Well, we held out for almost a year. Pretty good. But we had so many requests for a dark roast, we had to relent. The problem--besides getting past our aesthetic objections--was coming up with a bean blend and roast profile that was tasty enough to put our name on. As we outline on our info page, dark roasts essentially destroy the integrity of coffee. A coffee bean has all sorts of subtle contributors to flavor, and high heat and longer roast profiles literally send them up the chimney. And when inexpensive beans are used--low-grown and relatively boring Central or South American varietals--as is usually the case, the result offends exponentially. Beans that don't start out with good density and character simply deteriorate to charcoal. Unfortunately, there are myriad examples of such roasts out there. (FYI: Why "French" roast? According to coffee lore, it's because the French have traditionally purchased really, really bad coffee.) We've come up with a three-bean blend that exhibits the pungent aromatics and semi-sweet, baker's chocolate accents that lots of folks like in a dark roast, without being too bitter and burnt-tasting. Enjoy, if you must. And please let us know what you think.