The third and final review of the Crackd coffee trilogy. G-Force, the dark roast.
I love a dark roast coffee, which I’m fairly certain I’ve written about enough on this site! I’m alaso a big fan of the other Crackd Coffee’s, so it seems like a no-brainer, right?
Well……..G-Force tastes great, like a seriously dark roast. But I have to be honest, I had higher expectations, coming off the Focusd and Gamr reviews.
Where Crackd have mastered the roasting and bringing out the flavours of the beans. I found that G-Force was a little different. It’s important to note that it isn’t neccessarily a bad thing, but I was definitely surprised here.
Obviously, I’ll go into the details below, but I think I have the most mixed-feelings on this roast.
The process
I can’t lie, I love my process and I love dialling it in closer and closer to perfection, every single day.
Reviewing G-Force is no expection here.
Putting it through it’s paces, using a Chemex, Hario V60, Cafetiere, Espresso Machine, Moka Pot, Cold Brew and Aeropress. Each method requiring specific grinds, extraction times, levels of bloom etc.
I always try to get the best cup possible from each method, and I got some great cups from G-Force.
Being a dark roast, I knew that the best cups were going to be from the espresso machine and Moka pot. But I’ll be honest, it’s a great pour-over, too! Particularly from the V60!
Fragrance
Straight out of the gates, you’re hit with some serious G-Force! A dark, bitter roast, with an underlying smoothness that ties it all together.
It’s an odd one, and this is where my concerns started. I wasn’t getting any of the notes of dark chocolate or cherry. No doubt a palate more refined than mine could detect it, but the beans are so dark and shiny that it’s evident that they’ve been heavily roasted. Possibly more than intended?
Body
This is where G-Force shines. A full-bodied, velvety mouthful of lovely dark coffee. Don’t over-think this one. Espresso-based drink, pour-over, cold brew. You name it, you get a consistent brew here.
Worth noting that it definitely lends itself more to espresso drinks, but the body is the same throughout. Velvet goodness.
Acidity
Ok, G-Force definitely touches the bitter end of the scales here. Purely because it’s so darkly roasted.
The beans were really dark, and shiny. Very similar to the standard Starbucks espresso. Ugh, the dirty “Starbucks” word. I was reluctant to say it here, but G-Force, to me has exactly the same profile as their espresso roast.
Say what you like, I personally love their espresso roast, so it’s a non-issue. You get that same bitterness, it’s sharp, but there’s an element of depth. It’s pretty much how I like a dark roast.
Flavour
To re-iterate, the G-Force roast is dark, and it, to me, carries a lot of the same properties as the Starbucks espresso roast. This isn’t a slight at Crackd in any way.
I was just surprised that I wasn’t getting the hints of flavours that were described on the packaging. I could see dark chocolate being a contributor to the bitterness, but I just wasn’t getting it.
G-Force was roasted really dark. Possibly this batch was a little over? It’s more smokey than cherry flavoured.
I personally love this style of dark roast, it’s what I enjoy. So I’m not using this as a complaint. Just a critique that my personal palate wasn’t detecting hints of the flavours I was expecting.
Overall
I’ve really enjoyed all of the Crackd Coffee roasts. They’ve all been a great cup from start to finish.
G-force is no exception, and it makes a bloody good espresso. It hits a lot of the right notes for me personally, because I love that super-dark, bitter cup.
I think of the 3 roasts, though. G-Force felt like the least refined. Both Focusd and Gamr were evidence that Crackd know how to roast a bean and get the flavours out of it. G-Force felt a little more wild, a little more heavy-handed?
It doesn’t matter because the coffee is decent and it isn’t spoiled. But the flavours aren’t quite so complex as I’d come to expect off the back of my previous reviews.
Reading this is a mixed-bag, isn’t it? Fact is I really enjoyed G-Force. However, it didn’t hit the same standard as the exceptional Gamr.
G-Force is good, and absolutely recommended, but it’s not quite so exceptional as one of it’s brothers.
I hope Crackd keep up the excellent work and go from strength to strength, because they know what they’re doing! Awesome work guys.
In the ever-crowded market of gaming-related energy nonsense, Crackd are fighting the good fight. No chemicals, no flourescent colours and no bullshit flavours. If you have a raid to do, or a marathon session to keep going through, go natural, go with decent coffee, and go with Crackd.