Italian Roast Espresso by Coffee Bean Direct

This Italian Roast Espresso Coffee came from Coffee Bean Direct Coffee Roasters. We've teamed up to bring you some exiting reviews on coffee, tea and other products over the next few months. It should be very exciting.

As the bag was opened there was an immediate aroma to the nose of rich coffee and a hint of chocolate. This was a dark roast with fantastic caramelization on the beans--each bean looked like it had been hand dipped in oil. Once ground, the beans had the same bold coffee aroma, but there was also a hint of nuts.

For brewing methods on the Italian Roast I used two, pour-over and auto-drip, with both methods achieving entirely different results.

On the pour-over a dark crusty bloom developed with aroma nuances of fresh baked bread and mellow grapefruit. Once the pour-over was complete there was bit of oil floating on the cup (personally, I like that) and the first sips were bright, crisp and mouthwatering. As the coffee cooled a bit in the cup, the mouth feel became a bit heavier with more of a syrupy feel, however it was still fairly crisp.

Flavor wise the coffee did have some complexity. The first sips had hints of bread, sandalwood and some semi sweet caramel. As it cooled there were some nutty and red wine fruit type notes that developed.

Brewing a the pot auto-drip method, the coffee took on totally different characteristics. Smooth and well balanced is probably the best description I can give, this coffee flows across the palate like warm velvet. With this brewing method the predominate flavors were semi-sweet caramel and cashews. I've been drinking this Italian Roast in the morning the past few days and think it's an amazing breakfast blend too.

Back a few months I put out a challenge to coffee roasters to give me a coffee that breaks my 5 point rating scale. Well, Coffee Bean Direct Coffee Roasters did just that. This will be my last review using a 5 point scale.

I give this Italian Roast Espresso a 5 out of 5 start rating!