Chasing the Perfect Dark Roast Coffee

 Hi. My name is Free and I am a coffeeholic.

When I gave up smoking a few years back, I thought I wouldn't enjoy coffee as much. Wrong. Coffee has become my main addiction. Sometimes, that can be a problem. For instance, the only time I have trouble with intermittent fasting is during that last 30 to 40 minutes before I can have my coffee with sweet cream. It's kind of sad. I go into special ops mode to avoid even looking into the kitchen. Otherwise, I catch sight of the coffee pot and get tempted. 

My apartment is barely big enough to cuss a cat in (as my mama would say) so the coffee machine is visible from everywhere except behind the closed doors of the bedroom or bathroom. There are times I try not to come out of the bedroom until I can have my morning coffee. Once, near the end of a 24-hour fast, I started to hallucinate about that first cup of brew.

I usually spend those stressful last minutes of a fast just pretending that coffee is not even a thing. I will avoid looking toward the kitchen as I get ready for the morning. I keep my head averted as I go through the apartment - opening the blinds and turning on plant lights and the humidifier -doing the general morning stuff. At that time of day, my muscles are still half asleep and I'm like mud flowing uphill. But when my phone chimes to let me know that my 16 (or 18 or 20 or 24) hours of fasting are ... I'm moving at warp speed toward that coffee pot. No kidding. 

Nothing smells or tastes as good as that very first sip of morning coffee. 

It's not just the first cup. Any time of day, I love a good cup of coffee. And a dark roast is preferred - probably because I have to have sweetened creamer with mine. I love a good cup of coffee more than I ever loved any kind of food.  

In my opinion, the best coffee is strong and rich. I love a little bit of dark chocolate flavor coming through the brew. I'm not talking bitter or burnt but just enough chocolate "bite" to hit the back of my throat. 

What I absolutely hate is a weak cup of coffee. Especially coffee that is so weak that you can't make it stronger without getting a taste like bad office coffee. I'm talking about coffee that is nasty in a non-descript way. The old, rank, stale coffee you get in the lobby of a car dealership or emergency room. 

Lately, I've been trying to find a brand of ground coffee to replace the Gevalia I've been drinking on the regular. I'm not crazy about all the Gevalia coffees like I used to be. They changed something since I used to get that subscription service way back in the day. Remember back when you could get a free coffee pot if you signed up for a monthly delivery of Gevalia? That's how I discovered the brand but that has to have been 20 years ago or more. There'd be these little subscription cards inserted in a lot of the women's magazines.

These days, the only Gevalia I love is the Dark Gold Roast. I was usually able to find the 11-ounce bag for about 11 bucks and change (or around $0.90/oz). That Gold Roast is tasty. It's extra bold and has the chocolate/brown syrup notes that are so yummy. However, that particular roast has just gotten too unreliable in availability. I think they might be phasing it out or something...

So.

I've been on the hunt for a new favorite brand of ground coffee. Coffee that I can afford, can easily find and don't have to work too hard to make. Price is important. I drink at least 7 cups a day so I cannot be playing around with anything that's going to cost more than it should. I've found a couple roasts I like. I just have to figure out how to work a regular purchase into my grocery budget.

Here's what I've tried so far:

1. Kaladi Brothers Waykan (Guatamala). $17.95lb or $1.12/oz. This is definitely a favorite, and it's from my favorite roaster - an Alaska-based roaster. However, it only comes as whole bean. I like freshly ground coffee but I don't always have the time, energy, or motivation. (I still might get the occasional bag though.) Notes, according to Kaladi are "warming spices, raisins, and chocolate". That sounds about right to me. This is what made me fall in love with Guatemalan coffee.
2. Jim's Organic Sweet Love. 11 ounces for $12.34 or 1.12/oz The first time I had this, it tasted so good that I set up a Subscribe & Save. It's much better than the Gevalia. The problem is that I go through the bag too quickly (for the price). It reminds me a lot of the Waykan except I get a lot more of the chocolate note. The brand describes it this way:  "Ambrosian aroma with full-bodied, smoky taste". 
3. Tim Horton's Dark Roast. 12 ounces for $7.59 or $0.63/oz. First of all, that price... Second of all, I happen to find Canadian-made products of all kinds to be of a higher quality overall. Having lived in Alaska all those years, I've driven through Canada many times. Everything I bought there - from aspirin to coffee - was just top quality compared to American-made stuff.  I think the last time Yuban coffee still tasted good was when I bought it in Canada. Anyway... Tim Horton's coffee is tasty. It's not as richly flavored as the K.B.'s or Jim's but it's good. The description I found from Horton's is simply "Rich and full-flavored". I think they are being modest.  Elsewhere, I found this description of the flavor: "subtle notes of chocolate, cedar, and even hints of fruit and floral characteristics". 
4.  Fresh Roasted Coffee's Dark Guatemalan Huehuetenango. 32 ounces for $26.99 or $0.84/oz. This is the next one I am trying. That price is good but I worry about ordering in a 2-lb bag. I will have to let you know what I think when I try it. I wanted it because of the price and because it's another Guatemalan. The brand describes the flavor profile this way: "Full bodied with dark chocolate notes. A bold and spicy body, and a smooth finish. A wonderfully rich dark roast with little to no acidity" except they used a lot of capital letters. The worrisome thing is that of over 3000 Amazon reviews for the brand, none is for this Huehuetenango. Oh boy.

Since I need to get something for my daily brew, I came up with a plan:

If I love the Guatemalan Huehuetenango, I will order that every 3rd month since it's a 2-pound bag. If not, I will do a Sub & Save on the Tim Horton's monthly and Sub & Save on the Sweet Love every 4 months as a treat. Of course, I will order some of the K.B.'s a couple of times a year as a treat. I'm done with the Gevalia. As I was writing this post, I checked and see that it's currently unavailable. Again. I've only been able to find it twice out of the past 2 and a half months.

By the way, because I am intermittent fasting (it's been over 8 weeks now), my grocery list tends to be lighter. I'm not baking every week or cooking larger meals. I haven't fixed spaghetti in at least 4 weeks now. So all this cutback on groceries leaves a little room in the budget for a decent coffee. If only I could learn to drink coffee black...

I will continue to be on the hunt for a dark roast coffee with that chocolatey, rich, sweet taste to it. Let me know if y'all have any suggestions.

Peace

--Free

P.S.: I seriously do NOT like Starbucks coffee. How did it get to be so popular? Just saying.