Smithereens is a dark roast in the traditional sense. It goes where most specialty coffee roasters aren't willing to venture. It's intense, bold, full-bodied, but still complex in aroma and flavor. If you describe your coffee by its strength, then this one's for you! We enjoy Smithereens in a press, batch brew, or espresso.

Our cofounder's Dad is a stalwart dark roast drinker, and our (not as) dark roast Off the Rails wasn't quite dark enough for him. Early iterations weren't satisfying the team, and the project was put on hold until popular roasting consultant Rob Hoos released his book, "Exploring the Dark Side," which described an alternative approach to roasting dark coffees. We read through and put the advice into practice; the results were immediately compelling.

Smithereens is a 50-50 pre-roast blend of a natural East Timor and a washed Indian Hemavathy. The Timor comes from our long-standing partnership with Covoya, whereas the Indian we import ourselves via a direct trade relationship with Poornima and her sustainable, woman-owned farm. The two coffees are similar in density, moisture content, and size, and therefore roast similarly. Blending pre-roast allows the roast profile itself (and its intense caramelized and dry-distillation notes) to take center stage. We roast this blend on our Diedrich IR-5 drum roaster, affectionally known as "Big Red."

• Type: Pre-roast Blend
• Roast: Very dark
• Counties: East Timor and India
• Regions: Letefoho and Chikmagalur
• Processing: Natural; Anaerobic Washed, shade dried on raised beds
• Cultivars: Mixed; Hemavathy Cross
• We Taste: Licorice, Sweet Pipe Tobacco, Bakers Cocoa
• Certificates:
  • East Timor: Organic & Fair Trade
  • India: No certificate but grown with practices surpassing organic requirements
• Elevation: 1,600+ MASL
• Our green price: ~$4.25/lb