Amazon Fresh, Rwanda Whole Bean Coffee, Light Roast, 12 Ounce

I lived in east Africa and drank coffee off the mountains. The quality, acidity and flavor is spot on for the area. Quite nice. I like a lighter roast. Don’t compare to Starbucks coffee, this is much better. If you love Starbucks, probably won’t like it as the coffee is a much higher grade.

I enjoyed it , it was a tad dark for me but taste wise i just used less. I do not like super strong coffee as its too bitter. This for the money is a great value. not as cheap as it used to be, sadly.

This is a very good quality coffee, with a nice aroma and flavor.

The TL;DR version of this review is: this is not a light roast coffee. Most modern coffee scholars divide coffee consumption into three historical eras: First Wave: Folger's, Maxwell House, "Good to the Last Drop." This is the coffee that was pre ground and freeze dried and hopefully was not "the best part of waking up." But it brought coffee to the masses and the masses to the coffee. Second Wave: Starbuck's, Pete's, Seattle's Best, et cetera. This is the dark roasted coffee that was rarely drank "neat"/"black" and demanded a rather burnt flavor to be noticed amidst the sea of foam, caramel shots, and milks (bovine, almond, soy, oat, peanut brittle). Many folks are still drawn to this coffee due to undiagnosed Type-2 diabetes. Third Wave: back to the bean. Slowly the style that has taken over in the last 15 years (at least in urban areas) is chiefly about the flavor of the bean. Terroir, pour over, conical burr grinders, and light roasts... if you've ever been to a "cupping" this is what you're after and you are less likely to mask the flavor of the coffee. Cafes that specialize in this style usually don't carry any sort of syrup and half the patrons drink it black (vs in a latte or what have you). If you are curious about Amazon's take on, ostensibly, what should be the sort of "Third Wave" coffee you might expect from Blue Bottle, Stumptown, Huckleberry, Corvus, Middlestate, Herikmer... really the list is endless, look no further. First off, this is cheap coffee. It's about a third of the cost of my usual go to (Huckleberry's Phantom Limb) and I can get it delivered. This is nice as the nearest coffee shop where I can buy coffee is a block away! (Seriously, though, I am often out of beans and too busy with work to leave my apartment, which is sad in its own way.) Kidding aside, there is something to be said for convenience (especially when you work at home and deadlines are looming). Now, I've tried the "other" (I believe there is only one) "light roast" that Amazon produces and it was quite disappointing. I had higher hopes for these beans as they did have a "country of origin" proudly displayed on the bag. But then I opened it. Sigh. As you can see from the picture attached, Huck's Phantom Limb (which some even consider on the darker side of light roasts) is a chalky, cocoa powder brown. It looks more like dirt and less like the shiny back of a cockroach. It tastes jammy and bright, almost sweet. Not mind blowing, but a reliable third wave sort of bean. Insert your normal favorite here and you get the idea. Now the Amazon coffee... looks like a dark roast. Maybe a medium roast, at best. And the taste matches: slightly stale (there is no roast date on the bag), very bitter, with that nutty sort of dried out flavor you would get from... diner coffee! There's nothing wrong with diner coffee, mind you. But when I'm at home and doing all the "coffee nerd" things like weighing the kettle, the beans, popping a fresh filter in the Chemex, and flipping on the burr grinder, I greatly prefer "third wave" style coffee. Basically, this is my "backup" coffee when work/life keeps me too busy to simply walk down the street for a bag. While that may be pathetic, the fact that I can throw a bag in with my groceries and have it delivered while I'm working is rather nice. If Amazon can possibly do a better job of roasting these beans, they could actually be good. As they are, it will remind you of a certain ubiquitous chain's coffee (and not Timmy's) which, while wildly popular, is the coffee equivalent of Applebee's. It isn't terrible, but you can do much better. Support local roasters, keep this stuff for emergencies.

I am really impressed with Amazon's Rwanda coffee. I drink a lot of African coffee and have tried a number of roasters who sell on Amazon. There was one I had on subscription for years but as they have grown things have slipped, and so I went looking for a new roaster. I found a direct trade company which sounded good, but the coffee was not very good. I tried Amazon's with some hesitation, not expecting it to be more than mediocre, but it is, in fact, very good! The flavor is not as distinctive as Kenya AA or Ethiopian, but is does taste distinctly like African coffee. It is smooth and flavorful. I have made espresso with it, and my husband drinks it as pour over. Despite his urging me not to get it (low expectations) he has since put it on subscription. I think we both have it on subscription, and may have an awful lot in a few days, but our daughter drinks it too, so it will get used, and I would rather have too much than too little. Amazon's coffee is also direct trade, which is great to see. I like the coffee a lot and love that the farmers are getting paid more because they have a direct trade agreement. If you are looking for a new coffee, it is definitely worth trying.

I'm not sure if this is a bad batch, but the coffee beans had a very stale smell to them. I did grind and brew them, not being sure if the beans were supposed to smell the way they did, but the coffee tasted horrible. Since this item was not eligible for return, I ended up throwing the whole bag away.

What a good coffee. Probably the best coffee I have ever had on a low-price level

Excellent clean taste. Very earthy flavour from minimally roasted beans