The Trader Joe's Product Discussion Thread (S/D)

cannot stop eating the fake twizzlers.

Oh yeah those are weirdly addictive. I love real Twizzlers so maybe I'm just predisposed to enjoy chewy plasticy strawberry candy.

I had a severe problem w that licorice (the black kind not the red kind) and it was hard to give up!! I ate like a lb a week!!

fucking obsessed with the everything bagel chips

also been fucking heavy with the frozen burritos & the kung pao chicken is pretty good in a jiff

how's the coffees here? I want something complex and good for iced americanos

the coffee is all meh

the ones I've liked the best: colombian, fair trade bolivian, honduras

but they all have a slight nast to them

just made their gluten free brownies - the verdict - good!

I really like the Organic Sumatran coffee, but I am not a coffee snob.

I appreciate your egalitarianism in caffeinated beverages

The Bay-something one (known around our house as "the one in the blue can with the boat on it) was the least offensive IMO, but I have not tried others recently and have just switched to Whole Foods pleasant moring buzz (for regular drip) and Peet's Major Dickinsomething for espresso drinks.

"Whole Foods pleasant morning buzz" = ground way too coarse for the likes of me (coffee vampyre)- and too lazy to grind the berries myself

I can't believe everyone hates TJ's coffee so much. It makes me wonder if my tastes are those of an unwashed barbarian horde because so far it has been one of the more enjoyable coffees I've had in the last year or two. And I even bought some Kenyan AA whatever fancy stuff from the shop in Grand Central thinking that I should try the "good" stuff, but thoroughly disliked it.

what shop in Grand Central, Joe?

"Whole Foods pleasant morning buzz" = ground way too coarse for the likes of me (coffee vampyre)- and too lazy to grind the berries myself

― Sweet Yin Yang ☯ (Latham Green), Tuesday, September 4, 2012 12:20 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IDGI -- can't you just get the beans ground to your liking at WF?

No, the coffee bean stand in the market.

oh w/e, a lot of "fancy" coffee is crap, so I wouldn't doubt your taste buds. If you want to taste the difference, get something like counter culture, intelligentsia or stumptown, preferably roasted within the last couple of weeks.

Whole Foods coffee is very good imo though

and Joe is good. I don't like it as much as the three I mentioned, but it's good.

There's actually a place right by Grand Central called Rize that sells Stumptown iirc, although it seemed to be more expensive there than it was in Brooklyn.

i don't have a problem with trader joe's coffee, i like the tarrazzo coffee in particular

metropolis coffee is the only kind i've had that tastes notably better than the stuff i get from TJs

I had Peet's in an airport once and I was blown away by it, but I don't require that like every Sunday morning when I'm hungover and just hanging around home.

yes you do

you DESERVE it

in other news

* is the flower pepper just gone from my TJs or is it ;_; gone forever?
* highly recommend the fresh rice noodles in the refrigerator aisle for super quick and easy stir fries/soups and whatnot

I've never tried the flower pepper but if they're discontinuing stuff I will buy all the smoked salt. Lechera, that one I owe 100% to you.

That shit is so good. I love the flower pepper with all of my being. Flowers and pepper, together at last.

look at this quarterstaff (Hurting 2),:

TH MATTER IS MOOT - now that I found Cafe Bustelo at your local Hanafords - dark, rich and fine ground - perfect

cafe bustelo always tastes kinda moldy to me

* highly recommend the fresh rice noodles in the refrigerator aisle for super quick and easy stir fries/soups and whatnot

Those aren't those yam starch no calorie noodles, are they?

I drank TJ's coffee for a year because of budgeting, it's okay but none of it wowed me

there's this starbucks knockoff brand called 'seattle's best' that I liked, I got the level 1 roast (light roast)

http://brokensecrets.com/2011/05/18/seattles-best-coffee-is-owned-by-starbucks/

NO they are not slimy yam noodles -- they're just regular yummy rice noodles that are already cooked and in little packages, so all you have to do is dump them in a pan after you've quickly sauteed some veggies, add a few glops of the sauce of your choice and poof. Done.

starbucks coffee might be ok if they didn't burn it

/starbuckscomplaintrobot

well the seattles best level 1 coffee is a light roast

btw carl sorry i said yummy

i meant it though

I think starbucks version of a light roast is to give the entire bean a nice, reasonable roast and then char one side

hahaha, LL, you can clearly get away with things others cannot because I didn't even notice you said yummy. Or maybe I was relieved that you weren't talking about those dreadful yam noodles.

oh yeah, those are gross and slimy
these noodles are really good -- strongly recommend for easy weekday dinners that make enough leftovers to eat for lunch the next day.

I remember when I worked at Starbucks and an old man deferred to the coffee as "Cacka COffee!" he was sure ornery

metropolis coffee is the only kind i've had that tastes notably better than the stuff i get from TJs

This shocks me. TJs coffee is OK in a pinch, but we have a wealth of awesome options. Intelligentsia, Metropolis, my fave Bridgeport ...

btw, TJ's frozen pho is gross.

Ok ok ok Intelligentsia is good too. Never had Bridgeport!

Frozen pho is sad.

starbucks coffee might be ok if they didn't burn it

/starbuckscomplaintrobot

― your native bacon (mh), Tuesday, 4 September 2012 19:57 (41 minutes ago) Permalink

you would think so, but you'd be wrong

/itallsucks

i've had some TJ's coffee at the in-laws' and its pretty dire imo! but maybe it was the particular blend i had. there's lot of good coffee in l.a. to be had, so i just buy up bags from various places around town. right now i'm having some coffee home-roasted by a friend, he gets his beans from around the world and roasts them in his garage.

metropolis coffee is pretty amazing, maybe my favorite.

i don't think people buy TJs coffee because they think it's the best coffee or equal to intelligentsia/metropolis/etc, they buy it because it's drinkable coffee at half the price of intelligentsia/metropolis/etc (and doesn't require a trip to a separate store)

^^^ that's why we sometimes buy it, even though we prefer Intelligentsia.