If you follow Shoffee on Facebook at all you already know that there’s been a fair amount of buzz…well…buzzing around the release of Timothy’s new Kahlua original. Of course, the truth of the matter is that Timothy’s is in fact, NOT the original Kahlua blend K-cup (that distinction belongs Coffee People’s now discontinued Kafe-Lua blend), but whatever, I guess it is the only Kahlua flavored K-Cup currently available, and that’s definitely something.

As they often do when they get something new in, my friends at Shoffee rushed me off a box, and after taking the weekend to sample a few, the truth is I’m still somewhat conflicted, but that’s not going to stop me from writing a review.

Description:

Explore Your Curiosity with an extraordinary new coffee experience. Timothy’s World Coffee, in collaboration with Kahlua, the world;s number one coffee liqueur, presents the new Kahlua Original Coffee Keurig K-Cup. The Kahlua Original Keurig K-Cup offers a distinctive coffee tasting experience that it is sure to stimulate the palate in an unforgettable way. Timothy’s Kahlua Original is the first ever liqueur branded K-Cup available in the market (<– That’s sort of not true). It is packed in single serve portion packs, specifically formulated for use in Keurig Single Cup Brewing Systems.

Aroma

True story: I popped a Kahlua cup in the brewer, hit the magic button that makes the coffee happen, and then meandered off to the bathroom.  When I returned to the kitchen the first thought I had was: is there a skunk in my back yard, and did I leave the back door open?  My wife, on the other hand, came down the stairs and said “what did you make, something smells really good”.  So you might say that the initial reviews were mixed.

I brought in my buddy Ken for a 3rd opinion.  His take was that it smells a little hazelnutty.  I’d add musty to that description.  So basically, it’s one vote for smells really, really good, and a combined 2 votes for skunk nuts.  Subsequent brewings have me backing off the skunk thing, but I’m sticking with a little musty, and overall, I don’t like the stench one bit.

Drinking it Black

There’s no way around it, sampled black, it tastes like a flavored coffee, and by that I mean artificial.  There’s and acrid burn that settles in the back of the throat that I find generally unpleasant.  Cream and Sugar will help with that, but we’ll get to that in a moment.  As for the actual flavor – I’m not getting it.  My recollection of Kahlua it’s a sweet, coffee-like liquor that teenage girls like to drink with milk.  At best, there’s only a hint of that flavor here, but it really is only a hint.

After several cups, I’m sticking with nutty as the prevailing flavor.  Nutty with throat burn.  Bummer.

Cream & Sugar

I’ve learned a little bit over my last 1.5 years of K-cuppage.  One bit of wisdom is that that cream and sugar go a long way towards fixing that which tastes artificial without them.  This certainly holds true for Tim’s Kahlua blend.  Not only is my throat not burning nearly as much, but the Kahlua flavor is a bit more pronounced, and I’m actually starting to enjoy it a bit.  With cream and sugar added, the caramel and vanilla notes from the Kahlua emerge, and there’s a body to this blend that feels almost silky on the palette.  Yeah…it’s better this way.  Much less of a bummer, albeit without the teenage girls.

Final Thoughts

As much as  I don’t like drinking it black, I do like drinking it sweet.  I have no doubt Timothy’s Kahlua will be popular with just about anyone who used to be a teenage girl.  As you can imagine, I receive more coffee than my wife and I can actually drink.  The end result is that we get to drink a lot of good coffee, but we’ve got enough volume that we can offload the stuff we don’t like (like anything with Pumpkin in the title) to unsuspecting friends (some of whom, it turns out, actually like pumpkin).  So really, the true measure of how much I actually like a particular blend is whether or not I drink the entire box.  With Timothy’s Kahlua, I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be giving the rest of the box away, but I won’t be drinking it black either.

Finally, while I do think that Timothy’s Kahlua blend is very good (but only with cream and sugar), it’s worth mentioning that if banished to a dessert island where all I could drink was Kahlua flavored coffee, based on a 1 year old recollection – I’d choose Coffee People’s Kafe-Lua.  Of course, that’s been discontinued, so for now anyway, Timothy’s is the King (actually, Queen would be more appropriate) of the Kahlua K-Cups.

Shameless Plug

For better or worse, much of the K-Cup Challenge wouldn’t be possible without great sponsors like Shoffee.com; the web’s favorite coffee shop.  Visit Shoffee for all of your K-Cup and brewer needs.  You should probably all check their Cup of the Week site for great deals on a different box of K-Cups each and every week.  Finally, become a fan of Shoffee on Facebook and join the over 800 other loyal customers.  There’s no better way to keep up with all things K-Cup.

While you’re here check out all of the reviews in QwowiCoffee’s K-Cup Challenge.