Trader Joe's BBQ Rub and Seasoning with Coffee and Garlic

Taste and review

As I am writing this review, my phone tells me it feels like 110 degrees outside. I'm just outside of NYC and it is actually cooler in Florida right now than it is here.

The joys of NY.

Anyways, the thought of cooking indoors is only appealing if you have air conditioning which we do. Of all days, I've done a lot of baking today.

So, I turned the oven to at a low temperature and got to work. Part of what is heading her way is Brisket. I picked up an already trimmed one and decided that is how I would taste test this seasonal offering.

The directions here are simply put this on the food you are going to cook about an hour ahead of time. With beef, you want to bring it up to room temperature anyway. So a lot of heavy sprinkling later it was coated.

What comes out of this jar seems pretty coarse in texture. As the hour progressed this seasoning became one with the meat itself. The smell coming from the meat was pretty intoxicating.

Last March, Trader Joe's had a whole line of coffee products among them were chicken and beef. It is completely possible for something that is as assertive in smell like coffee to work well with a roast.

The brisket spent a good two hours or so in the oven waiting to become tender as anything. But most importantly was what came out of the oven. Something very flavorful that did not just taste like coffee.

It was a richness of ingredients that pair very well together. You have the garlic, paprika, pepper, and onion, but the coffee adds an intense coloring that makes it look like it was cooked on high heat.

Overall

The only thing my husband and I felt like we were missing was the smokey flavor. While there is smoked paprika in this, there isn't enough to make much of a difference. Some smoked salt or liquid smoke would address that for next time. There wasn't much in the way of heat from spice so you may want to adjust for that as well.

Because this product is so coarse, I'm not sure I'd try it on veggies. But it is priced right to experiment at $1.99. It is seasonal. If you discover you like it, you'll realize that Trader Joe's might take it away from you.

So it's a seasonal find at Trader Joe's or you can find it through third-party sellers on Amazon.

Would I buy this again? Yes, I would buy Trader Joe's BBQ Rub and Seasoning with Coffee and Garlic again.