My tastes in coffee have simply drifted to the dark side. I totally get the supposed disadvantages of going 'dark roast'—muting of some of the beans' flavor and/or brightness, complexity, increased risk of bitterness, even the loss of some caffeine—but my taste buds prefer a oily & heavy mouth feel with a hint of bitterness and sweetness intermingled; no milk, no sugar, no foam, no syrup nor sprinkles. I still do, however, enjoy a good, well-made cup of joe no matter the roast color of the bean.
I go toward dark/espresso roasts all the time. I don't care for "brightness and acidity". I prefer coffee to have more in common with tobacco flavor than herbal tea.
I'm a dark roast lover. At home and work it is an espresso or machiato. If I go to a coffee shop it's con pana. I have a Jura at home and office. Everything is adjustable so I can a dark mean jolt of joe.
I find the kimodo to be a decent roast as well. I've had the opportunity over the past 3 months to sample a fairly broad variety of Starbucks beans—some common and some limited releases. I usually receive two one-pound packs of whole beans every Saturday (free!) from my son's GF, who works at Starbucks and doesn't drink coffee. Some were quite good (Cafe Verona, Kimodo, Christmas blend) while others weren't my 'cup of tea.' On a similar note: we've just replaced our office coffee service ( a variety of Xterra coffee & tea packets used in a Flavia machine) with a Keurig unit and boxes of Peet's pods.....
A light to medium single bean, black please cream every now and then for a twist. Hopefully from my favorite micro roaster. http://threebearscoffee.com/
I like mine in an I/V with a tube right to the vein. If that's not an option then usually maxwell house at home from our bunn coffee maker or at work its folgers black silk in the keurig on my desk. Either location I take 2 sugar 2 creamer. Both a medium roast. The black silk being a bit stronger of the two.
A post suitable for "The manliest thing you did today"-thread. I write as I sip the last of my light, no-fat, grande frap with no whip.
Just like with razor blades - coffee is a total YMMV. I like a lot of the sbux coffee but found their Komodo Dragon to be very pedestrian.
Use of the phrase '...sip the last of my light grande frap with no whip' may permanently exclude the user from the 'manliest thing' thread mentioned above…
