Review: Counter Culture Coffee Gradient

(2022) In recent months, yours truly has approached - and summited - some of the notable gradients in the mid-Atlantic region via bicycle. Where the East Coast lacks in long climbs for road cyclists, it makes up for in blunt experiences. It is only natural to have regularly brewed up a strong cup of coffee in anticipation for a hard day’s outing. Counter Culture Coffee may have concocted the right beans for those uphill workouts.

Counter Culture Coffee’s dark roast Gradient from Colombia checked the boxes. Per the packaging the brew’s notes possessed syrup-bodied coffee with notes of dark chocolate, roasty nuts, and berry. We kitted up, brewed a batch, slurped several mugs, and waited for the firepower. This might be the dark season coffee needed to get a rider out the door.

From Colombian small scale farmers comes Counter Culture Coffee’s Gradient. This dark roast is 100% Colombian, and it packs a punch. Brewed in the final days of summer, this dark roast escorted us through the cooler mornings announcing fall’s expected arrival. As the day moved on, Gradient continued to simmer. This only intensified the dark roast experience. Hours after that final sip, the motivation continued.

The flavor profile kept us returning for more. Dark chocolate, roasted nuts, and berries created a flavor profile that kept us grinding and brewing to carry the caffeine high into the afternoon hours. With only a small focus on the profile of dark chocolate, Gradient delivered in a satisfying cup of coffee that maintained its missive of delivering a quality cup of brew.

Moving into the off-season for cycling, it is anticipated that coffee drinkers will return to the hot cups and darker roasts. Gradient is the perfect approach to those cooler mornings and even frosty winter sunrises. Coffee Culture’s 100% Colombian dark roast has gotten us to the start of some late season events amongst cooler temperatures. Perhaps this is the roast that will stoke the fires to get riders to those off season group rides where speed is explored.