If you have a bean-to-cup coffee machine without removable burrs, you'll probably find that the manufacturer recommends not using dark roasts, for this reason. This is simply because the oils that are present in darker roasted beans can coat the burrs of your grinder, and this can lead to clogging, which isn't a big deal if you have removable burrs, as you can just whip them out and give them a wipe. As I've said in quite a few posts on .uk and in YouTube videos, dark oily beans aren't the best for bean to cup coffee machines.

This is a dark roasted coffee, so it's a dark coloured shiny, oily bean. These coffee beans are certified organic and fairtrade, and will work with all brewing methods, including espresso, but see my note below re bean to cup machines. The Speciality Coffee Association score of this coffee is 84, the varietals are Tim-tim, Bourbon and Ateng, and the processing method is Galling Basah, a wet hulling (semi washed) process which is specific to Sumatra. This Sumatra Mandheling comes from the Permata Gayo cooperative in the Gayo Highlands region of central Aceh in Sumatra, where over two thousand smallholders work together to produce this incredible coffee which is grown at an altitude of 1200-1600m. There are some subtle berry notes in there too which you may detect if you have a more developed palate, but the main flavour I get from this is dark chocolate, along with caramel notes and a slight smokiness. If you're one of the many coffeeblog readers who helped me to develop The Coffeeworks back in 2020, who told me that one of your favourite flavour notes in coffee was dark chocolate, then this one is for you!

Sumatra mandheling coffee