Coffee Bean Direct Decaf Dark Costa Rican, Whole Bean Coffee, 5-Pound Bag

Excellent Buy

This coffee is an excellent buy. I only use it for making lattes with my Rancilio Silvia, so I cannot comment on whether the bean makes good drip coffee.

As a point of comparison, the beans are way better than Starbucks decaf espresso, and somewhat better than the well-advertised Lavazza beans. The Coffee Bean Direct beans are not quite as good as Caffe Umbria Mezzanotte Decaf Blend. Nevertheless, considering the incredible price difference between Coffee Bean Direct and Caffe Umbria, Coffee Bean Direct is a great choice.

To be clear, I am not saying that you have to settle on flavor – the coffee is fantastic. Most people who have tried the lattes I make with the Coffee Bean Direct beans with the Silvia and the Rocky grinder cannot believe how great the coffee is or that it is decaf. Like the other reviewers said, the grind is very important in order to get the great flavor and crema. So if you are initially disappointed, experiment with your grind, dose,…

Great Coffee at a Great Price

I’ve been drinking this for several months, and every 5 lb. bag has been consistently great. I use it with a Capresso Coffee-TEC (drip) and a Jura-Capresso ENA4 (espresso). This coffee is a great example of how decaf doesn’t require a trade-off in flavor. Highly recommended.

Nice, rich flavor

I normally go for medium roasts for espresso since I drink it straight, and the dark roasts tend to have a burnt undertone that can range from unpleasant to downright nasty. This roast from Coffee Bean Direct is the exception, however. The flavor is rich with smokey tones, but no (or very little) burned flavor. Excellent crema as well.

While I can’t say for sure since I don’t like milk in my coffee, I imagine the flavor would stand up very well in a milk-based drink. I did try it as an Americano, and it was quite good. The flavors were toned down a bit as you would expect, but still came through nicely.

I did have to fiddle with the grind level a bit to get a decent shot. The setting I use for medium roast beans nearly choked my espresso machine – took nearly 50 seconds for a double shot and, as you can imagine, was quite horrible. I had to go two full notches coarser on my Vario grinder to get a good shot. I expect this is due to the fact that the darker roast…

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