Hero Coffee Bar Whole Bean Roast Coffee, Dark, 1 Pound

Coffee beans are burnt and odor alone indicates such. Grinding and making it into our first cup of coffee did not improve the taste. Would NOT recommend unless that taste is preferred.

Since when does a food product not include an ingredient list? I don’t think coffee is an exception. Don’t get me wrong—we think Hero’s Mosaic Blend tastes very good, but the packaging is lacking ANY bean information. Other than stating that beans are sourced through direct trade relationships, there’s no information at all. Currently I have four different whole bean coffee brands sitting in my cupboard. Every single bag has an ingredient list (that clearly identifies type of beans used) and a small description of bean quality and sourcing. As an example, one bag names their single origin source (Honduras), the type of bean (100% Arabica) , and adds that they are certified organic and fair trade coffee. None of these bags costs more than $5 for a 12 oz. bag and all make a great tasting cup of coffee.Does Hero’s coffee taste any better than those cheaper brands? Although flavorful, we can’t taste much of a difference from the $5 bags. I don’t understand why unremarkable coffee with no bean information should cost this much.

I always find it a bit hard to review food products (coffee included) as tastes are so personnel but…here goes. First up- a confession- I like coffee. I really like coffee to the point that unless it’s so weak that it’s basically flavored water, I don’t really ever have anything negative to say about it. That’s said- I do like strong, dark coffee and Hero Mosaic Blend makes a pretty darn good cup of dark coffee.The beans are whole so I ground them myself- not too fine as I usually use a drip coffee maker but assume you could fine ground them for a French press and they would be fine as well. The smell was a nice rich coffee smell- nothing too out of the ordinary for the grinding process. Once brewing there was a strong, deep odor of dark coffee- rich and pleasant and overall a reasonably dark cup of coffee. Some have commented that the bag does not label where the beans are from- I assume “Mosaic” basically means there is not a specific point of origin- even to the extent that the beans are from different countries. That does not particularly bother me but if you have to know if your Java is from Java, then you might not like this. It’s also a bit pricy but if it is truly fair trade, not overly so. Overall- a good coffee that I enjoyed drinking!

There are several coffee flavors attached to this listing. I am specifically reviewing the Dark Roast.I am not a dark roast coffee person, I am a medium roast kind of guy. Most of the dark roast coffees I have tried have had either a very bitter taste or a burnt taste to them, and as such I have avoided dark roasts most of the time. I was interested in trying this dark roast, though, as I had not heard of the brand before and I am not shy about trying something new. I’m glad I did - I finally found a dark roast that I actually really like. It has excellent flavor, and it manages to avoid the bitterness and burnt flavor of other dark roasts I have tried.I took this bag to the office with the intention of sharing with my office mates. I didn’t share. I brought the bag back home and I’m going to drink all of it myself.The bag does not give any clues as to where the coffee beans were actually grown. This is a little unusual as most whole-bean bags tend to have some indication as to the origin. I don’t regard it as a big deal, but it’s a little on the unusual side.My biggest concern is the price which is a little steep for a 1-lb. bag. For the dark roast the current price as I write this is $17.99 and the other flavors are higher (some close to double). That’s a hefty price tag on a 1-lb. bag of coffee, and though the coffee is quite delicious it’s difficult to justify the cost beyond the occasional special occasion. Will I buy more? Probably, but it will be a treat versus a regular occurrence.

Our reviews for this coffee were mixed. I guess like a Mosaic, it was different things in different places (times). An attractive bag, it was intriguing from the get-go but I have to say that the taste left us wanting at times.The first time we made this coffee it was terrible. There was an acrid, sour smell in the air and the taste was about the same. It was quite surprising as the beans themselves had smelled good out of the bag and we thought maybe it was just a bad bunch. We persevered and tried again though and the second time the coffee came out smelling and tasting good. Nothing else was changed in the process of making the coffee, we did it the exact same way, so I'm not sure what the difference was.But that let us be a little wary of it. This isn't cheap coffee. If it's not going to be a consistent blend than I'm not sure it's worth the price point. Or really if the taste is worth the price point if it is consistent. When it turned out ok, it was a medium-mild blend of coffee and the main coffee drinker of the house said it was ok but that he preferred his other stuff more.Just an ok product. Pretty packaging, but maybe not worth the price tag.Review by M. Reynard 2018