by Lars H
I recently saw a TA truck stop on I-35 when I was driving from Denton to Dallas, so I stopped in to check out the coffee situation. Here’s what I found.
TA uses Bunn commercial coffee machines, as well as a Bunn grinder where they grind the beans just before brewing. Grinding just before you brew gives you a fresher, better tasting coffee because ground coffee can lose its flavor pretty quickly. This was a good sign!
I got a cup of the Columbian 100% coffee, which is their house blend. I thought it was interesting that their other flavor was called Bogota Sunrise, because Bogota is also a city in Columbia. They’re really into Columbia over there at TA.
There were two other choices. One coffee was called Extreme 20, which claimed to have 20 percent more caffeine than regular coffee. Sounds like it was designed for drivers who want to wake up fast. The other was a flavored coffee called Bourbon Pecan.
I actually didn’t notice the Extreme 20 coffee until after I had already filled up my cup with the house blend, or I probably would have tried that one for the novelty. I’ve never seen a coffee before that claims to have extra caffeine, so I kind of wonder what it tastes like.
The coffee station was pretty spartan, with some sugar and a few different creamer options. I forgot to take a photo of it.
How was the coffee? I’d give the TA house blend coffee a good review. It reminded me of McDonald’s coffee. So, not a high end brew or anything, but a completely mainstream choice that tastes good to the average coffee drinker. I could easily drink it black, and it was smooth and not bitter.
The coffee from the Bunn machine was nice and hot, and tasted as if it had been recently brewed. Many of those commercial Bunn machines have timers to remind the employees when to swap out the coffee and make a new urn, and Bunn machines make good coffee.
Overall, if you’re stopping at a TA gas station / truck stop, you’re safe drinking the coffee there and it’s pretty good.
