Dark Reviews
We found 256 reviews for Dark. 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 256 reviews for Dark. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
Straightforward, simple but satisfying dark-roast: cleanly roasty, pleasantly smoky but without burned or excessive bitterness. In cup and finish the roastiness takes on a toasty, campfire chocolate character.
Massively roasty in the aroma: sweetly pungent with a sort of lush bar-b-qued apricot-toned fruit. Less impressive in the cup, where the main impression is simply the roast, heavy and burned but not rubbery. Given the weighty intensity of the roast sensation, surprisingly sweet and rich in the finish, with only a slight astringency.
Cleanly smoky and rather richly roasty, complicated by shimmers of sweetly tart, high-toned fruit - pineapple perhaps.
The aroma doesn't provoke much anticipation: roasty, edge of burned, midtoned, without range or nuance. Softens and complicates in the cup, displaying a pleasantly wine-toned balance of sweet acidity and a discreetly bittersweet roastiness. Simplifies again in the rather sharp finish.
Sweetly roasty in the aroma, thin-bodied and sharply roasty in the cup. Almost disembodied floral top notes float above a bittersweet, prune-toned chocolate.
Roasty, sweet and balanced in the aroma, with shimmers of pineapple. In the cup a light-bodied buoyancy and a continuing tickle of pineapple lifts the dominating sharp, edge-of-burned roastiness. Mildly astringent in the finish.
When hot, a robust, full-bodied dark roast with a pleasantly rough character: chocolate and wine tones in the aroma, in the cup a hint of fruity ferment and musty earth. As the coffee cools, however, the musty earth tones turn bitter and weigh oppressively on the cup.
Sweet, low-key, expansive aroma. In the cup rich and cleanly roasty, with an agreeable bittersweet balance complicated by fresh leather, chocolate and a shimmer of sweet grapefruit. The grapefruit persists in the rich but astringent finish.
A coffee seen from the far end of the taste telescope, intriguing but shrunk and diminished. The aroma is lushly sweet with a hint of grapefruit. The cup is sweet as well, but complicated only by an agreeable but simple acidity. Once past the aroma little nuance of any kind. Slightly astringent in the finish.
A sweet, lyric coffee with remarkable complexity, starting with the aroma -- distinct leather notes, winy fruit, milk chocolate -- to the cup, where the wine tones deepen and take on an almost smoky edge. Clean, sweet, grape-like finish.
The aroma is subdued but complex with leather, chocolate and apricot. In the cup a fine balance of bitter bite and seductive sweetness, complicated by an apricot-almond-toned fruit and a crisp bittersweet chocolate. Medium-bodied, gently rich.
A big-bodied, massively roasty coffee. Intense musty tones read as rosemary, cardamom perhaps, with a shimmer of chocolate. The intense, monumental character fades a bit as the cup cools.
A delicate acidity is gently rounded though not obscured by a marvelously tactful dark roast, which also turns the fruit richly chocolate-toned. The chocolate nuance weaves through the profile consistently from aroma through finish.
The most impressive aspect of this sweet, balanced, gently acidy cup is a tactful roast that turns the fruit richly chocolate. The chocolate tones carry elegantly from aroma through a quietly opulent finish.
This voluptuously round dark roast is a tribute to the roastmaster's art. Opulently and robustly roasty, sweet, and utterly without burned bitterness. Not much nuance, but plenty of sweet, resonant depth and smoky-spicy tones.
The good news is this moderately dark roast displays a rich depth of sensation and spicy, smoky notes in the nose. The bad news: The roast also imposes a rather gritty, astringent finish.
The roast dominates this rather delicate coffee, though cleanly and without introducing burned or bitter notes. Roasty, mildly rich, subdued, slightly astringent in the finish.
Co-taster Willem Boot: "Fine and complex fruity/minty aroma. Exotic berry-like flavor notes with fascinating wild black currant aftertaste. Balanced, sweet and intriguing with milk" (93) Ken characterized the wild, sweet, edge-of-ferment fruit tones running through the profile from aroma to aftertaste as black cherry, and enjoyed them almost as much as Willem (90). In milk Ken completely concurred with Willem: "sweet, balanced, lovely."
Co-taster Willem Boot greatly admired this coffee, awarding it an exclamatory 95: "Reddish brown supershot! Complex aroma with tingling body. Mild sweet and dry flavor balance with intense fruit and spicy notes. Cardamom flavor with milk." Ken's admiration was more restrained. He enjoyed the low-toned bouquet of pipe tobacco, leather, toast, smoke, spice and musty cantaloupe notes enough to award a rating of 88, but found the body "gritty" (Willem called it "tingling") and the finish slightly astringent.
A coffee in which a mild processing taint - sweet fermented fruit for Ken, a hint of mustiness for co-taster Willem Boot - turns toward chocolate under the influence of the dark roast. Subtle but substantial in milk: "lingering balance" in milk for Willem, "delicately complex" for Ken. Ken awarded this coffee a considerably higher rating (90) than did Willem (86), probably owing to Ken's openness to sweet, flirt-with-ferment coffees.