Fresh Roasted Coffee, Italian Roast, 5 lb (80 oz), Dark, Kosher, Whole Bean

I'm a barista and have used Fresh Roasted in many combinations. Don't think the roast is bad because the tones differ and vary-- this is a mostly Arabica blend with a small percent Robusta for added caffeine, but FRC mixes three different roast levels from medium light to dark to get a unique combination of acid, roast, carmel and nuttiness. Very different and interesting blend. PLENTY strong if you grind and brew it right.Don't laugh, but I read one review on another site that said these are terrible people because "they can't even get the roast color even." The reviewer apparently thought that the blend, having different colors, was a malfunction of the roasting machine, which of course would violate the laws of physics! When you get a PURPOSEFUL balance of roasts like this blend, colors obviously vary due to different levels, from light to Full City + and Espresso, being mixed AFTER roasting, on purpose. I know you know this, but wanted to be sure you didn't see negative stars for these folks for the wrong reason.Because of the lights included and the amount of quality Arabica, I'd recommend a little coarser (say 300 microns) grind than espresso (200) or turkish (100, basically powder). Do NOT grind too coarse (supermarket would be about 1,000 microns) or this will be too weak. A medium fine in a Bialetti Moka pot makes a nice strong brew, full bodied but not bitter. The "roast meter" they show is an average and shows medium on average, but this is plenty full bodied for a very healthy espresso KICK if you like a double or triple, with zero bitterness even when at rocket fuel level, as I like it.I tested the freshness (most beans start to lose flavor after about two to three weeks) and this batch was a little less than a month old. HOWEVER be very careful of buying any beans based on reviews, the reviewers may fail to tell you that age can vary greatly, especially on items using shipping by Amazon, which are first shipped to Amazon by the roaster, then to you. Being near the holidays I got a very nice pretty new batch, and have also done so on Amazon in the past with FRC, as they are a very popular brand and stock moves quickly.NOTE: this review is for the two pounder, NOT the five. I DO NOT recommend getting the 5 unless you use a lot of coffee and it is gone in a week or two. I've also gotten this both on Prime and direct from FRC, and if you get it direct, it is almost always a week or two old at the most.If you want a REALLY outstanding bean, and are willing to do your own roasting (even in a popcorn popper) Amazon has, from time to time, Sumatran green Lintong that is rarer and more expensive than Mandheling (auction last month was $50 for a pound, wholesale) for $10/pound as an add on! It's here at times: Sumatra Lintong Unroasted Green Coffee beans. This makes better espresso than Jamaican or Kona.Highly recommended with caveat of rolling the dice on age unless you roast your own! Even so, this is bound to be younger than what you'll get in many stores, and certainly not more than a few weeks old regardless.FRESHNESS NOTE: Many of you have emailed about direct shipments. Although this is a place to review products and not shipping, I MUST say that when I've ordered direct from these folks (via amazon third party seller), the coffee arrives AS FAST as Prime would from Amazon. These are smart folks, and know that specialty coffee buyers know about freshness. I am a great fan of Prime, and MANY vendors are horribly slow, but not these folks, I've always gotten my orders, with free shipping, within a few days when ordering from them, even though I always order through Amazon whether Prime or not. Although I've never said this before, I'm even more confident on freshness when ordering this particular product here FROM the vendor! They say "roasted right before packaging" but not right before shipping, which is nuanced, as we assume it means packaging for shipment to US, but... In this case, I believe them!

Two things you should know. FIRST: my Colombian wife grew up on her daddy's coffee plantation. There's not much she doesn't know about java joe. Secondly: I was not paid a dime for this review.That said, we love this dark roast whole bean product in the mornings. It has just the right amount of character to work perfectly in our Breville espresso/capu machine without overwhelming its inherent smoothness. And, yes, I'm talking about the decaf which I must have b/c of a heart murmur. We can see no taste changes from the decaf process at all. I also like it for drip coffee during the day -- but I can see if you might want to mellow it out just a bit by mixing in a medium grind. Be sure to use heated milk if you don't take drip coffee black.To conclude, this is an OUTSTANDING coffee at a great price -- significantly lower than most other top-tier coffees out there. We're glad we found it. A+

It's coffee! Nice dark roast, great value for the money especially if you're not super picky about your coffee. Tastes good, have had better but I appreciate the generous 5lb bag to limit my trips to the store. Functional size for a family of coffee drinkers.

Edit: Even at the normal price, I've bought a few 5lb bags of this roast and never had a bad one.Taste: Really good! Pretty bold, but not overpowering or bitter at all! It's got a really nice flavor to it for a medium roast. This is coming from someone who's picky, and only ever bought expensive Trader Joe's O.F.T. coffee for the last few years. This coffee really isn't bitter at all (relative to most other coffees) if you brew it correctly!Tip if yours is extra bitter: With a typical multi-shot household espresso machine, you seriously need to add milk/half & half to it ASAP. I actually add half & half to the pot and froth it (sometimes steam it too) before hand, so the coffee immediately pours into it. Otherwise leaving it for long will tend to "kill it", plus the hot steam blowing on it and the excess water poured thru it doesn't help either. This makes the coffee extra bitter & kinda burnt, however it will give it a slightly smoky taste on top of that, if you like that kind of thing. Source: two older sisters who had been baristas for extended periods of time taught me this trick. I can say from years of doing this, and then inevitably forgetting the cream sometimes, that the difference in taste is night and day! You should try it.Got a killer deal on a 5lb bag of this stuff. I was kinda skeptical about the freshness of the coffee considering the price, but I was wrong. It smells and tastes really fresh, and is very slightly oily. The oil level doesn't always correspond to freshness so don't assume dry coffee is old. I bought a bag of the "dark knight" blend from this brand about a month ago and that had great results. The best-by dates on either bags coincide w/ the purchase dates, so that tells me this probably wasn't sitting in a warehouse for a while like I suspected. I do actually prefer this over the Dark Knight blend though, especially for espresso.Would recommend! Definitely worth the current $25 sale price!

Perfectly roasted French coffee beans. No burnt taste. I'm a picky coffee drinker and highly recommend this for taste and value.