Review: Homestead Coffee Roasters’ Nightshade (FKA Indigo) Organic
(2020) Homestead Coffee Roasters has changed this roast label’s name from Indigo to Nightshade. The updated purchasing link can be found here.
The planet may be shifting toward brighter days in the northern hemisphere, but we are still sipping lovely dark roast coffee at the creakybottombracket.com office. Recently our beloved Homestead Roasters’ Dead Man’s Brew had been consumed to its fullest. A refill run to a grocer offered only one selection of dark roast. We let you know how we got on with Indigo Organic.
Things were immediately promising. Homestead Roasters’ Indigo packaging bragged, “Roasted to the Edge” using Italian roasting style. According to Homestead, they roast the Colombian beans right up to the ragged edge and then ‘slam on the brakes.’ It is akin to squeezing the brakes on a descent and managing to stop mere inches from disaster. There is a finite zone of perfection with a high possibility of disaster. Executing this finite roast makes Indigo the darkest in Homestead’s inventory.
The promising experience only got better. The opened bag of beans exhaled one of the most exhilarating aromas ever. The beans gave off a heavy dosage of dark coffee scent that made us accelerate the brewing process. The beans, oily and dark, were scooped into the hopper, ground to powder, and added to the order of operations. The office smell was fantastic.
The better experience improved as the steaming cup was enjoyed. There is no better way to describe the flavor that came through while sipping Indigo. Indigo shares a flavor profile like Dead Man’s. Both share the enjoyable smoky flavors, a personal favorite. Where Indigo deviates from Dead Man’s is in its softer presentation. It is not a wrecking ball of a flavor profile and yet it packs the biggest punch. The citrus undertones somehow make this a refreshing morning ritual. The full body description lives up to itself. This was an incredibly enjoyable cup of coffee.
The roast was so enjoyable it has us now contemplating purchasing the boosting brew of Indigo over Dead Man’s Brew. The spring season is perfect for dark brews. The icy mornings benefit from a hot cup of coffee to set up the warming afternoons with a healthy boost of caffeine. As the sun rises sooner over these parts, it is oddly coincidental that a perfect sunrise for a great cycling day is a blanket of indigo light over the rimed grass and contrasting pine trees. Now there is a new reason to make it to that early spring group ride, and it comes in Homestead’s Indigo Organic Colombian blend.
