Ezra Zion Coffee Blends

I had the opportunity to finally meet Chris Kelly of Ezra Zion Cigar Company a few days ago (I had met Kyle and Alan a couple years back at that year’s Tweet-Up, but Chris wasn’t able to come to town at the time). We spoke for some time about various topics, including EZ’s newest venture: coffee.

I’ve thought for some time that having coffee that paired well with cigars would make for a natural add-on sale to a cigar shop’s experience. I know that other shops have tried and succeeded wildly. I also know that the shop I work at has tried in the past and not done so well.

Before he left, Chris gave me a couple samples of Ezra Zion’s coffee blends that I could try out at home and evaluate. I figured I’d also use the opportunity to render up what may be the first review of these blends to hit the interwebs (by the time this posts, it may end up not being the first review, but at the time I’m writing, I haven’t seen any others).

Jamais Vu

This coffee is named after EZ’s first cigar blend (which was originally called the Inception, but was later changed to Jamais Vu) and it is a medium-bodied coffee blend that I found very approachable. This is what they had to say on their online store:

Blended specifically to pair with the Jamais Vu cigar! Roasted by hand in small batches, this is without a doubt one of the best coffees we’ve ever tasted. 

Medium Roast and complex in flavor, Jamais Vu Blend is a silky smooth combination of carefully selected Central American beans. A perfectly balanced and beautifully refined experience. 

I didn’t smoke a cigar with this or do anything else other than enjoy it in the midst of my morning routine. It was eminently drinkable, smooth, and flavorful. I would almost call this the EZ version of Folgers…but not in a bad way!…rather it’s like a mass market brand in that just about anyone could drink it without having a bad experience or having their palate overwhelmed.

Eminence

The next day I set myself up with a pot of Eminence blend coffee as I prepared to go to work. I could tell this one would be a bolder coffee right from the start, just from looking at the dark, oily beans before I ground them…and then by smelling the rich coffee blast from the freshly ground beans. Brewing the pot set the whole house alight with the luxurious aroma…yeah, it was that good and I hadn’t even taken a sip! Here’s what their website has to say about this one:

A luscious juxtaposition of full body & medium roast! Blended to be the ultimate pairing with the 94.5 Rated EMINENCE Cigar. 

We set out on a mission to create a darker coffee experience without the scorched and burnt flavors dominating the roast. A coffee that tastes like charcoal isn’t good in our opinion.

Eminence Blend is result of our efforts. It retains all those beautiful delicate coffee flavors in a bold deep roast.

Alright, so…Mission Accomplished! I enjoy Eight O’Clock French Roast most mornings and have tried Starbucks French Roast when my go-to wasn’t available. Starbucks always tasted more burnt than anything else to me…oh, and by the way, if you’re buying Starbucks, you’re supporting the anti-smoking, wacko-lib, nanny-state health Nazis, so there is that!

I had a couple (big) cups of Eminence as I prepped for the day (eating breakfast, doing some computer work, etc.), then I took some to go as I headed off to the cigar shop…and paired it with a stogie, of course! What stogie should I pair this with than an Ezra Zion? Unfortunately, I had no Eminence cigars on hand, but I did have an EZ “event only” cigar that had been handed me by the local area rep when I met Chris…so I went with that!

I won’t lie and say that the Eminence with the EZ Event cigar was an inspired pairing, but they did go together pretty well. The coffee had a heady aroma and body to it, showing off the darker roast with a bit more bitterness than the Jamais Vu, but a bitterness that was well-balanced by the addition of just a little sweetener. Like I said, it paired well with the cigar and should do so for just about any medium-to-full-bodied stogie, I think.

A Couple Final Thoughts

I’ve long felt that coffee is a natural pairing with cigars. Not just a mild cigar with a cup of coffee in the morning, but almost any time, almost any cigar. I would do it more often but I can’t consume that much caffeine and still sleep.

I’ve also felt that cigar shops would benefit greatly from carrying whole bean coffee. The regular customers of the shop mostly have a set budget for what they can spend on cigars and you’re just not that likely to squeeze more money out of them by trying to move them to more expensive cigars or trying to convince them to buy more quantity…it may happen in the short run, but eventually they will cut spending to get back in budget. However, if you can offer them a way to spend some of their budget for other stores in your business…well, that might just work.

Until you can find Ezra Zion coffee in your local B&M cigar shop, you can buy it directly from the company online.