Trader Joe’s Savory Thin Mini RICE CRACKERS (GF)


Trader Joe’s Thin Mini Rice Crackers –

I love these and buy them all the time.

Trader Joe’s sells a number of Japanese style crackers which are made from rice. In Japan crackers made from rice are very popular and are called senbei of which there are perhaps a hundred varieties. TJ’s sells about 3 or 4 different kinds of rice crackers.

These are called Savory Mini Thin Rice Crackers and they’re really tasty and really good. I just love them. They are about the size of a quarter. They’re incredibly crunchy and are delicious as a snack by themselves as well as equally delicious used like any cracker. Spread something on them, some cheese or spread or peanut butter and jam. Top them with a slice of ham, cheese, or whatever you want. If you are someone who is Gluten Free (I’m not) these are primarily made from rice. Ingredients listed are : rice flour, sesame seeds, safflower oil, tamari soy sauce powder, maltodextrin, salt and garlic powder. These light colored ones are $3.49 a bag (8 oz). There’s another multiseed kind (with Tamari) that are darker that are also good and are $3.99.

According to the Nutrition facts label there are 130 calories in 38 crackers! So pretty Low Calorie as far as snacks go and not heavy in the Sodium department either. So I’d say this is a pretty healthy snack as far as crackers you can buy.

Trader Joe’s CHICKEN KARAAGE


“Our Chicken Karaage [ka-RAH-geh] is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, made with a Japanese-inspired recipe. It begins with bite-sized pieces of boneless, skinless, leg meat that have been tenderized and flavor-infused after marinating in rice wine (mirin), soy sauce, and white wine vinegar—along with garlic & ginger powders.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/chicken-karaage-073030

Trader Joe’s frozen Chicken Kaarage is another addition to the growing list of Trader Joe’s Asian frozen prepared frozen food offerings, especially chicken dishes.

Some people on the internet rave about this KARAAGE (kara-ag-eh) .

My honest review? Now as with all of Trader Joe’s Asian foods you really have to know what the “real thing” tastes like to be able to judge. Real Japanese Karrage consist of some marinated chicken which gets a light coating of cornstarch then is shallow fried till golden brown. Basically think of it as Japanese fried chicken. It’s delicious.

Is Trader Joe’s KARAAGE like what you might get at a Japanese restaurant? I’m afraid not people. However for what this is, I think its not bad. The crispy chicken is actually pretty tasty and juicy. The main problem with this is obvious: just has way too much breading. I put this stuff in front of my (Japanese Korean) wife who looked it it and told me they looked like “chicken nuggets”.

Pros – The marinated dark meat chicken is actually tasty, just as long as you get a big piece with enough chicken to match the breading. Dip it in a little of the mayonnaise based sauce they give you, to which you added fresh lemon juice. Ditto mixing in a little TJ’s YUZU hot sauce.

Cons – Way too much breading. The big pieces are OK however you also get many small pieces where the breading totally overwhelms the chicken. You will even find little pieces basically of just breading with almost no chicken! Should have better quality control (but that would cost). Plus this lists many ingredients.

Though the instructions don’t say you can cook these on top of the stove in pan. I cooked it that way on medium heat first covered for 5 minutes then removed the cover and cooked for maybe 10 minutes, turning on all sides till golden brown and crispy. That’s the way I cooked them in the picture here. Or cook it in an Air Fryer or in the oven.

Defrost the sauce in warm water for 5-10 minutes. Cut an end and squeeze it out.

What to eat with this? This might match well with frozen Japanese Fried Rice and some edamame.

A 1 lb package is $6.49.

I would buy this again. But….

Trader Joe’s YUZU Hot Sauce


“Product of Japan” ” Limited time only” .

This stuff is super. I love it. Limited supplies so grab a bottle while you can if you are interested!

In case you are not familiar with it, Japanese yuzu is a citrus fruit that looks like a lemon, but is quite different and unique with its own distinctive flavor. It’s used quite a bit in Japanese cuisine. Among other things they use it to make Yuzu Kosho, a spice of the zest combined with chile pepper for a spicy citrus-y condiment. Yuzu kosho has been discovered by chefs here. “The secret weapon condiment chefs are putting on everything… It’s the closest thing you’ll get to a silver bullet condiment that’ll instantly impart depth to your dish. Chefs know it—they’ve been using it at their restaurants for years—and it’s time you did, too.”

This sauce has yuzu kosho combined with “small batch vinegar” to make a hot sauce that you can add a few drops or more to any food, to give it a real spark of flavor.

The sauce is really tasty and gives a nice citrusy kick to anything you put it on. As far as the spice level here, I would call it just mildly spicy, maybe “medium”, certainly not knock you head off spicy, so it may appeal to many people who can’t take too much heat.

What can you use Yuzu Kosho sauce on? Almost anything. The question might even be rephrased as what can’t you use it on? Its good on chicken, fish, salads, eggs, meats, tofu, pretty much anything you can think of. I just tested it on good old cottage cheese and it elevated something boring to a new taste.

This is worth trying if you like to taste unique items as as they say “limited” if you want to try it, grab one while you can. $3.99 a small (100 ml) bottle.

Trader Joe’s SKIPJACK TUNA (pouch)


I’ve been buying SKIPJACK TUNA in a can at Trader Joe’s for years, but when I went to get it recently I noticed they also now have it in those new tuna “pouch” packages.

First though, what is Skipjack Tuna anyway? It’s one of many varieties of tuna, and also called bonito. In Hawaii they call it, aku. In Japan its katsuo and it’s very popular, sold fresh in the fish market. I’ve made fresh katsuo, and its delicious lightly grilled on the outside and raw in the middle.

Skipjack tuna is quite tasty and has a nice flavor. One reason I get it is it’s the most sustainable tuna we can buy, more sustainable than albacore tuna or other tuna species, as you can see : (Source: Nereus program)

On the pouch it says … “this wild skipjack tuna was sustainably caught (by pole/line) without the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs)” that reduces by-catch (other fish).

Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/943799/why-skipjack-is-the-most-sustainable-tuna-species/

When I tried the new pouch version of the skipjack I liked it (well, other than the smaller amount* you get!) Ingredients: “skipjack tuna”. The can says “ingredients: skipjack tuna, water, salt”. The pouch doesn’t say “dark chunk light”. Just “wild skipjack, hand cut, hand packed”. The tuna is compressed into a flat brick, the shape of the pouch, with just a small amount of juice, some natural juices at the bottom (its not packed in water). I dumped the whole pouch of tuna and juice into a bowl. You have to break up the tuna brick and flake it with a fork. I added a nice heaping tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Organic Mayonnaise plus a pinch of vinegar, and tasted it on some toast, and it made a nice tuna sandwich. This skipjack tuna pouch is $1.79. Much cheaper compared to the other kinds of tuna at Trader Joe’s. All in all, I’d say this new pouch of Skipjack Tuna is worth trying if you’ve never bought it before so you can compare it to the one you usually get. Obviously if you want to have “tuna to go” this is great for that (picnic, work…)

“Each tuna is tested for mercury and only those meeting specific criteria are chosen”

*Comparing the former can version of the skipjack tuna which I have in the pantry with the new pouch version, you will notice though the amount of tuna in it has been downsized by an ounce. The pouch says “net. wt 3 oz” (85 gm). The can “drained wt. of 4 oz” (113 gm). Another sign of that well known tuna shrinkage that’s been going on for years.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tuna-shrinkage-cans-now-five-ounces-more-expensive

Sidenote: you may have heard of katsuobushi – which is yes made from katsuo which has been smoked and dried.

UPDATE: I may be mistaken in that they’ve will no longer offer the skipjack tuna in a can, or at least today I saw both versions of it on the shelf, together. It’s possible Trader Joe’s is going to offer both versions, pouch and can? Perhaps some people prefer pouched tuna to a can? They are the same price – but one does get a one ounce more in the canned version. I will have to compare both against each other….

Red Boat Viet KHO Simmer Sauce


I saw this in NEW ITEMS about a month ago and grabbed one to try. This sauce is made by Red Boat, a company that makes a famous top Asian fish sauce. Trader Joe’s sells tha. Its a well known top brand fish sauce. Something I always like to have in the pantry. Its Pure Umami.

Red Boat says: “In Vietnamese, kho means to braise and this dish is on regular rotation in all Vietnamese households but is rarely served in restaurants. Our Pham-ily created this sauce so you can enjoy this delicious meal, just like in our mom’s kitchen, in less than 30 minutes.”

We know Trader Joe’s likes what they call “simmer sauces”. They have at least two versions of Thai ones and an Indian sauce too. You can use these and just add a protein and veggies, pour in a bottle of your simmer sauce, let it simmer for about 20 minutes and voila you can have a very easy and tasty dish. This sauce made a delicious meal for us.

I used this sauce to make a braised dish with chicken and lots of vegetables. What I did was I sauté chicken (skin on, bone in thighs), tofu, carrots, onions, mushrooms, garlic and ginger for 10 minutes. Then I poured in the sauce and let it simmer. Though they say “simmer for 30 minutes”, I wanted the chicken to be falling off the bone so I let it simmer for more like 45-60 mins.

The resulting dish was excellent, redolent of fish sauce (nam pla) of course but it had many other flavors with lots of Umami. It had a bit of sweetness as well as a bit of heat. We thought the dish was so good, that we just scarfed it up! I used a lot of vegetables and bone in chicken so of course it had all the flavor from those as well, however you could easily make a less complicated easier dish with this sauce using boneless chicken, TJ’s Carnitas Pork, shrimp or fish or even tofu and mushrooms for that matter and come out with a lovely dish, full of Asian flavors. My intentions was to make enough for at least two meals so I used the whole jar plus 1/2 a jar of water as I wanted a huge amount of sauce for all the meat and veggies I used, and I got that which we enjoyed with rice.

Ingredients: Water, Fish Sauce, Organic Coconut Sugar, Canola Oil, Ginger, Shallot, Corn Starch, Green Onions, Citric Acid, Black Pepper, Sunflower Lecithin, Crushed Red Pepper, Yeast Extract.

I’m not sure if this was a one off trial run for Trader Joe’s or something they will keep in stock. If you do see this sauce it is worth getting if you want to make a great Vietnamese home style dish easily. In a pinch one could make the sauce using Red Boat fish sauce, coconut sugar and other ingredients (shallots, garlic…)

TJ’s had the sauce for $4.99 which is even cheaper than on the Red Boat website.

https://redboatfishsauce.com/products/kho-sauce

Trader Joe’s THAI CURRY SAUCE


Want to make a Thai Style Yellow Curry yourself? This makes it quite easy.

TJ’s says: “We’ve honored the modern recipe of a zesty, ginger-forward sauce packed full of onion, garlic, red chilies, and of course garlic! All of this is blended together with creamy coconut milk making for the rich, velvety sauce we all know and love. With this sauce you can make a traditional yellow curry dish in no time! Cook up some meat, poultry, tofu, or veggies until done, stir in our Thai Style Yellow Curry Sauce, simmer until heated through, and serve on a bed of rice.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/thai-style-yellow-curry-sauce-078557

I made curry recently and used this yellow version, however there is a red version of this curry sauce too. Both are decent. Overall I find the yellow one is slightly better myself but maybe you need to try both and settle on your preference of which you like better.

I usually sauté my protein and vegetables for 5-10 minutes in a little oil, then add this sauce. I rinse the jar out with a few ounces of water to get every drop. Then just let everything simmer for 20-30 minutes.

A trick I’ve learned is I usually also will add about a 1/2 can of TJ’s coconut milk. This helps two ways. It gives me more sauce, enough for a big pot of curry, as when I make this I want to get at least two meals. The other way is additional coconut milk will also tame the heat down a bit, as my wife’s preference is for not too spicy.

This sauce has a good Thai flavor profile. They list lemongrass and galangal for example, both which give authentic Thai flavor. This sauce is moderately spicy. It’s not blow your head off spicy. Again if you had more coconut milk that will mellow things more.

An 11 oz jar is $3.49. Now for that price I wish they gave you at least 16 ounces because honestly 11 ounces is barely enough sauce. Ah well.

You will definitely want some Thai Jasmine rice to go with your lovely curry. As far as your Main, Protein, etc. almost anything will work, like chicken (breast or thigh), Fish, Shrimp, Tofu, Hard Boiled Eggs….

Another way to make an easy Thai curry was taught to me by a Thai friend. This is how many Thais make a fast easy curry at home, by using a good real Thai curry paste. You sauté the curry paste a bit in oil for a few minutes then add your ingredients and then coconut milk. One good brand of Thai curry paste is Mae Ploy. They sell green, red and yellow versions. These pastes are very concentrated. Honestly that tub could last a year.

Thai curries are delicious and worth making. This sauce makes it super easy. The Mae Ploy paste plus coconut milk is going to make a better dish will than this Trader Joe’s “thai style” sauce however just opening this jar is a bit easier and will still turn out something like a Thai curry.

Trader Joe’s TAIWANESE GREEN ONION PANCAKES


package

“Trader Joe’s Green Onion Pancakes are like what you might get at a traditional Dim Sum meal…quickly fried, these savory disks become crispy and flaky. Eat as a snack or part of a meal. Try using them in place of a naan or a tortilla to wrap meat or vegetables” (from the package)

Trader Joe’s Taiwanese Green Onion (Scallions) Pancakes are a very popular Trader Joe’s product… and for good reason. These are quite tasty, easy to make and pretty inexpensive. Made simply and eaten As-Is these can be quite tasty. But these Scallion Pancakes are also easy to “hack” and turn into something more.

Just add an addition or two and you can make them into something a bit better and more substantial. For instance, the easiest hack could be as simple as “put an egg on it”. Just add a egg, fried or scrambled on top.

(Here is what my pancake looked like after cooking. Golden brown and delicious!)

VEGAN – PRODUCT OF TAIWAN

Honestly if you’ve never tried these before, run over to Trader Joe’s right now and get some. That is if you can find them! These sometimes get SOLD OUT, because as mentioned they’re quite a popular item, and at $2.49 for a package of 5 pancakes, let’s face it, these are one of the more affordable frozen items at Trader Joe’s. Basically just fried dough with some green onions but yummy.

TJ’s Scallion Pancakes make a pretty quick, pretty easy appetizer, snack, side dish, lunch. With some tweaking, they can become the platform of a complete dish, depending on how you serve them and what you eat with them.

How easy are Trader Joe’s Scallion Pancakes to make? All you have to do is take a frozen pancake and put it in a pan with a little oil. Let it cook for a 4-5 minutes until browned. Turn it over. Cook another few minutes.

Sound easy enough?

Ingredients : Wheat flour, water, scallions, coconut oil, baking powder, baking soda.

In Chinese, these pancakes are called Cong You Bing (蔥油餅) which are savory pancakes made from a wheat dough, oil (or better still lard!), green onions and salt. Often sold from street vendors. Cheap and very popular. I’ve eaten these made fresh in front of me from Chinese street vendors or stalls in Flushing, Queens.

Naturally one can’t quite compare TJ’s pancakes to one handmade in front of you. However, these are still tasty, not to mention very convenient for whenever the mood strikes.

I do have one complaint about Trader Joe’s “green onion pancakes”. These don’t have nearly enough green onions. Not by a long shot. There should be a ton and these only have a small handful.

Authentic Chinese / Taiwanese scallion pancakes are made with a ton of scallions, and these Trader Joe’s pancakes skimp on the green onions. Probably to keep them cheap. However this is easy to fix and correct. Just add some chopped scallions when you serve them.

Ideally I suggest whenever you are going to make these be sure to also get a package of scallions ($1.29) too so you can scatter a handful of chopped scallions over your pancakes, and/or put them in your sauce. Personally I love fresh cilantro with these as well as well as extra scallions.

The simple way to enjoy these is to just make them as directed and eat with some kind of a dipping sauce. I’ve put an easy recipe for a basic Asian sauce further down. But in a pinch even just mixing up a little soy sauce, garlic, ginger and Chinese black vinegar (or rice vinegar) can work. Or even easier, use some Asian Trader Joe’s sauce you like such as the: “Gyoza Sauce”, “Sweet Chili Sauce”, “Chili Crisp” and a little soy sauce.

Recently my wife and I ate these for dinner (picture above). We added a fried egg for extra protein. Along with the pancakes we ate fried rice. That combo is great. I happened to have fried rice which I had made the night before. You could use a frozen Trader Joe’s versions, for example their popular JAPANESE FRIED RICE.

HOW TO MAKE TRADER JOE’S GREEN ONION PANCAKES:

STOVE TOP METHOD – (Cook right from frozen) Pour 1 tsp of vegetable oil in a nonstick or cast iron pan, set to medium heat. After a 30 seconds of heating, swirl the oil, then add a pancake to the pan (be careful, it can spatter). Try to resist the urge to touch or move it for a good minute or so, after which you can check the bottom gently using a spatula to lift it to see the underside. You want to let it get all nice and Golden Brown. (see my first picture). You can rotate a pancake to get even browning.

The first side might take about 3-5 minutes (from frozen). Cook till it looks “*golden brown and delicious”. When your first side is done just flip it over carefully., to let the other side cook.

Don’t press hard with the spatula to keep them flaky. Keep an eye on it. The second side which will take less time to cook as its no longer frozen. When the second side is done (two minutes?) and looks golden brown, remove it and put on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.

Keep pancakes warm (cover with towel, or put in oven on Low or Warm)

If making more than one, now get the next one cooking. (TIP – Each disk is about 7 inches in diameter so if you want to make a few at a time, you might to use 2 pans or a griddle.

When you are ready to serve them, you can cut them up into eights or quarters. Enjoy asap while they are warm and crispy, along with your dipping sauce (recipe below)

AIR FRYER – I’ve seen people online say these can be cooked in one.

Microwave? No way, they need to get crispy and browned! Thats not an option with these.

Now while these are perfectly fine just naked and “As-Is”, as mentioned, you can add things. For example, as I mentioned you can top them with a fried or scrambled egg. You can fold the pancake like a taco with the egg in the middle and eat it like that (in a paper towel) which is actually a typical way one might get these served on the street in China or Taiwan. So instead of Naan or a Tortilla use these.

Pancakes topped with sautéed shitake mushrooms and seasoned ground pork

You can be as inventive with these as you like. For example, use these as a base and add toppings.

Cooked seasoned ground beef, pork , chicken, mushrooms or tofu? Maybe left over rotisserie chicken pulled into shreds? Perhaps some grilled shrimp. Or grilled tofu. Grilled portobello mushrooms. You can even put cheese on them for a cheesy Chinese pancake.

Here’s one easy HACK / combo I came up with: SILK ROAD PANCAKE WITH KEBABS. These pancakes matched well with TJ’s Middle Eastern Beef Kebabs for a “Silk Road” combination which is perfect with these. Add a cooked kebab to a pancake,, then eat folded up like a tortilla. Add your favorite sauce (garlic spread, greek yogurt, chili oil…)

Typically these pancakes are usually served with a dipping sauce. You can easily make an Asian dipping sauce (see below for a simple basic recipe). Any store bought sauce you like can work too. Say TJ’s “Soyaki” or Gyoza Sauce or Sweet Chili sauce or the like. TJ’s Chili Onion Crunch, of course too is a great too. My favorite real deal addition for these pancakes is the original chili crisp, Lao Gan Ma, to which I have a serious addiction (If you don’t have any Asian markets here’s a link to it on Amazon : Lao Gan Ma )

BASIC ASIAN DIPPING SAUCE:

  • 2 tbl TJ’s Low Sodium Soy Sauce
  • 2 tsp Chinese black vinegar (if you don’t have it you can use rice vinegar or even balsamic)
  • 1 lg clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp brown sugar or honey
  • Optional – Fresh grated ginger. A drizzle of Sesame Oil (if you like spicy mix in some Chili Crisp or Lao Gan Ma)
  • Add chopped scallions.

Checking the Nutrition label 1 pancake contains 330 calories.

Trader Joe’s GREEN ONION PANCAKES, $2.49 (five pancakes) I would buy this again.

Need some ideas to use these as a starting point for something ….? Check out these ideas…..

@teachertastes

Scallion Pancake Breakfast -Scallion Pancake -3 Eggs -Mozzarella or Gruyere Cheese -Avocado -Salt -Chili Onion Crunch #traderjoes

♬ original sound – teachertastes

Of course Trader Joe’s has other frozen pancakes: KOREAN SCALLION PANCAKES PA-JEON.

Those may be even better but are different. Korean PaJeon have lots of scallions and vegetables. So they cost a bit more but are terrific and may even be easier to find in stock. I think the Taiwanese scallion pancakes seem to have gotten so popular they get sold out kind of fast as some people buy 5 or more packages (you know who you are, so please leave some for the rest of us!)

UPDATE-1 (Winter 2023) – Haven’t seen them for months. Sold Out / Out of Stock at two different TJ’s I go to. Beginning to wonder if these are too popular for their own good?!

UPDATE-2 (Mar 2024) – FINALLY! Seeing these back in stores! Yeah! Hopefully you find them.

PS – Believe it or not I’ve actually made these Scallion Pancakes from scratch a few times. Sure, it’s a bit of work but frankly these are not very hard to make yourself. Of course they are even better, so think about making them. All you need is flour, scallions and oil. Check out these recipes (links) and think about giving it a try one day!

https://www.seriouseats.com/extra-flaky-scallion-pancakes-recipe

https://omnivorescookbook.com/chinese-scallion-pancakes

One pancake has 330 calories. Not “lo cal” but very tasty!

Trader Joe’s SPICY HONEY


Trader Joe’s SPICY HONEY; it’s honey with chili, so obviously sweet and spicy. Make that Quite Spicy!

Now back in 2010, I had first heard of something called “Mike’s Hot Honey” . It created a bit of a buzz in the NYC food scene when it came out. I actually first tasted Mike’s Hot Honey on a delicious pizza from Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that Mike had come up working there doing pizzas. His Arugula Pizza with Honey was Mike’s hot honey drizzled over fresh arugula on the pizza after it came out of the oven. The whole thing was just terrific. Also the place (if you can, go try a Paulie Gee’s pizza). Mike was marketing his hot honey (his was made with a Brazilian birdseye chili). Hot Honey began to catch on with chefs. Hot honey became a thing. Other vendors came out with similar products. Trader Joe’s jumped on the hot honey bandwagon too a few years ago. They came up with what they call “Spicy Honey”. TJ’s spicy honey is quite good. It’s quite spicy as I said so you use it sparingly, just drizzles of it at the end on something. Interestingly I just realized as I had a bottle Trader Joe’s first sold it in an 8 oz container and the sold it for I think $3. Recently they increased both the price and the size. Its now 12 oz for $5. It’s Organic too I think. This is really Terrific if you’re into Sweet and Savory. I drizzled some on my Japanese Curry Rice last night, perfect addition.

“From something as simple as a baked sweet potato to something as rich as a slice of New York Cheesecake, a drizzling of Organic Spicy Honey Sauce instantly gives anything it’s added to an extra element of complexity. Try it on sandwiches, pizza, or shrimp tacos for an elevated everyday eating experience. Give it a go over pan-fried Gnocchi, roasted carrots, or barbecued meat skewers for a bit of gourmet experimentation…”

-Trader Joe’s description

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-spicy-honey-sauce-069094

Trader Joe’s SPICY MOCHI RICE NUGGETS SNACKS


(UPDATE: Reported to be Discontinued but they have a lot of similar items to check out)

“A FIERY snack that you may not be able to stop eating”

These snacks are Made in Japan, a place they are very serious about snacks.

Trader Joe’s CRISPY CRUNCHY SPICY RICE MOCHI snacks are (really) crunchy bite sized nuggets made from rice powder and coated with spices. A lot of spices! Now one never quite knows when Trader Joe’s calls something “spicy” exactly how spicy they mean. In this case I assure you TJ’s is Not Kidding with the spicy! These are SERIOUSLY spicy as in mouth on fire spicy (or “head on fire” spicy if you look at the the package) The cute pictures on the package are not by accident, they are warning that this Bag Contains Really Spicy Stuff! So yes while these – actually yummy – snacks are super hot, they are more than just “spicy”, they are really tasty (as long as you can handle heat). I actually liked these and I give them a thumbs up, if you like spicy stuff. They are super duper CRUNCHY bites liberally coated with spices including : Black pepper, white pepper, chipotle powder, habanero powder, red chili powder... If you read that list I’m sure you get the picture. Again these are not just fiery, they’re quite tasty with a bunch of other interesting flavors as well such as citrus peel, paprika, cumin, cardamon, ginger, cinnamon….. So we are talking fiery flavorful and yummy all at the same time. Even addictive as they say? I can eat one or two and then kind of take a break for moment before eating another one then drink something to cool down the tongue. You should have some drink near you eating these. They would probably be great with an ice cold beer. I liked them on their own. I also found I especially liked them and they were even better with a little something else to kind of balance and mellow out the heat a bit. They were good with some cheese and even with a little cream cheese and probably great with some kind of dip, especially yogurt based? Anyway, these are really something. If you like heat you will enjoy these, they are more than just hot, they’re super tasty. Oh and wash your fingers after you are done eating these, lest you accidentally touch your eyes or something.

Trader Joe’s Fair Trade ORGANIC SUMATRA COFFEE


(On the bag…) “Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world with volcanic mountains extending the length of Western Sumatra. Coffee on this lush island is grown on small farms, where the beans are picked, washed and pulped by hand using the wet hulling process, creating some of the most flavorful and complex beans on the planet. Our organic and fair trade Sumatra beans are carefully roasted to a medium dark level to reveal smooth earthy flavors with little to almost no acidity.”

If you are a fan of darker coffee beans you will probably like this “Fair Trade Organic Sumatra” coffee. I sure do. I’m a big fan of this coffee.

Opening up the foil bag one gets a very appealing aroma. These coffee beans smell wonderful and are roasted to what TJ’s calls “medium dark”. Dark medium?

As you know, coffee roast descriptions can vary wildly, especially Trader Joe’s it seems but to me. I would say this is just south of what some might call a French roast? The beans are dark and shiny. This is not however an Espresso roast. Nor would I call these “over roasted” myself (hard to trust even this picture, you kind of have to see beans in person really). For this coffee I think the roast works, perfectly.

You will hopefully grind up your beans just before brewing of course… and all I can tell you is when I do and open up the grinder, I get an intense, heavenly coffee smell. For me the Sumatran is an excellent coffee, one of best coffees that Trader Joe’s has in a dark roast. I think this would be especially good for espresso machine owners as well as Moka pot brewers, like yours truly now. My brewing method the last few years is using a Moka pot . I also use a little milk with this to make something like old school “cafe con leche” as this coffee really stands up to and goes well with milk. While great as is, sometimes I will make my own custom blend of light and dark beans using this Sumatran with some lighter beans like the excellent TJ’s Azmari BUNNI Afro-Latin coffee to come up with a wonderful blend of both light and dark beans from Latin, African and Asian countries. If dark roasts are not your thing.

And of course you can brew doing a drip or pour over, I still say mixing some of this into your lighter beans, will make a good and slightly more intense coffee for drip and pour over brewers.

The 13 oz bag of the Sumatra Coffee goes for $8.99. For Fair Trade beans, that’s not bad at all. For best flavor, I say best to use this up fairly quickly, say within a two weeks after opening the bag, or in a pinch freeze some. TIP: I save empty bags for doing this. PS Even darker? The other very good espresso roast beans I like that TJ’s has is the organic Five Countries Espresso. (Update: Unfortunately Discontinued!!)

Left: Organic Sumatra Right: Azmari Bunni beans (TJ’s calls Left, “medium dark” and the Right “medium”. Go figure) But both are very good!

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