Go into your local coffee house or cafe and look at the beans in the hopper of their espresso grinder. (If there is no espresso grinder but they purport to serve espresso drinks, exit the building. Quickly.) The beans are oily, aren't they? The blend is probably an espresso in the southern Italian style. (In Italy, the further south you go, the darker the coffee gets.) In the US, many "gourmet" coffee places use such stuff for their espresso. Why? Because we drink lots of 16 and 20 oz lattes. You need a really dark roast to show up through all that milk. While it's not a foregone conclusion that such blends will be bitter or burnt tasting, generally speaking, they are, and don't make for a very tasty straight shot. Bird Dog is our version of a northern Italian espresso. It has a pulp natural Brazil roasted just into second crack for a base, and contains five different coffees, each individually roasted to best exhibit its aromatic and flavor attributes. As a straight shot (try a 17 gram dose, 2 oz, right around 198 degrees) it's mellow and sweet; we really like it as a ristretto, too. Makes a nice low-toned drip and French press cup as well. Rated 90 by Coffeereview.com.