Libation Review: Death Wish Coffee

Brand: Death Wish Coffee
Size: 16oz Bag in Whole Bean
Bean: Mix of Arabica and Robusta Beans
Amount Used: Between Three to Four Tablespoons of Beans
Price: $19.99 from Amazon.com

With the year wrapping up here in the next few weeks and the holidays in full swing, I wanted to do something a little different for this next review. We all have our favorite drink companion for our cigars, be it bourbon or one of my favorite single-malt scotchs. For this review, I wanted to talk about a recent coffee I found.

I discovered Death Wish Coffee via my Twitter stream although I can not remember from whom I can credit for this. In searching and arriving at their webpage, I was greeted with the following proclamation:

The World’s Strongest Coffee

That’s a pretty bold statement to make. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all about strong coffee. Given that I have a new baby that doing very well, he sometimes like to wake up at hours that doesn’t agree with his parents. What I am more interested in regarding the coffee is the taste. So let’s get right to it…

The whole beans have an oily sheen to them and the aroma can be described in a single word: Strong. We’ve been huge fans of the french press since switching to that method of coffee brewing several years ago. After about five minutes of brewing, I poured myself a cup and added a minimal amount of milk and sugar. For review purposes, I wanted to keep the additives of the coffee to a minimum. Like the beans, the coffee, when drank, has a slightly oily body around the palette but very smooth and easy drinking. In my younger years, I was not shy about enjoying heavily caffeinated beverages (Surge, Jolt, etc.). This is definitely some of the strongest coffee I have had in recent memory but my body didn’t feel like it was vibrating. For those strictly looking for a great-tasting cup of coffee that can wake you up, consider Death Wish Coffee.

In addition to simply reviewing the coffee, I wanted to see how it would pair with a cigar. With the cup of coffee shown and described above, I chose a Leaf by Oscar Sumatra as I wanted a medium bodied cigar as a baseline. Overall, it paired well but with how the coffee was for the review, the cigar is definitely the complement to the coffee. It simply overpowers the Leaf by Oscar. I would think that with a bit more milk/creamer/cream/sugar in the coffee, it would become an excellent pair and counterpoint to a full bodied cigar. To summarize, Death Wish Coffee makes a great pairing with cigars but be prepared to be wide awake when you are done. I performed this review starting around 9PM a few nights ago and if it weren’t for getting about four hours sleep the night before, I know it would have taken me slightly longer to get to sleep.

As always, thank you very much for reading. I hope everyone reading has a happy and safe Christmas next week.