Grounds and Hounds Coffee review: Puppy Bowl blend

A Grounds and Hounds Coffee review of their special Puppy Bowl blend in time for Puppy Bowl XVII (Puppy Bowl 17) seems like a good plan.

The Puppy Bowl will air on Animal Planet and the Discovery Plus streaming service on Sunday, February 7 at 2 p.m. ET in an epic clash between Team Fluff and Team Ruff.

Grounds and Hounds Coffee has been a sponsor of the greatest canine mockumentary sports event for several years, starting a Puppy Bowl collection of tie-in merch last year before they became the official game fuel earlier this year.

It makes sense that Grounds and Hounds would partner with an adoption-focused event like this, because the company started after founder Jordan Karcher found a liver-spotted Dalmatian (the brown kind) named Molly in 2012. This adoption led to Karcher wanting to become more involved with dog rescue, which evolved into the business.

Our Grounds and Hounds coffee review – the Puppy Bowl blend is a touchdown.

The Puppy Bowl blend is a 12-ounce bag of medium roast (ground or whole bean options available) with 100 percent organic Arabica beans from Papua New Guinea and Guatemala, described as having elements of dark chocolate, caramel and toasted pecans. It sells for $14.99, and as with all Grounds and Hounds Coffee purchases, 20 percent of the price is donated to various animal rescue organizations.

The Puppy Bowl collection also is paired with a team bandanna in either orange or blue (for Team Ruff and Team Fluff, respectively) so your pup can dress appropriately while watching, and there are cool coffee mugs, glasses and stickers available on their site as well.

While I (Wesley) am admittedly unsophisticated when it comes to coffee, usually preferring something basic as a Starbucks order and making sugar bombs in the church kitchen, the Puppy Bowl blend needs very little sweetening, with a multi-layered taste that brings out each of the flavors in turn.

Also, if you’re concerned about various health issues, it is both vegan and kosher, and does not contain any nut products, which is nice.

While there are a ton of good deals out there for foodies on gameday, sometimes a mug of coffee does the trick, maybe as a way to wind down from the day’s excitement, or possibly as a way to kickstart the productivity for the next week.

It would also work well for watching Super Bowl 55 (Super Bowl LV) between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6:30 p.m. ET on CBS).

The Puppy Bowl Pre-Game Show presented by yellow tail wine will be co-hosted by Snoop Dogg and kitchen legend Martha Stewart, and that will start around 1 p.m. ET on Animal Planet. There will also be a live watch party on Discovery Plus hosted by Puppy Bowl referee Dan Schachner, some more celebrity guests may pop up there.

For more on the big games, see our sister sites Arrowhead Addict, Dog O’Day and The Pewter Plank for more information from a variety of angles.