Coffee Talk – Just Us!

by | Sep 19, 2018

Eating local, shopping local and buying local is important to me. I try to be mindful in all of my spending habits, and I tend to prioritize local over things that “come from away.”

Although I must admit that I won’t necessarily go without something if I can’t get it locally, and my frugality tends to rear it’s thrifty head over certain things.

Sackville, NB does not have a local coffee roaster, at least not one that I’ve found so far (I just moved here this month). But the local grocers do sell Just Us! Coffee from Grand Pré, NS. It checks off the organic and fair trade boxes and is reasonably priced. While it’s not exactly “local,” it’s at least from the maritimes. 

Bee and I are home brewers (there’s that frugality!) and make coffee in our french press or aeropress from fresh ground beans pretty much every morning. In the summer I love cold brew coffee, but cooler autumn mornings are upon us, so we’ve moved on to hot coffee.

Speaking of cold brew, I don’t think we will ever beat the fantastic beans that Kat from Meeting Waters Coffee in Tatamagouche, NS custom roasted for us for our very brief stint serving Cottage Cold Brew at the Pugwash, NS Farmers’ Market this summer. That was the best coffee ever. Unfortunately it’s a lot harder for us to get out to Tata since we moved to Sackville, NB.

Marsha & Bee (Cottage Cold Brew) at Pugwash Farmer's Market
Me & Bee serving Cottage Cold Brew at the Pugwash Farmers’ Market 2018

We are on our third lb of whole bean coffee from Just Us! and we’ve had mixed results. Bee and I both like a dark roast, but we couldn’t resist trying one of the medium roasts because it smelled so good. I drink mine black; Bee usually adds homemade cashew cream and brown sugar.

My completely biased thoughts:


Atlantic Blend

atlantic blend whole bean coffee

Medium Roast

I really wanted to like this, but I just don’t. The name is just maritimey enough to appeal and the aroma from the air valve was heavenly, but the taste didn’t live up to the smell. Too bad!

My rating: 2 beans out of 5.

Rise Again

rise again whole bean coffee

Dark Roast

This is a darker roast, but it still didn’t cut it for either of us. It’s not bad, just not good enough to make our regular brew.

My rating: 3 beans out of 5.

Breaking the Silence

Just Us! Breaking the Silence Whole Bean Coffee

Here we go! This I could get used to. It’s not perfect, but it’s perfectly adequate. Dark, not too acidic and a decent cup!

My rating: 4 beans out of 5.


Marsha Amanova shrug bitmoji

original reviews accidentally deleted
because I am an idiot

I think the hunt for local(ish) coffee continues!