Review of Dark Magic Espresso Blend by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
It is several years since I bought coffee beans from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters based in Vermont so I thought I'd give them a taste test. I actually found it hard to locate their espresso roasts, and searching for "espresso" on the site did not appear to return any results. Eventually I found their Dark Magic Espresso Blend by navigating through to their dark roast blends. The beans cost $6.79 per 10oz bag, and I ordered 4 bags.The three reviews on the site were all positive although one reviewer stated he or she was using the beans for filter coffee, which is surprisingly a suggestion made on the website by GMCR themselves which struck me as a bit odd.
The beans arrived in a timely manner; I chose 2nd day delivery to ensure they arrived fresh. As expected for a dark roast the beans were dark and oily. In using the beans, however, I have found that the beans do not produce much crema despite winding down the grind finer that I would normally. And the taste is unpleasantly bitter so I am rather disappointed. Perhaps I'll do as suggested and use them for filter or French press ("plunger"). Meantime, my personal favorite continues to be Espresso Vivace Roasteria's "Vita" blend.
See my follow up post Does Green Mountain Coffee Roasters censor negative reviews of their coffee beans?
Labels: espresso_bean_review, green mountain coffee roasters
posted by JohnC @ 3/18/2007 05:35:00 PM
2 Comments:
At March 31, 2007 7:07 PM ,
Bob Tyndall said...
Seems like you jumped the gun with your post.
By JohnC from Irvine, CA on 3/18/2007
Pros:None
Cons:Bitter, Poor crema production
Best Uses:Perhaps ok for filter
Bottom Line:No, I would not recommend this to a friend
I found that the beans do not produce much crema and the taste is unpleasantly bitter.
Looks like your review to me. A sign of a great company. They aren't afrid to post a negative view.
At March 31, 2007 11:56 PM ,
JohnC said...
Hi Bob, Thanks for alerting me to the fact that my review has finally been posted, and I have updated the original post commenting to that effect.
No, I don't think I was jumping the gun - other sites that allow for reviews typically post them on a far more timely basis. I agree that GMCR is a great company. Several years ago I always bought my beans online only from them so they had me as a loyal customer for a while, but my love of coffee has always been for espresso and I drifted away to other suppliers who do a far better job on espresso roasts in my opionion. I'm sure there are many great roasts and blends in their wide array of offerings, but these beans were some of the worst I've ever had for espresso. Perhaps it was a bad batch? As I said in my post, I ordered 4 bags and they arrived in a timely manner as always. However, I recently dumped the remaining 3 bags which is quite a bit of money to waste, but I just can't drink this coffee. I tried using them for drip filter coffee but they are just as bitter as hell.
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