I picked up three different Allegro roasts from Whole Foods recently, and thought it would be fun to do a review series. I had heard somewhere that coffee beans have more tasting notes than scotch, and I thought: “let’s explore, shall we?”

Coffee #1: Allegro Light & Dark Roast – Whole Foods Blend

This is an organic Whole Foods coffee blend of light and dark roast beans (learn more and shop online here). I chose it because while I like the caffeine level of light roast, I prefer the taste of dark. I was curious if it would live up to its label, which boasts Spicy, Sweet and Smoky flavours.

Tasting Notes

As usual, I made the coffee in my french press and tried it black first. I was surprised to find it didn’t taste like  medium roast, but rather, like a light and dark blend, as promised. I immediately tasted the bitterness of the light roast but it mellowed out quickly as the dark roast flavour kicked in.

I definitely got the Sweet and Smoky notes, but they were subtle. Sadly, I got none of the spicy notes 😦

I added a teaspoon of brown sugar and found that this changed the sweet and smoky notes to something more like toffee, which made me very happy.

A satisfying way to start the day!

I give this blend a 3.5/5 black, and 4/5 with sugar