If you enjoy dark roasts, Saka has quite a following here as a traditional, Italian espresso.

The taste profile may be a bit different as Peet's isn't clear as to which "indo-pacific" coffee is in their blends. Classic Italian espresso usually includes robusta coffee, which usually has a richer body and distinctive flavor. Some of the top roasters provide several blends with varying levels of robusta to accommodate varying tastes.

It probably started somewhere in The hunt for best Italian roasted coffee beans

and is now available regularly in the US New Batch of Saka Coffee in Stock! August 11th 2022

The best of the Italian roasters are able to provide a product that lasts a long time on the shelf. "Within a month of roast" is very fresh for these coffees, with some going out six months, a year, or more. Once opened, they should be cared for like other coffees and used promptly.

Milligan wrote:He did note that other coffees work fine.

I missed that. Sorry...

FWIW, I've been drinking Peet's Las Hermanas for a while now and found it more to my taste -- low acid, lots of chocolate and hazelnuts -- than beans from a lot of well-respected local roasters (N San Diego), which tend to be either too dark or light/fruity/acidic. I buy from the local shop and my one condition is that the beans be no more than a week off roast. So far, I haven't been disappointed.

I wanted to see if I encounter the same problem with Peets. I bought a 1/2 pound bag of holiday blend and 1/2 lb bag of Big Bang and they both ran like water through my portafilter. One shot of each was enough. I fed the rest of the coffee to my husband as a pour over with milk and sugar. He was none the wiser. Lol

Both bags were bought at my local Peets 7 days post roast.

We officially made a full time switch to Red Bird Coffee Beans, base on a recommendation from this thread actually.

We tried the popular 'red bird espresso' first and found it a bit to sweet for us but we were amazed by the quality of the beans and incredible fast shipping for free! We then tried 'Blue Jaguar' which we just didn't enjoy but again the bean quality was amazing.

The we found it, the one and only for us now...'Mountain High Espresso'. My wife and I both looked at each other after tasting it at the same time and had big eyes lol. It really makes amazing latte's and we get it in Maryland 2 days off roast with free standard shipping. I can only recommend it if you're in the market for new beans, you won't be disappointed!

LaNovice1982 wrote:
... open for ideas of new coffee beans

I like Third coast coffee dot com, you could chat with them re dark roast options. Their medium roast I've had is good.

Edit: I didn't read page 2 of this thread,lol. Nice video!