Dark Roasts Reviews
We found 210 reviews for Dark Roasts. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
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We found 210 reviews for Dark Roasts. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
A clean, sweetly understated acidity complicated by a hint of flowers animates the bittersweetness of the dark roast. Ultimately the bitter tones dominate in finish, however, and intensify as the coffee cools.
The roast turns the lemony acidity rich and smokily pungent. Not a lot of range or innuendo, but a balanced and satisfying cup.
Another coffee in which the hard tones characteristic of many traditionally processed Indonesian coffees are precariously mellowed by an ingratiating sweetness. The combination of (perhaps musty) sharpness and sweetness hints at chocolate, particularly in the finish.
Under the taste of the darkish roast style earthy, but not a sweet or inviting earth. A bit hard (no pun), without depth, bounce or resonance. A tobaccoey, salty tickle in the finish.
A clean profile, but a bit flat. No sweetness, no lift, little dimension. Deep but opaque.
Another decaf-ravaged Sumatra: Here the aroma is as subdued as the cup. A touch of carbon from the roast and a bit of sweet tobacco from the Sumatra, but not much else: clean, low-toned, empty.
Very sharp, carbony cup, with little richness or sweetness. Both aroma and body seem burned off the coffee by the rather aggressive roast. I also tried this coffee as espresso. In the demitasse it remained sharp, but softened and sweetened a bit in milk.
Crisp and toasty nose. In the demitasse heavy though not sharp; some sweetness but little nuance. The heaviness turns smooth in milk, expanding richly, but even there the cup remains austere and rather monolithic.
A stark pungency dominates: Sweet and rich in the nose, but hardens uncomfortably in the cup, where the sharpness is softened by the barest hint of shadow sweetness. Suggestions of nut in the aroma and dry fruit in the cup barely escape from under the hand of the roast.
A wonderful nose, full of bittersweet chocolate and deep vanilla tones, but disappointing in the cup: a clean, dry, but rather hard pungency bullies nuance into submission. A hint of carbon, little sweetness.
Dominated by a dry, unforgiving pungency. The center of the coffee has little resilience or shimmer. A touch of hard, rubbery taste surfaces in the finish. I have to assume that something went wrong with the roast.
A clean, direct dark-roast profile. The dominant pungency is free of carbon and dances rather lightly on the palate, with some spicy overtones and space for them to echo.
The coffee is buried under the taste of the roast. To the roastmaster's credit, however, this is no thin, carbony super-dark roast. It displays a pungent heaviness, flirting with bitter, softened at the edges by an almost subliminal sweetness. The sweetness intensifies somewhat in the finish, pushing the pungency toward chocolate. It never quite gets there, however.
A fine example of the French-roast archetype. The carbon notes, as integral to French roasts as smoky notes are to Scotch whiskey, are discreet. The main taste complex here is sweet vanilla, floating above a dry, light pungency. Carbon notes prevail in the aftertaste, though a persistent low-toned sweetness gives them a run.
Not nearly as dramatic as the Olympic mountains, but satisfying and substantial. Straightforward, low-toned, agreeably balanced, vibrant and solid in mid-range, fresh and sweet in finish, complicated by a touch of intrigue that could be called chocolate. As the cup cools the sweet tones grow rounder, fuller and more distinctly chocolate.
Aromatic and gently complex. Delicate, sweet-vanilla nose. In the demitasse smooth, balanced body and well-nuanced flavor, with pungent chocolate modulating to sweet chocolate in the finish. Slight fruit flourishes. Tends to fade in milk, but retains a light, pleasingly fruity chocolate character.
Virtually all sweetness has been driven out of the coffee by the roast: distinct burned tones in the aroma give way to a hard, smoky pungency in the cup and a rather astringent aftertaste. Milk rounds out and sweetens the pungency, though even here the sharp, hard tones prevail.
Only a touch of sweetness survives to balance the sharp tones of a very dark roast, but the sharpness is complicated (perhaps rounded) by chocolaty, pruny tones. The aroma is crisp, alive, even elegant, but the profile tends to simplify in the cup and trail off into dimensionless astringency in the aftertaste. At best medium body. Turns sweet and smooth in milk but remains underpowered.
For me this rather dark-roasted blend's smoky pungency displayed pleasantly fruity tones in the demitasse, and remained (if precariously) on the soft side of bitter. I particularly liked this blend in milk: The pungency carried nicely through the dairy, broadening and softening without losing itself. My tasting partner didn't agree, and found the dark-roast profile a touch carbony in the demitasse and thin in milk.
A darkish roast style asserts itself here, turning the heavy Sumatra center distinctly pungent. A slight sweetness emerges in the finish, but the mildly astringent pungency dominates in the aftertaste. A vibrant aliveness in the center of this coffee is its most attractive feature.