon and wanted to try their seasonal espresso blend. How lucky of me that on the day we went to the store, all of their beans were on sale, so we managed to get this for only $5. The beans are a mix of Asia/Pacific, Latin American, and Sumatran coffees, roasted very dark. The beans were not oily and roasted fresh, maybe due to the fact that the store that I went to seemed to roast their own batches of beans. The aroma of the coffee was fantastic, a smell that could make the fox turn around just like on the bag. The taste was not as deep or full-bodied as some other blends, and the level of acidity was also low. If you want espresso with a great scent for the holiday season, this is the one to get.

Trader Joe's Organic Five Country Espresso Blend

After my experience with the espresso from Target, I was cautious on trying coffee beans produced by chain grocery stores. This blend blew away any of the misgivings I had.
The blend is a mix of beans from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Sumatra. The beans were oily and roasted dark. The espresso was very bitter with little acidity, and came with a good smokey aroma, characteristics that I like personally. This blend can be best described as reliable, consistant coffee with a taste somewhat like Starbucks and good value for money.

Crop to cup : Juju espresso

One of the reasons I went to the Brooklyn Flea recently was to get a hold of this bag of beans. Crop to Cup is a Brooklyn based broker and wholesaler of coffee beans. Their coffee shop is located at 541 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, and they sell their coffee through several retailers in Chicago and NYC.
I went to the Flea pretty late and was lucky enough to grab the last bag left. It was not stated what the origins of the beans used in the espresso blend were, but my guess is they use Uganda and/or Burundi coffee as these are the only countries mentioned in their website.

Now on to the espresso. The beans were medium roast, but some beans were much lighter in color than others. Whether this was intentional I do not know. The coffee is full-bodied but not bitter, and smooth with average acidity. It was something that could appeal to everyone, but on the flip side did not have a distinctive characteristic.

Brooklyn Flea was great fun with a wide variety of vendors, so why not check out Crop to Cup while you are there!

Gorilla Coffee : Espresso-a-go-go

This Brooklyn based micro-roastery and coffee shop(at 97 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn) has been getting a lot of attention recently and I was looking forward to trying their espresso blend.
They have an impressive website and their red and black packaging is unique design-wise.
I finally managed to grab a bag of their espresso beans the third time I went to Whole Foods.
They also sell a variety of single origin beans so I can't say for the rest of their product offerings but their espresso was very smooth and seemed to lack that special kick that I usually find in an espresso. I was not able to find out what beans they used in their espresso blend. I wasn't particularly impressed but if you are someone that prefers smooth coffee, definitely give this blend a try.

New York's coffee shops

A well documented list of NYC coffee shops/roasters from the New York Times. Many of these places also sell their own beans.

The article

The interactive map