I Tasted Kicking Horse Three Sisters Organic Medium Roast Coffee: Review

by Nigel Ong

I recently picked up a few of Kicking Horse Coffee’s roasts to review and explore their tastes and flavors. So far, so good. 

Today, it’s the Three Sisters Roast’s turn. 

In this post, I will open a fresh bag of Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast, brew it three ways, sample it, and then compare it against other relevant coffee roasts in my collection. Let’s go.

About Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast

Kicking Horse Coffee may be quite popular because it gives its roasts quirky names, but it is more than just a marketing exercise. It was founded by Elana Rosenfeld and Leo Johnson in 1996 in Invermere, Canada. 

The brand has grown significantly since its humble beginnings in a garage, gaining widespread recognition across North America. Their products are readily available in local grocery stores.

The brand distinguishes itself with creatively named coffee blends, such as:

  • Kick Ass
  • 454 Horsepower
  • Smart Ass
  • Lucky Jim
  • Grizzly Claw

One of the reasons for Kicking Horse’s popularity is the attention to quality and sustainability in their coffee production. They prioritize organic and fair-trade beans, ensuring environmental friendliness and fairness to producers. 

The Three Sisters Roast is a blend of 3 roasts, light, medium, and dark, which probably would be why the Three Sisters’ name is. This roast uses organic beans and is labeled as a medium roast by Kicking Horse.

First Impression

My Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast comes in a 10-ounce bag, or 283 grams if you operate in metric. The coffee bag has what you would expect: a foldable tab and a one-way valve to keep the coffee fresh. 

The bag also uses the brand’s signature sleek black packaging, featuring modern typography and a strikingly colorful emblem, similar to its sister roasts. 

The Three Sisters Roast uses a sky-blue background and showcases a logo of three black peaks. Kicking Horse says the peaks refer to the three peaks in the Rocky Mountains that inspire this roast.

Kicking Horse describes this roast’s flavor profile as ‘smooth, savory, and seductive’ – not really describing the actual taste of the coffee. Still, we will leave that for the tasting later.

When I opened the coffee bag, it released a robust aroma with a bit of smoke. I could sense undertones of sugary and malt-like sweetness, which were inviting.

The beans are uniform in size, with hardly any broken pieces, which is conducive to an even roast. 

Evenly-sized beans show quality, as the beans would have to be picked and graded before roasting. They also roast better, with less burnt or under-roasted beans. These should result in better-tasting coffee.

Looking at Amazon reviews, drinkers enjoy the smoothness of this coffee and find it a good value for the price. They also like how wallet-friendly the coffee is.

How Does Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast Taste?

For brewing, I will brew the Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast in three ways:

French Press: This brewing style makes a murky, full-flavored coffee with floating particles. This should allow me to sample the coffee in its full flavor.

Pour Over With Filter Paper: This method produces a ‘cleaner’ version of the coffee without too much oil and particles floating about. This should help me to sample more of the subtle notes. 

Espresso: Espresso is coffee in one of its most concentrated forms. I look forward to tasting new flavors I could not detect in regular brewing forms. 

French Press

Kicking off, I began my coffee tasting using a French press, specifically my Bodum Caffettiera. I prepared a 2-cup serving following the brewing process I typically use in my reviews. 

Keeping to the usual 1:12 ratio of coffee to water, I bring together in my French press: 

  • 15 grams of coffee 
  • 180ml of hot water, heated to approximately 185°F (around 85°C). 

After allowing the coffee grounds to steep in the hot water for 4 minutes, I poured myself a cup to taste.

The coffee offered a smooth, mellow, and flavorful profile, which fits into what I would expect from a medium roast. 

It had a well-rounded taste, lacking any sharp or harsh edges. In terms of flavor notes, I detected a chocolatey, malty flavor, which is surprisingly quite pleasant in my palate. There is also some sugary sweetness. 

I also picked up some raisin-like notes as the coffee cooled, particularly during the finish. However, the aftertaste didn’t linger long on the palate, fading quickly after each sip.

Pour Over With Filter Paper

For pour over method, I will be using this set of gear to make my pour-over coffee:

My pour-over brewing steps are taken from Starbucks. I kept to a 1:18 ratio to simplify the process and used hot, off-boiling water for my pourings.

The coffee comes out lighter in color, with less sediment. I confirmed the latter by looking at the bottom of my transparent coffee cup. This shows the filter paper has done its job, removing finer coffee particles that the steel mesh in my French press could not. 

The filter paper, however, does soak away some of the oils in the coffee, which may make the coffee lighter in flavor. I do notice this as I sip the coffee. 

Flavors remain the same, with perhaps the malty-sweetness more obvious. I, however, may be nitpicking here – you may not notice the difference since it’s quite subtle.

Espresso

I first ground the bean down before using my Wacaco Minipresso GR to pull out a shot of Espresso. 

This is a hand-held, manually-operated espresso maker that is small enough to be carried around – easily one of my favorite coffee gear.

Once done, I packed the coffee grounds into the filter basket. Then I add in hot water and pump out my Espresso. 

The crema does smell a little smoky and woody, but not to the level you would get from dark or Espresso roasts. There’s also some malty, toasty aroma, which sort of mellows the Espresso down. 

When sipping, it does not deliver the punch like typical Espresso does. Instead, I get a fresh coffee flavor with malty, toasty notes. There is also some chocolatey sweetness. 

This is the Espresso you would happily sip instead of gulping it down. In fact, I encourage you to resist that temptation and allow the Espresso to sit in your mouth for some time, and you may pick up flavors you enjoy.

Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast vs Popular Medium Roasts

I decided to compare the Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast with other medium roasts I have in my stash. These are some of the roasts I enjoy most, too. 

I picked these medium roasts for the comparison:

Like the other coffee roasts, I brewed them all with my French press and drank them together, one after the other, with the Three Sisters Roast.

I would not place the Three Sisters Roast the highest on the list, although it is not at the bottom – it is, after all, a good coffee. 

I would place it above the offerings from Lavazza and Dunkin, but not quite on par with Tim Hortons or Community Coffee’s roast.

The beautiful combination of malty and chocolatey sweetness makes it taste much better than the Lavazza or Dunkin. At one point, I considered placing it above the Community Coffee roast. Still, I decided that I enjoyed the latter roast more. 

The Tim Horton’s roast seems to have a heavier chocolatey note, which the Kicking Horse coffee lacks. 

But then, this is, in the end, my personal preference. Try these coffee roasts, and see if you agree with me. 

Is Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast For You?

This is how I would sum up Kicking Horse Three Sisters Roast. It is a more ‘mature’ medium roast coffee in Kicking Horse’s lineup of roasts. 

Unlike its sister Smart Ass roast, this coffee has a more predictable and pleasant mix of chocolate and malt notes. Many drinkers would also be able to accept this combination better than, say, the Smart Ass’s chocolate and citrus notes.

As a result, I think the Three Sisters Roast is a ‘safer’ medium roast to try, as it runs a lower risk of ‘offending’ palates. 

Consider this before picking up a bag. You may find the Three Sisters Roast a little too regular if you are more experimental with your coffee. In this case, pick up a bag of Smart Ass roast.

However, suppose you want to try something new yet do not want to veer too far away from the comfortable coffee experience. In that case, the Three Sisters Roast is for you.

If you find this coffee enjoyable, I can easily see you drinking this coffee daily. To me, the flavors are strong enough to pump you up in the morning and also to beat the post-lunch slump away.

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