The Good: Good aroma
The Bad: Exceptionally weak flavor, Requires grinding, Expensive, Bitter aftertaste
The Basics: Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso makes one of the weakest, worst cups of coffee I have ever had.
I am a sucker for a good deal. There is a local discount store near me that gives me incredible deals on a number of products and with their ever-changing inventory, it is pretty much a reviewer's dream. The problem for me - other than not having an infinite supply of money! - is that sometimes, I see something that appears to be an irresistible deal and when I pick the item up, it turns out to be something seriously sub-par. So, for example, when I found a five pound bag of Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso whole bean coffee beans for only $6.99, I bought both that the store had. After all, $7.00 for five pounds of coffee is an objectively amazing deal and when I discovered that these identical bags of coffee were between $35 and $45 online, I felt I was getting an amazing deal.
But then I ground and brewed the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso. I've made five full pots and two espresso glasses of the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso coffee and the results have been the same.
Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso sucks. Yes, we want sophisticated analysis, but the bottomline is that made properly, the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is barely flavored water; made double-strong, the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is mildly coffee flavored. Made as an espresso properly, Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is weak and bitter, without even a real coffee flavor to it. By the time one is able to get the coffee to a flavor that is truly one of even a regular cup of coffee, the ratio of coffee to water is 3 Tb coffee to 2 cups of water (that's three times the standard ratio of coffee!) and the expense of this coffee becomes insanely high.
Basics
Coffee Bean Direct is a New Jersey coffee distributor and they have no real gimmick to their company. The bags of Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso weigh five pounds and are whole bean. Because this is a whole bean coffee, grinding is required. We use a Cuisinart Supreme Grind Coffee Grinder (reviewed here!) and even as espresso powder fineness, the flavors of Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso beans do not truly get released. Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is easily protected from absorbing scents of other foods and the bag can be resealed using the sticky strip on the bulk bag.
The Italian Roast Espresso has a powerful aroma in the bag, which is far more aromatic than the coffee brewed by these beans.
Ease Of Preparation
Italian Roast Espresso is an easy coffee to prepare, assuming one has a coffee grinder and a scoop! First, open the bag. Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is vacuum sealed when first purchased. After opening foil bag, one must grind the beans. We recommend grinding it fresh to get the most out of the coffee flavor, as it releases its flavor when ground and if it sits around ground, it is likely to absorb flavors from the air around it. Once ground, procure a scoop (not included) and measure out two tablespoons for every cup of water in your coffee maker. This is incredibly problematic for most home use as the average coffee maker like my 12-cup Hamilton Beach coffee maker (reviewed here!) does not have the physical space for the amount of ground coffee one would need to even follow the directions for making this coffee (that would require 24 Tablespoons!). For a decent cup of coffee, a 12-cup coffee maker would require 32 Tablespoons of ground Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso, which is physically impossible to put into any home coffee maker I know of. As a result, we ended up using our Mr. Coffee ECM160 Cafe Espresso Coffee Maker (reviewed here!) to try to make this as an espresso . . . at 2 Tb for 4 oz. of water. This is NOT an instant coffee. As a result, it needs to be brewed, but even as the espresso, it does not come out even remotely flavorful!
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 filter (reviewed here) we use, into which you put the Italian Roast Espresso and then brew through your coffee maker.
Taste
Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso smells homogeneously like a strong, rich coffee while it is brewing and immediately after it is poured. The deep aroma of the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is initially inviting and implies a powerful coffee flavor.
Unfortunately, in the mouth, Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso tastes weak and watery. The flavor of coffee is almost entirely absent and when it is brewed as an espresso, the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso tastes minorly earthy and bitter, without real coffee flavor. Perhaps the best way to describe just how underwhelming the flavor of the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is is to mention that when I added a single tablespoon of French Vanilla creamer to a mugful of properly brewed Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso, the creamer entirely overwhelmed any sense of coffee flavor from the beverage. It was like I was suddenly drinking a hot mix of cream and water; it was disgusting and thoroughly disappointing.
Unlike virtually every other coffee I have reviewed, as the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso cools, the water flavor within the coffee is accented, not the coffee flavor. Eventually, this beverage just tastes like cold water.
When properly brewed, the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso has a very bitter aftertaste that lingers in the mouth for three or four minutes after the last of it is consumed.
Nutrition
This is coffee, not something that has nutrients in it! Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso does not contribute anything to one's daily recommended allowance of anything. Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is just dark roasted coffee beans without any additives.
This is a caffeinated blend, but it is not potent enough to energize consumers or wake one up with even its aroma. Because it is a caffeinated coffee, it appears to not have undergone any of the chemical processes that sometimes cause complications in decaffeinated coffees. Italian Roast Espresso is not marked as Kosher (I'm not certain why).
Storage/Clean-up
Italian Roast Espresso ought to be stored sealed in its container with bag’s top folded down. Coffee is known to absorb flavors of food nearby it, so keeping the bag folded tightly closed is highly recommended. The bag came to us fresh, but we used it up well before its expiration date.
After brewing, coffee grounds ought to be disposed of. This is not an ideal coffee to make a second pot with and given how much of the coffee is required to even properly brew a pot of the coffee, the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso is not an ideal coffee for the coffee miser. These grounds may be thrown in the trash when used or put in a compost pile, if available. Coffee grounds make great compost.
Overall
Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso smells all right, but it is not a potent enough coffee to satisfy anyone who likes coffee. And as one who is a sucker for a good deal, I am also one who is very able to acknowledged when a deal stops being a value. To get anything remotely drinkable out of the Coffee Bean Direct Italian Roast Espresso, one must use so much coffee that even finding it at a ridiculously deep discount, it is not worth the price.
For other coffee reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Amora Intenso Blend Coffee
Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw Dark Roast Coffee
Dunkin' Donuts Cinnamon Coffee Roll coffee
1/10
For other drink reviews, please check out my Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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