Throat Punch Coffee (Our Review)

We do A LOT of writing, so, therefore, we drink a lot of coffee. This is the way of things.

We’ve done many coffee reviews before and today we’d like to take the opportunity to write a little about Throat Punch Coffee. They are a brand of coffee for people like us, serious coffee junkies.

So, let’s get into it.

Who is Throat Punch

Throat punch is a Coffee brand from Edinburgh and has recently opened up a little shop on Dalry road, a 2-minute walk from Haymarket train station. The story of Throat Punch is iconic for businesses that survived and thrived during the pandemic.

The brand was an online-only e-commerce business which set out to sell powerful coffee, with huge flavours, and a selection of niche coffee accessories. Thankfully, as the pandemic washed in followed by waves of lockdowns and restrictions, Throat Punch managed to avoid the chaos that other coffee shops were facing and benefited from the increased traffic of online commerce.

July 2021, after most of the restrictions, had been lifted, the group opened the doors to their very first coffee shop. This was a good time to rebrand and start fresh, with a new high-street audience. Even though the branding needed to be changed, they retained the heart and soul of the mission; a brand that takes the products seriously, but not itself.

Still, no-nonsense, no false claims, just great-tasting coffee sold with sustainable packaging.

What is the Throat Punch Coffee Like?

The flagship coffee bean from Throat Punch is their ‘offensively’ strong Indian robusta coffee. Not only does this bean have a super strong ‘throat punching’ flavour profile but a kick of caffeine that even a seasoned caffeine addict may gasp at.

We picked up a small bag of the bean in the store while we were visiting Edinburgh for the day. We had a long day ahead and needed a strong cup of coffee, and throat punch was the closest appealing shop in the area. So impressed with the coffee in store that we purchased a little something to take home.

The beans were measured right in front of us, and the bag was hand-stamped with gold ink and sealed by hand. The theatre of it was quite something. The packaging is extremely nice quality and it has the personal touch you need to feel that this company really care about their coffee.

Now, for the bean itself. To preface this, you need to know that I like my coffee strong and on its own. Just coffee and water. This bean is perfect for that.

The notes that come from the ground beans are very interesting. It has an almost bitter-sweet, wood-smoke nose; the website describes it as ‘burnt sugar and maple’. When ground the notes intensify and fill the room with a smokey, sweet and rich aroma.

I put my coffee in a french press so I ground the beans coarsely. Upon adding the water, the beans almost fizzed up creating a very interesting, airy creme. For a moment, I thought that I could have been pouring myself a Guinness.

The flavour really gives the throat a punch. This is a very strong-flavoured coffee – just the kind I love. The notes of burnt sugar, woody smoke and an underlying sweetness have all the hallmarks of a wonderfully full-bodied and balanced coffee flavour. Just when you expect to recoil from the bitter, the sweet and floral smokiness ties the coffee up delightfully.

Let’s talk about the caffeine content. I’m really not sure how much caffeine is in this bean but it is extremely strong. So strong that it even pushed me over the edge, and I am in the throws of a mild addiction which may need a break shortly. The only downside to the coffee is that it is easy to overdose – after a few sips of my second cup, I started to feel irritable, fidgety and restless. I knew I had already had too much.

This is absolutely down to me and I just know to have less next time, or maybe try out one of the other coffees with a much safer content of energy. It is, however, exactly what it is sold as. Offensively strong.

Would We Recommend Throat Punch?

Overall, I highly recommend this company. The service was great, the packing is remarkable and the coffee itself was on another planet entirely.

I love this coffee and will be back to try something else in the range.