by Nigel Ong
AmazonFresh sells more than just your regular groceries. It offers coffee roasts and a wide range of them as well. These coffees are quite well-roasted and packaged to keep costs low.
There is the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast, for the darker roasts. Will The Bold Dark Roast be as good as the other AmazonFresh roasts I have tried? Let’s find out here.
In this post, I will review the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast. I will brew the coffee three ways and then sample it with different flavorings. I will also compare the coffee with other dark roasts before suggesting who may find the coffee enjoyable.
We have reviewed several of AmazonFresh’s coffee roasts. Check out our other reviews below:
About AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast
AmazonFresh is a subsidiary of Amazon itself, focusing on groceries and retailing. It also produces groceries, offering products such as coffee roasts. Amazon started selling its own coffee in 2016.
Amazon offers coffee under several brands. One is Happy Belly, where you may get instant coffee. As for the coffee roasts, they are offered through the AmazonFresh label.
Within AmazonFresh’s range of coffee roasts, The Bold represents the dark roast blend. The beans are sourced from Central and South America and are made from 100% top-quality Arabica beans.
These beans are then roasted to deep, dark intensity before being packaged and delivered to customers. AmazonFresh uses simple packaging to keep costs low and then pass the savings to you via a lower selling price.
The Bold Dark Roast could be purchased in several formats, such as whole bean, pre-ground, and in pods. These allow you to enjoy the coffee the way you prefer.
How Does AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast Taste?
First Impression
My bag of AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast arrived well. It looked about the same as every other roast within its family of coffee. There is a white and black striped packaging, with only a teal-like color sticker giving me a color cue that this is The Bold dark roast.
A freshness seal tab is at the top, which you can use to keep the coffee fresh after opening it. There’s also a one-way valve, allowing you to smell the coffee. Overall, the packaging is basic but functional. You don’t really need fancier packaging than this.
Once I opened the coffee bag, I could smell the coffee inside. Just by the first whiff, I know this is a dark roast. The roast has a deep, smokey, and slightly sweet aroma, which reminds me of Dunkin’s Midnight Roast.
The slightly sweet aroma reminds me of chocolate, too. However, I would spare the flavor notes until I sampled some of this coffee.
My coffee bag is in ground form, so I cannot examine the beans. The ground, however, is of medium coarseness, making it suitable for French press, pour-over, or regular coffee machine. However, you will need to grind them down more for espresso makers.
I will be brewing the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast in three major ways:
French Press: This brewing style makes a murky, full-flavored coffee with floating particles. This should allow me to sample the coffee in all its ‘glory.’ I expect full flavor and strong flavor with this coffee.
Pour Over With Filter Paper: This method produces a ‘cleaner’ version of the coffee without too much oil and particles floating about. This should help me to sample more of the subtle notes.
Espresso: Espresso may be more common with darker roasts, but I found it generally able to concentrate flavors very well, especially at the crema. Brewing an espresso should help me better appreciate the flavors in the coffee better.
French Press
I pulled out my Bodum Caffettiera to make my French press coffee. I used the 1 to 12 coffee-to-water ratio recommended by Illy Coffee, similar to my other coffee reviews.
I added 15 grams of coffee and 180ml of hot water at around 185°F (about 85°C). After stirring the coffee ground, I let the concoction brew for 4 minutes before pouring myself a cup.
This is a full-bodied coffee; I can sense the rich, intense flavor. There is also a bit of texture to the coffee, a bit thicker than usual. The smoke is intense but not to the point that it overpowers everything else.
I picked up some chocolate and toasted nut flavors. They combine well with the coffee’s smoke and dark earthiness, making it smooth to sip. I also do not pick up much sour taste, which means this should be a low-acid coffee.
As I swallowed the coffee, I also noticed the long finish of AmazonFresh The Bold. After I swallow the coffee, the flavor remains on my palate for a little longer than usual, allowing me to savor the taste before going for a second cup.
This may be a good cup to savor and nurse over as you read a book or chat with someone. There is no rush to sip fast and chase the taste since the flavors stay in the mouth long.
Pour Over With Filter Paper
Next, I pulled out my gear to make my pour-over coffee. My setup includes the following:
I use the pour-over brewing method from Starbucks. I added 20 grams of ground coffee and slowly poured 360ml of water.
I first focused on wetting the coffee ground when I started. Once all the coffee grounds had caught water and bloomed, I slowly poured in the rest of the hot water.
Since the filter paper removed some of the oil and fine particles, I think the coffee became less full-bodied. However, the intense flavors remain and are pleasant to my palate.
The long finish is also reduced slightly, but not to the point that it takes away the overall long finish of the coffee.
I prefer the French press version, but should you find yourself unable to enjoy the intensity of this coffee, pouring it over with filter paper may help remove some of that, making it easier on your palate to handle.
Espresso
Dark roasts usually do quite well as an espresso since the espresso would have some smoke and intense flavors. Seeing how the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast would fare as one excites me.
I grabbed my Wacaco Minipresso GR and pulled an espresso shot out of the AmazonFresh The Bold. This portable, hand-operated espresso maker is one of my favorite coffee tools and is more affordable than an espresso machine.
I like what I see. The resulting espresso has a great aroma with rich, velvety, and thick crema. Presentation-wise, it has a great darker brown color on the crema, thanks to its dark roast – You don’t end up with a pale crema that looks like the foam of a latte.
Taste-wise, this is a nice, lighter espresso. The smoke and intensity are there, but not too strong. It should not overwhelm regular espresso drinkers.
In fact, you may find the lighter ‘jab’ a pleasant change from the usual espresso ‘uppercuts’ you have been taking regularly.
I thoroughly enjoyed my cup of AmazonFresh The Bold espresso. In fact, I pulled out a couple of raisins and had them with the espresso together.
What Flavorings Work Best With AmazonFresh The Bold?
Sugar & Sweetener
People drink their coffee with many types of sweeteners, which means I should try the Big Bang Roast with some, too. I have two ready to try out here:
- Regular brown granulated sugar
- Equal artificial sweetener (Aspartame)
I started with making two cups of AmazonFresh The Bold. Then, I added a sugar stick into my first cup and two drops of Equal to the other.
I am not too fond of sweetened coffee, as I think it interferes with the natural flavor of the coffee. To me, dark, smoky coffee is also generally unsuitable for sweeteners.
To me, the smoke and earthiness sort of have to compete with the sweet taste for my palate’s attention, making the coffee less smooth.
With the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast, this is certainly the case. Both sweeteners added more texture to the coffee, making it thicker and richer. However, the ‘war of taste’ between earthiness and sweetness makes the whole coffee less fun.
However, this is my opinion, and your palate may enjoy this. Give this a try yourself, and see if you agree with me.
Milk & Creamer
Another popular type of flavoring in coffee is fat. In this case, people usually use cow’s milk and coffee. I have both ready here:
- Whole, fresh, UHT cow’s milk
- Coffee Mate non-dairy coffee creamer
Again, I brewed two fresh cups of AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast. I added a milk shot (about 1 oz or 30 ml) to the first cup and two teaspoons of Coffee Mate non-dairy creamer to the second cup.
Both milk and creamer made the coffee’s aroma smell creamier, turning the coffee into a more indulging experience.
Both milk and creamer also helped mellow down the earthiness and smoke in the coffee, softening it into a silky, rich cup. There is also some subtle sweetness, perhaps from the lactose in the milk.
Aside from espresso and black, I think the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast tastes very nice with milk, too.
AmazonFresh The Bold vs Popular Dark Roasts
Since AmazonFresh The Bold is a dark roast, I thought I’d taste it alongside other big-name, dark roast blends in my collection. I brewed four cups of coffee using these roasts, French press style:
I would rank the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast a joint third with the IKEA Patar from this list.
Both are quite similar in intensity. Both are dark roasts, but not too dark to the point of reaching espresso roast. There are still flavor notes with an acceptable level of intensity. Both are dark roasts that many can still enjoy.
However, I still think the Major Dickason Roast tastes much better within the list here. There is more flavor and somehow more smoothness behind the intensity and smoke of the coffee.
AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast vs Regular Coffee
AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast is a coffee roast. How will it compare against your regular brewed coffee? I mean those $1 coffees you get from gas stations or convenience stores.
For this experiment, I ventured to a nearby 7-Eleven and got myself a cup of Americano. I then drank the coffee alongside the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast.
The AmazonFresh coffee wins here. It has more flavor, possibly because it is a freshly opened bag of coffee. I get more satisfaction sipping this, too.
The ones you get in convenience stores tend to lack depth in flavor and can sometimes taste a little stale and watery. There are no such issues with my cup of AmazonFresh.
Is AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast For You?
Let’s say the AmazonFresh The Bold Dark Roast is a dark roast made for the budget-conscious. The packaging is simple, and the coffee is unpretentious, too, making it a good value dark roast.
To me, if you view the blend this way, you will thoroughly enjoy the blend. It is dark and intense, but not to the point of KO-ing your palate with an uppercut. There are also flavor notes you can enjoy, such as chocolate.
What I really love about this blend, however, is the long finish. This makes the coffee excellent as a ‘sipper’ that you nurse, and enjoy slowly since the taste stays in your mouth longer. You do not feel like chasing the flavor by sipping quickly.
The price is excellent too. The coffee may not be as good as Major Dickason Roast, but the price makes it an excellent coffee, too.