Death Wish Coffee: A reader ordered it... but what's it like?

[IDrinkPurelyCoffee]

One of my readers at my blog ordered this coffee.

Death Wish Coffee, The World's Strongest Ground Coffee Beans, Fair Trade and Organic

I'd never heard it of it... but the blurb says:

"Death wish coffee has double the amount of caffeine of a standard cup of coffee and it tastes amazing^We take pride in our beans being fair trade and organic^The beans are carefully selected and roasted to perfection in order to provide a bold, smooth and strong cup of coffee^We use numerous tests and record keeping to ensure that each batch is consistent so that you can always expect the quality that matches our standards"

Have you tried it? What's it like? What other coffees are similar? Do they boost the caffeine with the addition of robusta beans? How do you get "double the caffeine" from arabica beans?

Curious.

Kenneth

 

[peterjschmidt]

Have not tried it, but it sounds like a gimmick.

 

[coffeeroastersclub]

"Death wish coffee has double the amount of caffeine of a standard cup of coffee and it tastes amazing^

Yeah, double the caffeine because you have to use twice as much grounds per cup.

:-D

Len

 

[coffeemannw]

Probably a blend of Robusta and gimmick.

 

[Mhippo]

It's 100% robusta, and the brewing instructions are 2.5 tablespoons of finely ground coffee for 6 oz of water. So it's a combination of robusta beans and higher coffee to water ratio.

 

[Bardo]

There is a bag of it on the counter at work. No one dares open it. It is not inviting.

 

[Nanalovecoffee]

Tried it couple of months ago, it was ok. Definitely stronger than normal coffee but did not feel the "death" part. However, the sthrength and taste also depends on the water and coffee ground ratio and how fine the beans are grounded. Just my personal apionion.

 

[slurp]

Doing product research I ordered this. You are correct lots of robusta and crap coffee. I take some pictures tomorrow and post.

 

[seeingcoffee]

It's brilliant. Grab some organic, fair trade $1.50 per pound robusta, get a bunch of custom printed bags with a skull and crossbones at $.30 per unit, add roasting costs, packaging costs, etc, they end up with an under $3 bag of garbage with effective marketing selling for $20/lb. Once listing and fulfillment fees are paid to Amazon, I bet they are netting $8 per unit. The beauty is, they don't need to worry about how it performs on the cupping table because their target audience doesn't even know what a cupping table is!

I'm on the verge of copying them, except my skull will have a moustache to differentiate itself from their logo.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

I love it! Death 'Stache Coffee...

 

[sjmyst]

I recently did a review of Robusta coffee beans and Death Wish was one of the brands that had mostly great reviews. I agree with many of the comments above that Robusta is typically "crap" coffee. Doing reviews on a lot of different brands, I have found one common theme is that many reviewers seem to think that Robusta beans taste like "burnt rubber". Robusta beans are also typically much cheaper than Arabica (the primary reason being the taste).

On the other hand, those that have tried Death Wish seem to either like it, or are just too embarrassed to admit that they fell for the marketing "gimmick" like a previous reviewer suggested. Even though some might find the marketing a "gimmick", Robusta does provide higher caffeine content than Arabica. So, even though they are overpricing these Robusta beans, they are somewhat living up to the "gimmick".

Also, if you purchase through Amazon, they are claiming to provide a "full refund, no questions asked" if the coffee beans don't live up to the hype. So, what do you have to lose (beside the hassle of getting your refund).

During my research of Death Wish, here were some purchaser reviews I found either funny or useful:

• “Man, my wife drank a cup and about bust thru the wall like Kool Aid”.
• “Wow!!! that’s some good tasting coffee. I’m a truck driver and need to keep alert”.
• “This coffee is pretty good honestly, and the kick it gives you is great. If you want to stay up all night look no further!”.

Regards,
sjmyst

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

I recently did a review of Robusta coffee beans and Death Wish was one of the brands that had mostly great reviews. I agree with many of the comments above that Robusta is typically "crap" coffee. Doing reviews on a lot of different brands, I have found one common theme is that many reviewers seem to think that Robusta beans taste like "burnt rubber". Robusta beans are also typically much cheaper than Arabica (the primary reason being the taste).

On the other hand, those that have tried Death Wish seem to either like it, or are just too embarrassed to admit that they fell for the marketing "gimmick" like a previous reviewer suggested. Even though some might find the marketing a "gimmick", Robusta does provide higher caffeine content than Arabica. So, even though they are overpricing these Robusta beans, they are somewhat living up to the "gimmick".

Also, if you purchase through Amazon, they are claiming to provide a "full refund, no questions asked" if the coffee beans don't live up to the hype. So, what do you have to lose (beside the hassle of getting your refund).

During my research of Death Wish, here were some purchaser reviews I found either funny or useful:

• “Man, my wife drank a cup and about bust thru the wall like Kool Aid”.
• “Wow!!! that’s some good tasting coffee. I’m a truck driver and need to keep alert”.
• “This coffee is pretty good honestly, and the kick it gives you is great. If you want to stay up all night look no further!”.

Regards,
sjmyst

What we know: The average consumer does not truly understand or appreciate the nuances of great coffee. The average consumer believes that Starbucks is a purveyor of fine coffee. The average consumer still drinks stale R&G coffee that's had moisture added in packaging to increase package weight. The average consumer review on coffee is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine...I can't even recall the last time I've used that expression...

One note on Robusta though. Not all Robusta is grown at low altitude for the purpose of being little more that filler in commercial blends. I took a roasting class years ago from Robert Hensley in Burlingame, CA. Robert is a former sales rep for Probat, and is somewhat of an expert on coffee. He also imports both coffee and tea into the SF Bay area...a significant coffee market. To hear him talk highly about some estate robusta coming out of Panama almost made me question his sanity at the time, but realistically, arabica's fare no better at low elevations. Not saying that the best estate robusta will ever rival the finest arabicas, but meticulously grown & processed robusta can stand toe to toe with many arabica's being sold as single origin and estate.

 

[Nav]

Have to admit, they have good marketing for basically all Robusta.

 

[Bardo]

I don't drink coffee for the caffeine. If that was my only criteria, I guess I would be drinking Five hour energy right now instead of this sweet Costa Rica cup. Seems like everyone is justifying their purchase of this gimmick. I guess it has surpassed the flash-in-the-pan stage now that they have purchased a Super Bowl ad, though. Strange.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

I don't drink coffee for the caffeine. If that was my only criteria, I guess I would be drinking Five hour energy right now instead of this sweet Costa Rica cup. Seems like everyone is justifying their purchase of this gimmick. I guess it has surpassed the flash-in-the-pan stage now that they have purchased a Super Bowl ad, though. Strange.

Hey Bardo...I love Costa Rican coffee...as well as Ethiopian, Sumatran, PNG...[endless list]. Death Wish Coffee did NOT purchase a Super Bowl ad. Intuit Quickbooks ran a contest "Small Business Big Game" in which the prize awarded was the ad spot for Super Bowl 50 at Intel Stadium. DWC selected from what I believe were approx. 12,000 entries. Link to Small Business Big Game webpage.