The Good: Good taste, Appropriately caffeinated, Reasonably priced.
The Bad: Light on aroma, Creamer overwhelms the coffee flavor.
The Basics: Melitta Extra Dark European Roast Coffee is a decent coffee blend for those who like coffee flavor . . . unless they want additional flavors in it!
Back in the day when I used to write for a review website (which, much to my inner amusement has now gone bust!), I found that there was some success to be had on the site by broadening my horizons outside of movies and music reviews. As I branched out into food, pet products and book reviews, in addition to my wheelhouse reviews of music and movies, I discovered that there was additional value to reviewing items that were in the site’s database that had been overlooked by other reviewers. One such review I took on was reviewing Melitta #4 Cone Coffee Filters (reviewed here!). Well, now that I have my own review blog and I can write about anything I damn well please, I find I still enjoy writing food reviews and when I discovered a canister of Melitta Extra Dark European Roast coffee at a local discount store, I figured it was time for me to try some Melitta coffee!
I generally start my reviews of new (to me) coffee products and brands with the darkest roast I can find because I love coffee and I want my coffee flavor to be strong. Most brands have disappointingly weak medium blends that they sell as their primary coffee flavors and, frankly, life is too short to not enjoy the full flavor of coffee! Melitta Extra Dark European Roast coffee is a dark roast coffee that lives up to its flavor potential, without having a strong coffee aroma and only when it is presented black.
Basics
One of the premium coffee roasters and distributors in the United States and Europe, Melitta produces a number of blends. Extra Dark European Roast is one of the darkest blends by Melitta that I have found in stores and for the 10.5 oz. metal canister it is priced on par with the other, similar sized, containers, which surprised me because I always thought of it as a more expensive coffee until I actually looked into it. Extra Dark European Roast is deliciously dark, coffee flavored coffee that lives up, for the most part. This is a 10.5 oz. metal canister of ground coffee. Because it is not whole bean, no grinding is required. With a plastic lid that one simply lifts off, the Extra Dark European Roast Coffee is easily protected from absorbing scents of other foods. The container is fairly smooth, but easy to handle.
Extra Dark European Roast Coffee is an aromatic blend in the canister, that smells potently of coffee beans (until it is brewed) and it is caffeinated.
Ease Of Preparation
Extra Dark European Roast Coffee is remarkably easy to prepare, no advanced culinary degrees necessary! First, open the can. Melitta Extra Dark European Roast Coffee is vacuum sealed when first purchased, but it has only a foil seal to get through to break the vacuum seal. After removing the foil seal, procure a scoop (not included) and measure out one heaping tablespoon for every two cups of water in your coffee maker. Extra Dark European Roast Coffee is intended for automatic (drip or percolating) coffee makers, like my Hamilton Beach coffee maker (reviewed here!). This is NOT an instant coffee. As a result, it needs to be brewed.
Consult your coffee maker's instructions for how to brew the coffee. However, as far as the basics go, you'll need a coffee filter, like the Crucial Coffee #4 Permanent Coffee Filter (reviewed here), in which you put the Extra Dark European Roast Coffee and then brew through your coffee maker. The directions recommend making a pot at a time. Melitta does not take a stand on refrigerating the container after opening it, though they do recommend cool, dark and dry for places to store the coffee.
Taste
Melitta Extra Dark European Roast Coffee does not give up its flavor in its bouquet. Instead, the Extra Dark European Roast has a surprisingly mild aroma to it when it is brewed. In fact, based on its aroma, one might be tempted to think that Melitta had created a pathetically watery cup of coffee, as this brew smells like very average, utterly underwhelming, diner-quality coffee. In other words, it smells like slightly less than the average cup of joe.
On the tongue, however, the Extra Dark European Roast Coffee has a dark, rich, smoky flavor that is very complete and robust. What surprised me was how the thick, strong taste of coffee is not accompanied by an overwhelming sense of bitterness. Instead, the Extra Dark European Roast is a potent coffee blend that is not at all unpleasant, but entirely flavorful and distinctive the way one hopes coffee to be. Despite the lack of a strong aroma, this coffee tastes very much like coffee beans that have been heated from a solid to a liquid; it is not at all watery in its primary or after-tastes.
Unsurprisingly, given its lack of bitterness in the primary flavor, the Extra Dark European Roast has no bitter aftertaste. In fact, even the coffee flavor the beverage possesses only endures on the tongue for a few seconds after the beverage is swallowed.
A teaspoon of sugar does almost nothing to the Extra Dark European Roast Coffee. This coffee takes the sugar and refuses to be overly sweetened by it. Interestingly enough for such a robust basic coffee, the Melitta Extra Dark European Roast is fairly easy to overwhelm with creamer and/or flavor syrups like the Torani syrups my wife and I have taken to using since she bought me an espresso maker. That creamer will completely dominate the flavor of this coffee is somewhat surprising and a drawback for a consumer like me who enjoys adding flavor to my coffee.
Nutrition
This is coffee, not something that appears on the nutrition pyramid! Melitta Extra Dark European Roast Coffee does not contribute anything to one's daily recommended allowance of anything. In fact, the canister lists only 100% premium coffee as the only ingredient.
This is a caffeinated blend, though and it feels like it! This has enough caffeine to pop one's eyes open and I found it to be pleasantly caffeinated when I wanted to keep awake, even if the aroma was not overly invigorating. Because it is a caffeinated coffee, it appears to not have undergone any of the chemical processes that sometimes cause complications in decaffeinated coffees.
Storage/Clean-up
Extra Dark European Roast Coffee ought to be stored sealed in its container with the top firmly on. Coffee is known to absorb flavors of food nearby it, so keeping the top on is highly recommended. There are different schools of thought on refrigerating open coffee and I have a very clean refrigerator with a lot of ways to segregate coffee, so I tend to come down on the side of refrigerate it. Stored properly, this coffee might have easily made it to the December 2014 expiration date found on the bottom, but we won’t let it survive that long, especially now that we alternate between regular coffee and espresso!
After brewing, coffee grounds ought to be disposed of. This does not seem like an ideal coffee to make a second pot with (though a second brewing came out 1/2 as potent, which is about as strong as a standard cup of weak/medium coffee). These grounds may be thrown in the trash when used or put in a compost pile, if available. Coffee grounds make great compost.
Overall
Melitta Extra Dark European Roast Coffee is a good coffee, but honestly I was expecting to be bowled over by the premium coffee maker’s darkest blend. Instead, it met my expectations for a cup of black coffee; nothing more and a little less for coffee with flavored creamer added to it. That robs it of perfection, but not enjoyment for me!
For other coffee reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Seattle’s Best Level Five
Maxwell House Dark Roast
Gevalia Medium/Dark Blend
8/10
For other drink reviews, please check out my Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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