What I’m Drinking – Dunkin Donuts Original Blend Medium Roast

by Mike on July 1, 2009 in Coffee Reviews

Dunkin DOnuts Original Blend Medium Roast

The Drink: Dunkin Donuts Original Blend Medium Roast

Type: Ground Coffee

Overall Rating: 1 out of 5 coffee cups

In my mailbox this week was a sample of the Dunkin Donuts Orginal Blend Medium Roast. I used to buy their ground coffee on a regular basis, but this is the first time I’ve brewed their coffee at home in many months.

If this was a sample to entire me to buy their coffee more often, they failed. The coffee was dead on arrival. The first bad sign was the “Best If Used By” date was March 28, 2010. There’s no indication of when it was roasted, but I’m guessing that it wasn’t anytime recently.

I opened up the bag and was greeted with a weak, but pleasant nutty aroma with a hint of sweetness. The grounds inside were dry and lifeless looking. I was trying to look at it from an unbiased point of view, but it wasn’t looking too good so far.

It had an overwhelming nutty taste and while it was supposed to be a Medium Roast, it tasted more like a Dark Roast. I’d even go as far as to say it tasted burnt. There was also a hint of a chemical taste that lingered in my mouth and not in the good way like the coffee I had yesterday.

Besides the few times where my order was mixed up by an employee, I’ve never had Dunkin Donuts black before. I’m pretty sure the extra cream and sugar hides the taste, but it did nothing to help this coffee. I think it even made it worse, almost to the point where it was undrinkable.

After the first cup, I was thinking it was worth a two cup rating, but I had to give it a one cup rating after that second cup.

Now, I’m afraid to go back and try my old favorite, their French Vanilla flavor. That used to be something I’d pick up every week at the grocery store, but that was before I started exploring coffee for more than just the caffeine value.

Have you ever tried the Dunkin Donuts coffee that you can brew at home? What were your thoughts on it?

—

Photo by ashe-villain

No related posts.

Tagged as: Dunkin Donuts, Dunkin Donuts Medium Roast

Article by Mike Crimmins

Mike Crimmins is the highly caffeinated blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee. Besides drinking way too much coffee, he's obsessed with the Yankees and getting dirty on his mountain bike.

Mike has written 584 awesome articles.

Subscribe to Daily Shot Of Coffee feed via RSS to receive updates. We also have a weekly newsletter.

Did you know? You can support this site by visiting the Daily Shot Of Coffee Shop. Thank you for your support.

{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

Tara July 1, 2009 at 9:05 pm: As a former Dunkin Donuts fan, all I can say is once you go fresh-roasted, you never go back. Next time maybe you should take a loooong break between our coffee and DD. Or better yet, just avoid it altogether. =)

And yes, I have been slightly enticed by the FREE snail mail samples. But I believe they are are still sitting in a cabinet somewhere…

Reply
Mike July 1, 2009 at 9:18 pm: You’re right, I couldn’t resist the free snail mail samples, however, I’d recommend that you leave it in your cabinet. But I think you’re right, it really wasn’t fair to them to drink your coffee and then there’s the very next day.

Reply
MAS July 1, 2009 at 9:32 pm: You ever hear a Californian talk about “good pizza” and see a former New Yorker roll their eyes? That is my response when I hear East Coasters talk about how good DD coffee is.

Reply
Tara July 1, 2009 at 9:46 pm: True, MAS-DD does have a disturbingly large fan base in the Northeast, at least. I like to attribute it to the fact that it has a drive-thru (not many others besides Starbucks). Either that or a lot of people here have convoluted tastebuds. =)

Reply
Mike July 1, 2009 at 9:52 pm: I’m that New Yorker who rolls their eyes about any pizza outside of the tri-state area. However, when I went through my DD phase I was living in Chicago, which is supposed to be a Starbucks city, I’m just weird like that.

Reply
Jason Coffee host of Coffee Cup News July 2, 2009 at 1:25 am: I have not but my neighbor brought me over a bag to try last week. I will be trying it this week and of course doing a review on it. It will be interesting to see if there is a difference in opinion or not.

I like that you did not hold back on your opinion of this coffee btw. nice work.

Reply
Mike July 2, 2009 at 7:53 am: I can’t wait to hear your take on it. Hopefully, you get a better batch of it.

When it comes to products where I think the manufacture is under performing, I tend to not hide my voice, bad habit I guess.

Reply
Allen July 2, 2009 at 8:27 am: My brother swore by the stuff for a while. He bought me a bag and it failed to impress. Like you, though, I was drinking much better stuff at the time so DD didn’t have a chance. Honestly, I don’t think it stood up even to pre-ground Folgers . . .

Reply
Mike July 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm: I’ve been avoiding Folgers for a while now, but that might make an interesting coffee comparison.

Reply
Karl July 2, 2009 at 2:31 pm: I’ve never brewed Dunkin Donuts at home, but just ordered some the other day… I hope my experience with it goes a bit smoother.

Reply
Mike July 2, 2009 at 3:12 pm: Karl, let me know how it goes. I’d be curious to know what your opinion of it is.

Reply
Extreme John July 3, 2009 at 11:26 pm: With that rating it makes me happy I stuck with my normal double cream double sugar ice coffee.

Reply
Keurig July 4, 2009 at 1:54 am: I lived in Brooklyn for five years after living in Seattle. I couldn’t believe how popular DD’s coffee was in the Northeast. In Seattle it’s not even on the radar. Now their blueberry cake donut… that’s another story.

Tell you what, I miss the pizza though! Nobody does it like my little secret Italian mafia pizza join in East Harlem. I think it was E 108th and Lexington or something… Plato De Oro. The cook actually held me up with a butchers knife when I turned down his Teira Misu.

Reply
Mike July 4, 2009 at 8:29 am: Only in New York would you have the cook do something like that. Just as much as New York pizza, I miss the bread. No one outside of the tristate area seems to be able to replicate either of these, even at the so-called NY pizza places and bakeries.

Reply
Frank July 27, 2009 at 3:53 pm: That coffee sounds like it can survive a nuclear winter! Typical corporate solution with the packaging.

Reply
Mike July 27, 2009 at 4:04 pm: I’m pretty sure if there is a nuclear war this would survive. LOL. I swear their ground coffee used to be better, maybe it was the packaging or this one was stale.

Reply