From time to time I review what I lovingly call grocery store coffee(whole bean). We had run out of coffee, and I needed to get an emergency coffee. Mark told me, "Get Eight O'Clock if you have to." I did. I noticed, in addition to the new packaging, there are different varieties to choose from. I saw one marked Central Highlands, so I grabbed that one.
This is a dark roast coffee, so already I am thinking it might have a burnt taste. Since more and more store coffees are putting best of dates on their label, I am using that to judge how fresh it might be. I passed on the bag which had a date of 2/1/2014. Poor coffee. It's been out there a while. This one had a June date, so I figured it was "fresher."
Eight O'Clock describes this coffee as a blend of coffees from the mountains of Central America. 50% of the beans come from Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee, which made me wonder the rest came from. They say this coffee has subtle cocoa notes, and a mellow, spicy finish. Can it be mellow and spicy? I made some this morning.
When I first sip, the overriding taste is a bland burnt taste. Once it's in my mouth a few seconds, I begin to taste something chocolate like. The aftertaste is stale. I do get a sense this is a strongish coffee, but I think the roasting and the age have zapped it of a lot of it's flavor. On our Cher slapping scale, this is a 4, you're aware it's coffee, but it's not waking you up.
I did say this was emergency coffee, but I would not recommend this if you wanted to serve it to friends. Friendemies maybe, but your friends.
Charlie
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