Coffee from the formerly known Dunkin' Donuts is insanely popular in other parts of the country. I saw the beans and decided to give it a whirl, or a brew.
The bag had dates that appeared the beans were roasted, or packaged about a month before I picked it up. There was a second date on the bag telling me the beans would be at their best for nearly a year. Thus, I decided to try 12oz of Dunkin' "Original Blend" medium roast coffee.
I brew pour-over coffee these days and use a stainless steel filter. So, I cleaned the filter with citric acid before grinding the beans on a setting that was more medium than fine and gave it a whirl. The coffee behaved like coffee and smelled like coffee. One of my closest friends, with whom I discuss coffee, told me I'd throw the pot and the beans away. He had tried Dunkin' coffee at someplace serving Dunkin' coffee, and it was awful, burnt and Starbucks-y.
I have had to throw Starbucks beans away. In a mad dash to find coffee one day, I tried two or three local coffee roasters, and everyone was out. The closest supermarket to me was a mile away, and I was on foot. A very tourist-focused Starbucks was close by and had whole beans. They had whole beans because no one ever buys beans at that Starbucks, and they must have been years old. They crap they brewed and the rest of the bag went into the trash.
Dunkin' was not bad at all. At the first taste of piping how brew, I thought, "This is fine, its coffee." However, as the coffee cooled slightly, it developed a very mild aftertaste. It took me a while, lost in coffee nostalgia, to figure out the taste. Dunkin' coffee comes pre-imbued with the flavor of those giant urns of coffee used to serve at a public school event for parents, at a big meeting or conference that had catering but not specialty coffee brought in—those urns. While my Chemex and filter were clean, the less-than-hot Dunkin' has a hit of uncleaned, old-event vat coffee.
Honestly, I do not mind that coffee. It reminds me of meetings where the coffee was the best thing. I did not throw out the beans and had two to three pots of coffee a day while the bag lasted. I won't return to Dunkin' beans regularly, but depending on what else is available and the price at my local grocery store, I might buy it again. I should also note that the coffee pollutes the stainless filter faster than any other roast I've found and needs deep cleaning more often.
I don't add milk, sugar, or any sweeteners to my coffee anymore. I think this coffee would be really good with condensed milk. Or maybe a donut.
