These Store-Bought Espresso Beans Are An Insult To Coffee

Before they're shipped to the roaster, coffee and espresso beans are essentially the same. It's during the roasting process that they diverge. While beans destined for drip or French press coffee makers, for example, are often roasted with a goal of maintaining the unique flavors inherent to the beans, espresso roasts are generally calibrated to create a more robust, uniform flavor profile. So if you're making espresso at home, whether it's with a fancy machine or a stovetop Moka pot, there's a reason to grab a bag of beans labeled "espresso" next time you're shopping for coffee.

While you may already have a favorite local roaster (and this is a plus if you want to raise the standard of your homemade double shot), there's no denying it can be cheaper to purchase coffee from a nationally available brand. Chowhound ranked eight store-bought espresso beans to help you make the best decision. While some, notably Peet's, whose Off the Grid blend was ranked No. 1, were praised for their complex and pleasant flavor profiles, others were considered overly bitter, astringent, and even rubbery. Yuck. The worst of these offenders was Death Wish Coffee Co.'s espresso roast, which was judged to be so bitter that only an "obscene" amount of cream and sugar might possibly save it. While espresso roasts are often on the darker side, Death Wish's blend is roasted as dark as they come. And unfortunately, that "roasty" flavor overwhelmed anything else.

Interestingly, the Death Wish coffee was the only certified organic coffee of the varieties Chowhound tasted. The company's determination to use only certified organic beans is important to its brand identity, and it's front-and-center on the Death Wish homepage. Just below this, is another aspect that makes Death Wish coffee unique: its use of robusta coffee beans alongside arabica beans. Death Wish prides itself on offering coffee with "an extra kick of caffeine," and that extra kick comes from the robusta beans.

While robusta coffee beans do have a higher caffeine content than arabica beans, they're also somewhat looked down upon for simply not tasting as good. In fact, Starbucks won't even touch robusta, and several other coffees in the ranking proclaim on their packaging that what's inside the bag (or can) is "100% Arabica." So, it's possible that, although Death Wish claims to be "redefining robusta," the presence of this lower quality bean in the blend plays a part in its low score in addition to the extreme roast.

Of course, if you do like the idea of a really roasty coffee or crave that extra jolt of caffeine, you may want to look into Death Wish. In addition to its espresso blend, Death Wish has a variety of flavored and unflavored coffees that come in both bags and pods. Just look for the bold, skull-covered bags on grocery store shelves.