Dark Roast

Blind Assessment: (As brewed in a Senseo HD7810 single-serve brewing device in a Senseo brand 62mm pod at a cup volume of 8 ounces): Ingratiatingly sweet and caramelly aroma with remote suggestions of low-acid fruit: banana perhaps. In the cup thin bodied and lean. The sweet, mildly fermented fruit reads as a sort of dilute, wine-toned chocolate. The sweet chocolate persists rather richly in the short finish, but seems to grow a bit cloying in the long. (Same coffee, same pod as brewed in a Black & Decker One-Cup Coffee Maker at a cup volume of 7 ounces): The musty-fermented notes that read as caramelly and chocolaty in the Senseo cup come across here as, well, musty and fermented, although they charitably can be read as a sort of twisted semi-sweet chocolate, think chocolate crossed with fresh tobacco. Rated 78 as brewed in the Black & Decker.

Notes: The Senseo-Douwe Egberts Dark Roast is one of four non-flavored coffees in 62mm pods offered by Douwe Egberts under the Senseo brand name. The Senseo HD7810 is the latest in a line of single-serve brewing devices originating in Europe and produced by the electronics giant Philips. The Black & Decker One-Cup Coffee Maker is a new brewing device that is a member of a family of single-serve brewing devices and beverage pods marketed under the brand name Home Caf?. The Home Caf? line of machines also takes 62mm pods, hence the opportunity to test a Senseo/Douwe Egberts pod in both the Senseo and Black & Decker single-serve devices. Visit www.senseo.com or call 866-473-6736 for more information.

Who Should Drink It : In the Senseo a watery but rather pleasingly sweet and caramelly cup, though probably too delicate to be enjoyed any other way than black and unsweetened.