El Diablo

***Edited to add:*** I ordered this when it was sold out, so it was pretty fresh when it finally came to me after a week presumably right after they reordered it--I didn't check the roast date, but it got nice and foamy on top while brewing in the French press. Ordering when Amazon is out of stock is probably the key to guaranteeing you get fresh-ish beans. Requires patience, but if you don't live somewhere you can run out and buy a bag and don't feel like paying crazy shipping fees from the Intelligentsia site, what you gonna do? This coffee has a vivid, complex, dark flavor, yet it's incredibly smooth with no bitterness if you brew it properly. I'm not usually a black coffee girl, but I can drink this one straight up. Since Intelligentsia's description says El Diablo Roast offers a look at some of the coffees available each season, I'd imagine different "vintages" would have a slightly different flavor. Check out the brew guides on Intelligentsia's website. The French press guide will yield you a pretty strong cup if you follow the proportions (which go by grams of coffee to grams of water). But that's just how I like it! Finally, if you're going to drop this much cash on coffee, be sure to buy the whole bean and grind it yourself. I hope Amazon gets more in soon!

Nice strong aroma strong but not bitter very smooth taste can smell and taste the chocolate

El Diablo blend: If I could rate less than one star, I would. Beans were very dry and low in flavor. When ground up, the grounds are dry and lightweight and the texture is fluffy like sawdust. Overall, this was/is really bad, weak coffee even when I almost doubled the amount suggested. I won’t be buying this brand again. From what i have read, Intelligentsia is now owned by Peets, which in turn is owned by a private equity firm, JAB Holdings, an investment company controlled by four billionaire siblings.

I have been ordering this for over a year and loved it. However, the batch i have now is different- not full bodied or carmel-ish. i guess they changed the formula. i’m having to add espresso to make it full bodied. I’ll have to find a new brand.🙁

I’m not a coffee snob. I can’t tell you if these beans have hints of caramel, leather, or “equestrian." I’m just a guy with a Breville Barista Pro, a caffeine habit, and a love for a solid dark roast. These beans hit the spot. Bold, rich, and reliable. They make a great espresso and hold up well in an iced americano too. That said, I’m not loving the new packaging. I’ll admit it—I’m a label guy (same with wine), and the old design was way more appealing. If I had seen the current branding on the shelf, I probably would’ve kept walking.

While the base product, the coffee itself, appears to be decent, it seems to be quite hard to get a fresh batch of this from Amazon. You'd think with all the traffic they do you'd be able to get something relatively recent.. but all of my recent coffee orders from amazon have been older batches, including this particular blend. It's unfortunate, but it looks like ordering expensive coffee from amazon is a problem. This seems to be mainly because it's treated like a regular packaged good with indefinite shelf life, rather than a carefully managed produce item, which is subject to spoilage.

I'm no connoisseur but my xBloom Studio allows me to reproduce more or less identical pourovers, across different batches of the same branded roast. I usually prefer brighter medium roasts, but let me say: over the past year, I've not found any other roast that's as consistently delicious, month after month, as Intelligentsia's El Diablo. Rich, smooth, and never bitter or burnt tasting like some dark roasts. I give this "safe choice" two thumbs up.

I'm sure many people would not agree that El Diablo is a great coffee, that is until they taste it. I roasted coffee for a year at the medium size coffee company, I was sent to an expensive coffee school, yes there are such places, and was tasked with trying to get a roast to compete against El Diablo, I got close. Only by using the almost exact same beans, Intelligentsia is one of the few roasters that almost give gps locations of their green beans, that info is almost always company secrets. Almost all the green beans from that area are great, some are fantastic, El Diablo is beyond those marks. Way beyond. I make just one cup, pour over style, use the right amount for your taste, it brews strong, maybe try using less even. Deep dark mollases, chocolate, oak, melon, and check for the "red ring" in your cup, this coffee should always show it. I do not add anything to it for me, ie milk, cream or sugar, I've been told it does work for that too though.