Today’s installment of Qwowi’s K-Cup Challenge is sponsored by OneGreatCup.net.  Ken at 1 Great Cup has volunteered to be my West Coast supplier for this little project, and we greatly appreciate his support.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1 Great Cup was among the very first to offer single-serve coffee over the Internet.  They have an excellent selection and strive to always have the coffee you need in stock.

Diedrich Paradiso House Blend offers us the first opportunity to step outside our K-Cup comfort zone of the Green Mountain and Timothy’s brands.  I consider Diedrich to be a West Coast brand (not to sell the company short), based on the simple fact, that prior to trying a Keurig brewer, I had zero exposure to the brand (I’ve lived on the East Coast my whole life).  It’s always fun to mix things up a bit, so I’m excited to be branching out a bit.

What it Says on the Box

An exceptional roast we are proud to call our signature Dark Blend. This coffee offers a smooth, aromatic, dark rich flavor and is full bodied.

Additional Description

Paradiso is a unique blend of beans selected from four specific origins in order to achieve its smooth and rich characteristics. A wonderful depth of flavors are found in this dark roast coffee.

The Aroma

To be perfectly honest, when it comes to coffee, my sense of smell isn’t fully developed yet.  Paradiso House has a strong aroma, but I’m unable to pick out any one particular scent which allows me to say this smells like…  It smells good.  It’s not the least bit pungent.  There is perhaps a bit of pepper or spice.  Let’s leave it at that.

Drinking it Black

To be sure, this is a heavy bodied coffee.  It’s quite possibly the heaviest I’ve sampled yet with out an “Extra Bold” designation stamped on the cup.  It’s worth mentioning that Dietrich explicitly states that each K-Cup makes one 8oz. cup, so no jacking up your cup size setting and then complaining that your coffee’s week.  The onus is on you to follow directions.

There’s not a hint of bitterness to this well-balanced blend, and the acidity is very good for a such a dark roast.  The flavor is deep, and rich, but not in an unpleasant kick-you-in-the-head-while-you’re-sleeping kind of way.  The woody finish lingers, but not in a Kato Calin kind of way.  It knows when it’s time to leave.

With Cream and Sugar

Diedrich’s Paradiso House is heavier bodied, and a bit darker than the Green Mountain’s Our Blend we reviewed a couple weeks ago.  As house blends tend to be on the mild side, I was actually very surprised when my Dietrich Paradiso House scoffed at my attempt to soften it up.  That’s right, my cup of coffee was mocking my efforts to tame it.  If you like your coffee light and sweet, make sure you have abundant quantities (relatively speaking) of cream and sugar.  You’ll need them to get the job done.

The flavor holds up well, and if anything the cheek-tightening acidity becomes a little more prevelant.  The flavor is complex as one taste sensation rolls into the next before finishing strong.  It is a thoroughly enjoyable cup of joe.

Final Thoughts

It’s getting harder and harder to distinguish between all the cups of coffee I’ve been drinking lately. That said, Diedrich’s Paradiso House is one of the true stand-outs I’ve tried so far. It’s a no nonsense variety that plays as a darker alternative to Green Mountain’s tasty “Our Blend” (read the review).

With all the talk of aroma, body, notes, acidity, finish, etc., what sometimes gets lost are the reasons why we drink coffee.  Yes, it does a fine job of waking us up, but so do a lot of things.  We drink coffee because, quite simply, we like it.  I say this because when drinking my first cup of Diedrich’s Paradiso House blend, I lost track of all those details I just mentioned.  Instead, my reaction, my only reaction, was a delightfully simple; “Yeah, that’s a good cup of coffee”.  What more can you ask for?  It’s clear to see why this is Diedrich’s House blend.

With only one variety of Diedrich’s on our scoreboard so far, it’s far too early to pronounce the entire brand a winner, but they’re certainly off to a strong start.

Please continue to support the sponsors of The K-Cup Challenge.  You can order a box of Diedrich’s Paradiso House, from OneGreatCup.

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