
by Nigel Ong
Aside from its popular Breakfast Blend, Community Coffee also has many other styles of roasts in its collection. Some include the Signature Roast, New Orleans Roast, and so on.
One such popular Community Coffee roast is the American Classic Roast. Balanced and easy to drink, it probably is Community Coffee’s best-selling roast. I thought I’d pick up a bag and try it out.
I will brew and sample Community Coffee American Classic Roast in this post. I will also compare its flavors against other relevant coffee and decide if you should try this roast.
About Community Coffee American Classic Roast
Community Coffee may be common on grocery shelves, but few know its story. Founded by Norman “Cap” Saurage in 1919, it began as an experimental coffee blend sold at downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana grocery stores.
The coffee sold so well that Saurage had to shift his operations to a repurposed barn in 1923. By 1924, business was so brisk that he transitioned from regular grocery business to concentrating solely on coffee.
With a legacy spanning over a century, Community Coffee has continually evolved. Today, the brand imports coffee beans from regions such as Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico and roasts the coffee in the US.
Community Coffee remains a popular grocery coffee brand, and you can pick one up at major stores near you nationwide.
First Impression
The Community Coffee American Classic Roast bag in my hand is a regular-sized, 12-oz coffee bag. For those that operate in metric, that’s around 340 grams.
One good thing about Community Coffee is how it takes the issue of freshness seriously. Aside from the regular air-tight packaging with a one-way-valve, it also suggests a ‘brew before’ date. This easily prevents you from ending up with stale coffee.
The bright red packaging is the signature Community Coffee, and the American Classic Roast has a silver background and a large American flag. When placed on grocery aisles, it will be hard to mistake this roast for others.
When I opened the packaging, My nose immediately was greeted by a dose of smoke and fragrant coffee. I went closer to the coffee and went for a more serious sniff. Here, I could pick up some sweet notes from the aroma.
You will immediately know this is a medium, regular roast with a sweet flavor from the aroma. This could also be a ‘comfort’ coffee – simple in flavor but delivers them well.
My roast comes as coffee grounds, so I cannot directly compare the coffee beans with others. However, in appearance, the coffee looks browner. I take it as the beans are not roasted within an inch of their life.
How To Brew Community Coffee American Classic Roast?
I regularly brew my coffee in three major ways. Here are my reasons:
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 will brew my coffee using the Bodum Caffettiera French press. My brewing style and method are based on the recommendations of Illy Coffee.
In short, I’ll keep to the 1:12 ratio, using 15 grams of coffee and 180ml of hot water at around 185°F (about 85°C). After stirring the coffee ground, I will let the concoction brew for 4 minutes before pouring.
Pour Over With Filter Paper
If the French press is an immersion-based brewing style, pour-over is a dripping or titration style.
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.
I will be using this set of gear to make my pour-over coffee:
Based on a 1:18 ratio of coffee and hot water, my pour-over brewing steps are taken from Starbucks.
I will first focus on wetting and blooming the grind before slowly pouring the hot water over the coffee to ensure maximum extraction.
Espresso
The Community Coffee American Classic Roast may be a medium roast, but I will still brew it as an espresso. The reason is simple – I want to try the coffee with its flavor concentrated into a small cup.
For espresso, I will be using my Wacaco Minipresso GR to pull an espresso shot. This is a hand-held, manually-operated espresso maker.
How Does Community Coffee American Classic Roast Taste?
French Press
The coffee looks dark with some slight transparency, much like regular coffee. The aroma is inviting, with fresh bread and a cracker-like smell. Very inviting.
The taste of the coffee matches the aroma; the coffee is soft, mellow, and smooth to the palate. Body and acidity are there, but not to the point that you may notice it much. It lingers in the background, doing its thing.
As I sipped the coffee, I picked up crisp cocoa notes on my palate. The bitterness shines through, cutting through the regular coffee taste. Some starchy sweetness also tastes like fresh bread melting on my tongue.
After swallowing the coffee, the coffee finishes okay when there is some lingering taste of fresh bread. As I sip, I also seem to occasionally pick up notes of vanilla, which is very pleasant to my palate.
I can enjoy This comfortable, easy-to-drink cup of coffee all day. I can see people brew a pot, leave it warm, and have cups of it all day.

Pour Over With Filter Paper
The pour-over coffee version, or Community Coffee American Classic Roast, tastes lighter and ‘cleaner’ to me compared to the ‘dirty’ style brew of French Press.
This is expected, as the filter paper kept the fine particles from entering the coffee cup. As a result, the coffee has less smoke and earthiness.
The filter paper, however, also soaked up some of the coffee oils that flavor the coffee. This means the coffee has a less intense flavor, although the weaker smoke compensated for it.
I could pick up a stronger chocolate note in a pour-over cup. This again may point to the coffee being less smoky than the French press cup.
Espresso
My Community Coffee American Classic Roast espresso cup looks beautiful, with rich, creamy, brownish crema. The crema layer is inviting and smells amazing.
I can pick up the notes of fresh bread from the crema by sniffing. This is going to be a soft, flavorful cup of espresso. It’s not the type you gulp down because it’s too strong.
I was not wrong here. The usual palate-smashing smoke is not there, and the coffee is not as strong as traditional espresso. Instead, I taste soft, fresh bread notes with some wood.
The espresso also seems to carry a stronger hint of vanilla, perhaps because the espresso condensed the flavors into a small cup. Swallow the espresso down, let the aftertaste linger on your palate, and see if you agree.
With Sugar
Next, I added a brown, coarse sugar stick to my French press Community Coffee American Classic Roast cup.
I tried the coffee and thought I’d add half a stick more. The coffee now tastes much better and more balanced.
On the appearance, the sugar added a bit of shine to the coffee. It also made it a bit thicker, with better texture. Swish it in your mouth, and you’ll know what I mean.
Taste-wise, the sugar accentuated the chocolate note and helped cut into a bit of its acidity. The sweetness also does not interfere with the coffee’s smoke, making the whole package easy to drink and enjoy.
With Sweetener
With sweetener, I turn to probably the most popular artificial sweeteners out there – Equal.
The active sweetener inside equal is Aspartame, which has different properties to sugar. As a result, the sweetness I get from Equal also differs from sugar.
When I sip my Community Coffee American Classic Roast cup, the sweetness seems to come a bit later. I’ll get the smoke and earthy note before the sweetness comes in.
The sweetness comes late and then stays for far too long, too. It lingers on my palate long after I have swallowed the coffee.
The whole experience is less natural, and I prefer the sugared version. But for those with sugar issues, this may be the next best option.
With Milk
I prepared a bit of whole, UHT, fresh cow’s milk to drink with my Community Coffee American Classic Roast. Here, I added a single shot (about 30 ml or 1 oz) into my cup of coffee.
The milk turns the coffee brownish, and it loses its slight transparency. This gives it a more solid body. The coffee also developed a bit of texture, probably taking in the viscosity of milk. The coffee feels more playful and ‘bouncy’ inside my mouth.
Taste-wise, the milk takes away some of the bolder and earthy flavors of the coffee. It also cuts into the bitterness of the coffee, making it rounder and less edgy in flavor.
There is also some subtle sweetness, thanks to the lactose in the milk. I also enjoy how the cocoa notes turn a bit chocolatey because of the lactose in the milk. This roast makes great milk coffee.
With Creamer
Next up, I added a single stick of Coffee Mate non-dairy creamer to my coffee. The creamer did the same thing to my Community Coffee American Classic Roast cup as milk.
It mellows the coffee further and brings out the chocolate notes of the coffee more. I think the creaminess also helped to accentuate the vanilla flavor too.
There is also a slight increase in sweetness at the finish. The creaminess is also there, making the coffee quite indulgent.
My only issue is that the creamer does not enrich the coffee and milk. The creaminess is there, but it does not deliver it solidly compared to milk.
American Classic Roast vs. Community Coffee Roasts
Aside from the Community Coffee American Classic Roast, I have some other coffee roasts from Community Coffee on my shelves. I figure I’ll brew them all and sample them side by side:
- Community Coffee Breakfast Blend
- Community Coffee Signature Blend
After trying it all, I’m torn between the American Roast and the Breakfast Blend. Both are equally easy-to-drink coffee that is not edgy in flavor. One tastes chocolatey, while the Breakfast Blend has a peanut-forward flavor.
I gravitate towards lighter, not too smoky coffee with hints of sweetness and chocolate notes. As a result, I think I’ll go with the American Classic Roast over the breakfast Blend, but just by the smallest of margins.
The Signature Roast may be too smoky for me to enjoy, thanks to its dark roast.

Community Coffee American Classic vs. Medium Blends
Next, I will compare Community Coffee American Classic Roast with other popular medium roasts in my collection. These include:
- Gevalia House Blend
- Lavazza Qualita Oro
- Folgers 1850 Pioneer Roast
- Dunkin Original Blend
I would place the American Classic Roast behind only the Dunkin Original and the Gevalia. It beats out the Folgers 1850 marginally.
To my palate, the American Classic Roast and Folgers taste very similar. However, I just enjoyed the vanilla notes slightly more, which made me place it ahead of the Folgers roast.
Community Coffee American Classic vs. Regular Coffee
I picked up a cup of regular Americano from the most regular of places, a 7-Eleven.
I want to compare my Community Coffee American Classic Roast coffee with a regular cup of joe, especially those $1 coffees you can get from gas stations or convenience stores.
Undoubtedly, the Community Coffee American Classic Roast coffee wins here. The American Classic simply tastes better, with more flavor depth and finish. It gives me more satisfying sips, too.
Is Community Coffee American Classic Roast For You?
The Community Coffee American Classic Roast may be your all-American classic, similar to Dunkin Original. It has a familiar, comfortable taste with a touch of chocolate and vanilla.
The decent finish makes it a good sipper that you can enjoy slowly while reading a book or working.This coffee works perfectly as a daily or regular coffee that does not give you surprises. This is also great coffee if you like a bit of vanilla notes in your coffee. If you want to try one, pick up a bag of Community Coffee American Classic Roast online from Amazon.