Kick *ss

I love coffee, look forward to drinking it every morning, but I’m not an “aficionado”. I just like what I like - dark but not too dark. I have a cheap drip coffee maker (Hamilton Beach Flex Brew) and just want a good cup without breaking the bank. I’ve pretty much tried all the grocery store brands, and this was the first time in years for me to break out my old coffee grinder, I think purchased in the 90s. Another reviewer recommended 55 grams coffee to one liter water. For my 14 oz mug, that means 23.6 grams. I followed that formula to weigh the beans, ground them up, and popped them in. Great cup of coffee! Strong and dark but also smooth - not bitter at all. I drink black coffee, but at a coffee shop the dark roast is usually too bitter or ashy for me - this was not. The next day I tried cutting back to 21 grams of beans, just to see if I could save a pinch. Nope! It was acceptable but I had to add a little raw cacao powder to enjoy it. The 55 grams per liter formula is PERFECT. My fave “less expensive” grocery store brand is Wide Awake. By my calculations, this is about the same price per cup, and I like it better. The extra time to weigh, grind and fill is worth it. Note - as others have said, there was no roast date the package but there was a “use by”. The date on mine is April 2021, I purchased in June 2020. The beans are not oily and smell great to me. When I grind them. very little of the grounds stick to the walls of the grinder. It will take me about 5 weeks to use all the beans, so hopefully they will still taste fresh in late July if I keep them sealed well.

Great coffee at a great price as I bought it while it was on sale 25% off. They go on sale pretty frequently, so I recommend waiting for when they do. Tastes great and beats out all other competition when it comes to quality for the price, especially given its organic.

Love this coffee, and like that it's whole bean. I have a great grinder so I grind as I need more coffee. The only thing that is disheartening is that the price flocculates greatly. It's been anywhere from $29 to $49 for the 2.2lb bag. Caffeine level is good without being overstimulating, as I don't drink more than one cup a day. Smooth and flavor isn't tart.

Smooth, while bold and full flavored. My husband and I both really like this coffee. That says a lot, considering we have been all over the world sampling coffees. Kinda serious relationship with this nectar of the Gods. For a day to day brew, this is a pleasant local-ish discovery. Plus, it’s organic. Big points here. Downside? THEIR BAGS SUCK. I have to mutiliate the heck out of the top, usually tearing it above the seal and have to take scissors to a corner to get into it. This has been the case with every bag from this brand (I’ve gotten maybe 8?). I’m menopausal and have zero patience to fight to get into every bag. I get annoyed. The dogs get the “she has that look” on their faces. The husband give them an understanding consideration glance…. 🤣 This bag sitch will keep me from continuing on the suckfest of buying these beans. Fix your bag and I would likely be a lifetime customer. I’d even be willing to overlook the bagastrophe if you had mold-free beans.

Smooth flavor.

Starbucks used to sell a coffee called Komodo Dragon. It was wonderful coffee. It is off the market now. They sell Komodo Dragon Blend, which varies enormously in quality. Last time I bought it, it was kinda crappy, tasted like it had almost no Indonesian in it, just washed central American floor sweepings. So I went looking for better coffee. This is it. No question, no regrets. It is just wonderful. It has no bad tastes, just like Komodo Dragon used to when it was 100% Indonesian. I am putting it on subscription, and soon as I run out of the other crap I used to drink this will be the only coffee I brew. It is rich, has cocoa undertones, and is earthy, but it does not have the sharp bitter notes that washed new world coffees have. This is the flavor that I prefer in coffee, and I believe that people who have tasted it generally prefer it. (I know that some people like the flavor, believing it to be part of the flavor of coffee, but it does not have to be.) I generally brew my coffee in a filter pot with a gold mesh filter. I use 5 two tablespoon coffee scoops for a 10 cup pot. While I will drink coffee hot, I prefer to let it cool, and I use a thermal pot so that the coffee won't burn in the carafe, but I will drink it cold. Definitely a winner. Additions. Put 75 grams of medium grind into a liter {quart} of cold tap water. Stir. Put in refrigerator. About three hours later, stir so that the coffee sinks. Put back in refrigerator. Leave overnight. Amazing! Pour liquid carefully off grounds, filter through fine metal filter, or use a special pot. Rich, smooth coffee. Heat in microwave if you want it hot. So good I put away my filter pot. Espresso: Set your grinder to fine. These are the beans you want. They produce excellent creama that lasts. The coffee produced is rich, and missing a lot of the awful bitterness that you get when you order an espresso at a coffee shop. Drink it iced, 4 shots at a time. Mix it into a latte or cappuccino, it stamds up to ice or milk. It is amazing how good this voffee is. The coffee I make at home is head and shoulders above anything I buy commercially. I am so glad I tried this coffee. If you want a rich coffee that is not bitter, try it.

So my baseline coffee for comparison is SF Bay French Roast whole bean, that coffee just makes this seem weak 6 ways to Sunday. I will end up using this for my custom blends, I will often do 25g coffee to 435 g water pour over using the Hario V60. So in the afternoon or if I'm just looking for a lighter blend I will use 5-6 gr of JBC's Rock the House blend (which is a very nice medium roast) and fill it out with 19 g of the SF Bay, in this way you can create a much more custom cup. You can also switch up the dripper, if I'm looking for something a bit brighter and juicer I would go with the Kalita Wave dripper, with the same blend. One difference between the Kicking Horse and SF Bay is that they latter take the roasting to a bit further in the roast, the SF will come with an oily sheen on the beans, whereas the KH while listed as a dark roast, is really roasted a bit shy of that type of dark roast. There are a number of roasters, Coffee bros being one, who will roast their dark roast to just before the second crack. Nothing wrong with that and it has some interesting nuances to the flavor. In all it's an ok coffee but not one I would order again, I am sure some folks that don't enjoy their coffee on the robust side will enjoy this, for me when I order dark roast I want dark roast.

I don't like coffee. Not in the way most people like it. Having a cup of coffee is not a make-or-break deal with morning, not for me. So why buy coffee at all? Coffee, in general, is kind of expensive and requires some specialty equipment for brewing (oh yes, you can put it in a pot of water on the stove and boil it, and done right, that's amazing coffee especially if you like a few crunchy bits in your cup). And there's the free trade fairness thing we're all supposed to be thinking about, and frankly, I didn't check on Kicking Horse's bean-buying policy, so I can't tout my shine there. Slap me. So... why would a coffee-indifferent, socially unaware blubber head buy coffee or even bother to check the five-stars-for-excellence box and post a review??? Because this coffee is what it claims to be. Kick Ass Dark coffee. It is not pretend espresso. It is not pre-ground to a powder fine enough to snort. It is an honest dark chocolate colored whole bean coffee that is bitter enough to be interesting, yet mellow enough that it doesn't try to climb back up your throat. It blends well with other coffees, and it can sit in the carafe overnight, get zapped in the microwave and still be great. But that's my opinion. Oh, and it's also not as expensive as a lot of the other coffee offerings on Amazon. Oh, and the 2.2-pound pouch is a good size for the price. Oh, and even though I have that 2.2lb. pouch for over a month, the last pot of coffee it makes is as good as the first. One of the major coffee companies (grocery store stuff) makes a blend they call "Black Silk" which is the worst coffee I've ever had, and that includes vending machine coffee from the hospital staff lounge. There was this free-trade Ugandan coffee I got as a gift, and this organic single bean limited harvest coffee from Jamaica (I think) that were ultra-memorable as the best coffee I've ever had, but were far too expensive to make a habit of. Put those on the taste scale of Black Silk = 0, Ugandan & Jamaican =10, Kicking Horse Kick Ass Dark is an 8. To me. What it is to you... well, how can I know? If I did, I'd be freaking scary, wouldn't I? And you'd be looking over your shoulder.... under your bed... in your closets... watching conspiracy theory videos on YouTube and preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Just have some coffee. The voices tell me a cup of coffee can cure just about anything.

When you order a box with 6 packets (60oz total) you only get 1 10oz packet. Beware

The coffee was mouldy because it had expired more than three months before I received it

It's over 4yrs that I have had the kickass pleasure and still enjoy the.deep great taste.of the.best in the WEST !!!

My sister introduced me to KickAss and I have never looked back. It brews a full bodied, flavor full cup of coffee. I like mine black and it is smooth with no bitter bite. I ship this stuff all the way to Singapore!

Dark chocolate, bit of caramel flavour. Easy to drink with milk (hot or cold)