Review: Wolfgang Puck Chef’s Reserve Colombian K-Cups for Keurig

Many of you know Wolfgang Puck as a World-famous chef with his own line of restaurants and retail food items, so when a chef of his stature decided to enter the K-Cup scene, we got really interested, really fast (after all, some of Emeril’s K-Cups weren’t too shabby). Distributed by Van Houtte (a recent acquisition which was the final card in GMCR’s royal flush poker hand of K-Cup manufacturers), we attended different events surrounding the launch of these K-Cups and decided it was about time we started reviewing the line-up. As a result, we kick things off today with the Wolfgang Puck Chef’s Reserve Colombian K-Cups.

Upon brewing, strong aromas of earthiness & dark chocolate fill the room although that’s no surprise since this is billed as a dark roast. We’ll admit the scent was a bit more balanced than what we’ve seen in other dark roasts since we got the earthy notes of the beans but no overbearing burnt notes of the actual roasting process or any hickory smoke characteristics seen in a few other dark roast varieties on the market.

Flavor was satisfyingly rich with more of the earthy tones of the aroma revealing themselves at first, then giving way to notes of dark chocolate throughout. Acidity was rather strong at first, but mellowed as we neared the bottom of the cup. We feel it would likely hold up well to cream & sugar. Also present was a somewhat oily mouth feel although it didn’t prevent us from enjoying the coffee in any way.

Body was your typical dark brown color with shades of orange/red when held to a light source. Although labeled as a dark roast, we’re not sure if typical dark roast drinkers will find this coffee to be strong enough for their tastes. Keeping that in mind, we still enjoyed this K-Cup and liked the fact that it “wasn’t too strong & wasn’t too weak”. We think those who like strong medium roasts will like the added flavor kick of this darker variety but bottom line, this is a really good K-Cup no matter which way you look at it.

• Aroma – 9 – Not as burnt as we were expecting. Strong earthy notes with scents of dark chocolate abound.
• Acidity – 8 – Strong at first, but mellows nicely over time. Would likely go well with cream & sugar.
• Body – 8 – Your typical dark brown with notes of orange/red when held to a light source.
• Flavor – 10 – This is where this K-Cup shines. We were expecting your average fare of overly charred coffee beans but it would seem the oils stayed in the mouth feel while the pleasing earthy notes & dark chocolate flavors imparted themselves in the final taste. Just plain satisfying overall.
• Mouth Feel – 8 – As noted above, somewhat oily but not to the point where it hindered anything.
• Coffee Drinker – Suited best for occasional dark roast drinkers, although who knows, maybe dark roast lovers will find this strong enough for them after all? We still think this is worth a try regardless.

Overall Rating: 93 - Exceptional

We think Van Houtte’s decision to partner with Chef Wolfgang Puck was as good as Timothy’s decision to partner with Chef Emeril Lagasse. It’s always interesting to see how professional chefs can employ their knowledge of how certain flavors or food characteristics will pair well together and when you partner this with the coffee roasting knowledge of renowned coffee companies, only good things can result. This K-Cup serves as further proof why GMCR wanted to acquire Van Houtte so intently.

Wolfgang Puck Chef’s Reserve Colombian K-Cups will work in your Keurig Elite B40 Brewer, Keurig B50, Keurig Special Edition Ultra Elite B60, Keurig Platinum B70 Brewer, Breville BKC600XL/BKC700XL Gourmet Single Cup Brewer, and other Keurig K Cup brewers including the Keurig Mini Plus and Keurig Mini B30.

The Wolfgang Puck Chef’s Reserve Colombian K-Cups are available for $14.45 USD at www.vanhoutte.com and CoffeeWiz.com.

We would like to take this time to thank CoffeeWiz.com for sending us a box of these K-Cups for the purpose of this review.

Read how we review and rate single-serve coffee and other single-serve coffee beverages here.

A special thanks to SH for providing this Single Serve Coffee staff review.

Read More in: K Cup Reviews | Keurig & K-Cups | Reviews

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