Review: Drive Coffee’s Le Mans Roast

(2018) It goes without saying to maintain focus for twenty-four continuous hours of consciousness, one will consume copious amounts of stimulants (coffee). While the days Le Mans drivers completing all twenty-four hours by their lonesome are gone, coffee is still a great way to keep a sharp eye into the deep night. With Drive Coffee’s Le Mans medium roast, one can gear up for a long night ahead in a flavorful way. The packaging does the trick, too. If a once-around-the-clock race is coming up, considering ordering from Drive Coffee.

Two oilcans of Drive Coffee's Le Mans single origin medium roast.

We’re still celebrating the century old race through the French countryside where man tests machine to improve efficiency. Though the days of brute force race cars are gone, the romance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been replaced by space aged machines that have specialists staring at computer screens for any deviation. The GT40 may seem basic to today’s car, but it’s the reason today’s cars are around. Why not celebrate Le Mans and the Ford GT40 with coffee that comes in an oilcan?

Immediately noticeable is the dry consistency of the beans. This produces a powdery roast. At the creakybottombracket.com office, we have the grinder set to 18 and found this to be perfect for the coffee machine. A little less fine setting – say 20 or 22 – would work wonders for French press, the proper way to consume Le Mans roast. Though the beans were delectably dry, there was no husking in the grinder hopper. This has not happened before with other beans ordered: either they are shiny beans with no husks or dry beans with a noticeable amount of husking. We were getting more excited by the moment. 

As the brew process progressed the aroma became enticing. Admiring the package led to watching vintage videos of the Ford monster ripping around Le Mans in attempt after attempt to beat Enzo Ferrari’s domination. The coffee machine grabbed our attention just as we gathered focus around the legendary battle. 

The Gulf colors certainly look nice on our site.

This is fantastic coffee. The flavor had the right kind of pepper to keep one coming back for more. From a coffee company that celebrates speed, it is possible this is the fastest we have ever consumed cups of coffee. The flavor was so enticing, so smooth, so biting, that we had to keep returning.  We drink coffee black around here and this may just be the correct roast to drink black. It is neither over the top nor light in flavor. That is, it needs not be tempered nor overbrewed. 

While Drive Coffee offers other roasts such as Targa, Dakar, and even a Petrolicious Coffee Club, we have only tried their Le Mans roast because – well the colors are quite nice. And the GT40 is the car of dreams. Drive Coffee also offers custom painted coffee machines and bean grinders in Gulf, Martini, and McLaren- great gift ideas for the endurance motor racing enthusiast. Perhaps Tom Boonen’s second career as a racecar driver can earn him a livery to warrant a coffee machine design. 

The Le Mans roast date is printed on the label for the exact roasting day.

Drive Coffee is much like other roasters: they roast their beans on Friday. Should you decide to order any time before the roasting date, be prepared for a small waiting process. The wait is worth it. I’m sure it is a bit of a process to get the beans into the oilcans, akin to adding fuel to the GT40 fifty years ago. 

The packaging on Drive Coffee is not just a gimmick. The beans inside are beautifully flavorful and lasting. We ordered two oilcans and gifted the second one away. They shipped in an attentive box nestled in cardboard zig zags. All that for presentation. At $18 it may be a little pricier than grocery aisle beans, but chances are, if you are reading this, you aren’t getting your beans from the grocer’s. And chances are, if you are reading this, you have imagined yourself shoehorned behind the wheel of one of the greatest racing cars ever to fly down the Mulsanne Straight. We would just settle for sipping coffee from the driver seat of a GT40. It wouldn’t need to be in our imagination.