Bard Coffee is Portland's "Must visit" coffee shop. People all over Maine have mentioned the place to me with fervent encouragement. I note that they almost always tell me that Bard Coffee "is across from Starbucks," as if Starbucks were a landmark, and not a coffee shop; that tells you how very different Bard Coffee is from your standard purveyor. Bard coffee is small batch roasted by Wicked Joe's Coffee, one of the three partners behind Bard Coffee. While Bard Coffee is famed throughout New England for their ambience and skilled barristas, they also sell their coffee by the pound. When a friend sent me a pound of Sumatra Gayo Mountain Dark from Bard Coffee in Portland, Maine, I knew I was in for a treat.
Sumatra is one of the prime coffee growing regions of the world, ever since the Dutch
introduced the blessed bean to Indonesia in the 17th century. Gayo Mountain has a well-respected coffee mill, with an unusual situation: the same company that owns the mill, also exports the coffee. Bard Coffee's Sumatra Gayo Mountain Dark is a rich, deep roast. There's a slightly spicy earthy aroma to beans. In the cup, there's a surprisingly slightly sweet aspect to this very rich and very low acid roast. Something about this coffee reminds me of Winesap apples, in a lovely way.
If you go anywhere near Maine, plan to stop in at Bard Coffee for a latte with some charming art, and a pound or three of coffee to take back home. You'll note if you read the reviews here and here, that I'm not alone in my fondness for their brew.