AmazonFresh Dark Roast Whole Bean Coffee, 32 Ounce (Pack of 1) - RFA

Are you looking for an affordable whole bean coffee option as a daily drinker? This is it!I am a coffee aficionado, a coffee expert, an absolute coffee snob no one enjoys talking about coffee with. I use a Chemex to brew my coffee every day, a scale to measure the coffee and water weight to ensure the proper consistent production of the coffee, and a high-quality grinder that creates the perfect grind consistently. Yes, I do go overboard with my coffee.I say that to say that this coffee is the only item on Amazon I have subscribed to, and every 3 weeks it has been delivered to my house for the last year and a half. Why? Because it's cheap and easy.Listen, coffee is an experience some of the time, but it's a necessity MOST of the time. I wake up most workdays and I need a cup to get me going. I don't want to waste my amazing $36 per pound Guatamelan single-farm organic coffee on my morning cup of joe. I want to save that for a Sunday of relaxation and enjoyment, black with a pipe of tobacco on the side. But Monday morning, 15 minutes running late, take out AmazonFresh Just Bright Whole Bean Coffee, grind it, slam hot water on top, throw some almond milk in, done.The flavor is a perfect blend of enough citrus to enjoy, and enough bitterness to remind you it's still coffee. You don't mind adding anything to it, because you don't feel like you're ruining a work of art by doing so. It's flexible enough to use as espresso, in a Chemex, or a Hario V60.Simply put, I recommend this coffee to even the snobbiest of coffee snobs as a great daily drinker!

My Coffee Brewing MethodThe taste of coffee is remarkably different depending on how it is made. Therefore, any coffee review, in my opinion, is useless if not prefaced with the brewing method, water to coffee ratio, and water temp. Everything that touches the water or coffee is cleaned. I use an Aeropress with a stainless steel mesh filter. I use water just off the boil, stir the water and coffee for 10 seconds, top off the press with hot water, and place the plunger to stop the drip through the filter. I let the coffee steep in the water for one minute. I then remove the plunger, stir for another 10 seconds, sometimes top off the press again with hot water, and then replace the plunger atop the press and push the coffee through the press. I then top off the cup of coffee with hot water to a water to coffee ratio of 18:1 grams respectively which is the recommended ratio for this coffee.Amazon Dark Roast ReviewAfter I put the Amazon dark roast through my grinder (medium to fine grind) I noticed that it has a wonderful dark roast aroma. That aroma gave me great hopes for its flavor! Before the first sip I found the aroma of the finished coffee to be very pleasant as well. It has a very nice arabica bite as I call it. That unique mouth feel from nature’s best coffee bean. Temperature of coffee affects flavor and I’m waiting now for that sweet spot to be able to let it linger on my palate to focus on the experience to complete this review. Right now before I get there I think I have found my new standard dark roast. I have 3 or 4 coffees that I keep on hand at all times and partake of any one of them depending on my mood at the moment of selection. None of my "standard" coffees is light roast. The after taste is very important to me. This one is REALLY good! It lingers on the roof of my mouth in a very pleasant way. Smooth, but not mild. It doesn’t molest my taste buds, it leaves them looking forward to the next cup. The coffee is now at 130 F and getting close to the temperature sweet spot. The aroma coming off the brew remains wonderful. As the cup level goes down my nose goes further into the cup. I look forward to it. The coffee has now cooled to 125 F so I can fill my mouth with it and I’m close to the temperature sweet spot. This coffee will make a great iced coffee. I detect chocolate notes as is usual with a dark roast. Coffee is now at 120 F and I think the sweet spot temperature for this one is about 125 F. I’m looking forward to my next cup.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this coffee (skip to the next paragraph to avoid the likely unnecessary rambling background info). Over the last 5 years or so, I have transitioned from a person who drinks coffee to simply stay alive at work, to someone who truly enjoys good coffee. I guess you could call me a bit of a coffee snob. I have purchased many other brands of coffee from Amazon in the past with mixed results. Same with most grocery store offerings. Without being able to see the roast date, it's difficult to know how fresh the coffee actually is. Because of this, I typically buy fresh coffee from a local roaster since fresh coffee tastes better. But specialty coffee is not friendly on the wallet when you drink as much coffee as I do. My local roaster's 1 pound bags cost between $16-18, and my household can go through a bag in a couple weeks typically. So my goal has been to enjoy specialty coffee on the weekends while finding a more budget-friendly alternative for drinking during the week at work.Enter AmazonFresh. I recently purchased the whole bean light roast ("Just Bright") because at under $16 for 2 pounds, I figured it was worth a shot. So far, I can't say that I'm disappointed. I have used these beans in an Aeropress and in a pour-over, and both methods have produced good cups of coffee. The first thing I noticed was that these beans actually seem somewhat fresh. There was only a "best by" date on the bag (no roast date), but there was a noticeable bloom when I poured water over the beans after grinding...much more than other brands I have purchased from Amazon in the past. So how fresh is this coffee? Who knows, but it seems fresher to me. I suppose I could have just gotten lucky and future shipments would not be as fresh, but I hope this isn't the case.And this coffee tastes good. I should mention that the "light roast" doesn't taste like a typical light roast in my opinion...maybe more like a medium roast. If you purchase this coffee expecting to get the brighter notes of a Kenyan or Ethiopian coffee, you will likely be disappointed. But I think it tastes quite good. Is it as good as more expensive specialty coffee? No. And it isn't good enough to completely replace my visits to the local roaster. But it's plenty good enough for me to enjoy during the week, and the price is unbelievable. I don't know if I will try the other roasts from AmazonFresh in the future, but I will be purchasing the "Just Bright" variety again. Hopefully the quality remains the same.