Allegro Coffee Review – Everything You Need to Know About It

If you’ve heard of Whole Foods Market before then you most certainly have heard of Allegro coffee. Yet, for most local Seattle natives, Allegro coffee represents a deeply-rooted tradition for roasted coffee beans that produce excellent espresso and coffee. If you’re completely new to learning about Allegro coffee, you’ll love to find out what their coffee blends can offer.

Recommended coffees

Allegro coffee has more than three dozen types of coffee beans and blends that are all as distinct as the next. We’ve selected 9 of their most popular products to represent their best-of-the-best for our exclusive Allegro coffee review. As usual, we’ve also taken the deep dive to list some of the things that give this All-American brand name some definitive Pros and Cons for each roasted blend.

Allegro Coffee grounds: Organic Whole Foods Blend

This whole bean blend combines light and dark beans for a flavor that is slightly spicy, sweet, and smoky. It’s a great balance of strong and smooth coffee for those who like a general blend that’s not exactly the middle of the road for a select taste.

Pros:

– These whole beans are ideal for making French press and cold brew coffee recipes.

– The caffeine content is strong but not too strong for those that like a subtle coffee kick.

– When you buy the beans from Whole Foods Market you’ll always get a fresher product.

Cons:

-The expiration date is often a lot closer to when you receive your beans if you buy them online.

– There is no set caffeine level due to the mixture of these beans.

– Their coffee roasting factory in Colorado is not a gluten-free certified facility.

Allegro whole bean coffee: Decaf Organic Whole Foods Blend

This is the same blend that is made for the light and dark bean blend that’s been decaffeinated. This process has removed 99.9% of the caffeine within the beans using the Swiss Water Process. This has no residual flavors that other decaffeination processes have that are leftover.

Pros:

– Has a great flavor if bought directly from Whole Foods Market.

– This whole bean decaf blend is great for getting just the right grind ratio.

– This blend gives a good variety of light and dark bean roast flavors with an impressive level of acidity.

Cons:

– The Swiss Water Process is the most expensive method for removing caffeine, so the price of decaffeinated coffee goes up as a result.

– The coffee beans that are ordered online tend to be too close to the expiration date.

– This decaffeinated coffee can have a bitter aftertaste that’s closer to dark roast.

Allegro Ground Coffee: Decaf Organic Italian Roast

Just like their organic Italian roast, this decaffeinated version features a medium-dark roast with a rich yet bittersweet and smooth flavor.

Pros:

– An outstanding blend for making cold-brewed coffee that steeps overnight for 12 hours.

– Does not contain any extra chemical flavors that decaffeinated coffee usually has.

– Buying from Whole Foods Market gives you longer and fresher coffee grounds.

Cons:

– This coffee is sold as coffee grounds with a coarse grind which can take longer to steep.

– If you don’t steep this coffee for longer periods, the taste will be bland and tasteless.

– If you want to regrind this coffee, it can be better suited for espresso to get deeper flavors.

Allegro whole bean coffee: Decaf Organic Espresso Bel Canto

Here is a medium roast whole bean coffee that offers fine hints of cocoa and berry flavor. Because it’s decaffeinated, you can enjoy any selected grind you wish to make many types of brewed coffee. This is a mixture of 80% South American Arabica and 20% Ethiopian beans.

Pros:

– This blend is better when steeping for French press and cold brew rather than espresso.

– The crema is rich and creamy when espresso is brewed in a dedicated espresso machine.

– These beans still include oil that is leftover from the decaffeination process that provides a bright coffee bite.

Cons:

– Can be too acidic for some who enjoy drinking decaf coffee from other brands.

– This roast tends to be darker and very oily aside from this being called a medium roast.

– Some packages of this blend have been known to contain partially ground coffee beans.

Allegro ground coffee: Organic Breakfast Blend

This version that is meant for the organic breakfast blend comes in both whole bean and ground coffee. It is specifically a light roast coffee with hints of citrus, milk chocolate, and caramel flavors. It’s best to buy the whole beans so you can adjust for the flavor you want.

 Pros:

– This breakfast blend is bold enough but not overt or too strong a coffee for morning coffee.

– Many breakfast coffee fans feel this version is a mixture that is light roast coffee with a dark roast punch.

– No matter which ground size you prefer, the flavors are surprisingly robust.

Cons:

– May not be an ideal flavor for most people since this roast will reflect earthy and fruit-like flavors.

– This blend can be considered pricy for not being an overly-roasted coffee bean.

– Expired beans will taste bitter, rancid, or sour tasting.

Allegro Organic Continental Blend

The Allegro organic continental blend is made from medium roasted beans that have distinct fruity undertones with a heavy complex flavor. It’s available in whole bean form or prepared coffee grounds. This is also a blend that is mixed with Ethiopian and Sumatra coffee beans.

 Pros:

– This coffee mix is excellent for cold brew methods where longer steeping brings out more flavor.

– It’s not a dark or bitter coffee with plenty of fruity undertones and a nutty chocolate-like flavor.

– The flavor is better when using a burr grinder to ensure that brewing is consistent.

Cons:

– There can be inconsistent levels of caffeine due to the beans that are used.

– Some people who are sensitive to caffeine content levels may feel this coffee blend makes them feel jittery.

– If you don’t like coffee that is high in acidity, this blend may be too overwhelming.

Allegro Café la Dueńa

This is a well-balanced medium roast coffee that features a sweet and chocolate-like flavor. You will find this blend comes in ground coffee and whole bean selections. It’s best-known for its bold flavor that gives these earthy-sweet tones a distinct South American taste.

Pros:

– Excellent bright fruity floral notes with a fine hint of nutty or earthy chocolate aftertaste.

– It’s much better if you’re buying the whole beans so you can select the right grind size for your brewing method.

– The perfect smooth coffee that is suitable for drinking in the morning or after dinner.

Cons:

– It’s best when brewed before the expiration date otherwise this blend will taste bitter.

– Some people might not enjoy the smoky flavor that comes from this particular blend.

– If you don’t like the taste of Yoohoo chocolate drink, it’s not exactly appealing for some.

Single Origin Allegro Kenyan Grand Cru

While most coffee offered by Allegro coffee, are entirely single-origin coffees, some of their blends are mixed making them fall under the category of mixed blend origins. Their Kenyan Grand Cru is one such single-origin coffee that is taken directly from the Nairobi soil underneath Mt. Kenya. It features exclusive red wine notes with hints of blackberry and currant.

Pros:

– This is an excellent smooth coffee with high fruity notes that are complex as you can expect.

– This is a light roast coffee that provides an excellent caffeine punch in the morning.

– If you have a sensitive stomach, this roast will not upset your stomach so easily.

Cons:

– It’s not a good choice for making cold brew, as this will produce acidic and sour tasting coffee.

– If there is little to no bloom during the brewing, it means this coffee has expired.

– There can often be a mix-up between light roast and dark roast in some packaging.

Single Origin Organic Mexico

This is another light roast that is also single-origin under the label of Organic country selections. This coffee is also called La Corona De Chiapas and provides hints of cocoa, milk chocolate, and pecan. It’s sold as ground coffee or from the whole bean variety.

 Pros:

– When these beans are fresh they give a great burst of caffeine in every cup.

– This is perfect for making into espresso to taste the fine flavors that will develop.

– Robust and smooth for a light roast without too much acidity.

Cons:

– Be sure that you get freshly roasted coffee otherwise this light roast version will be utterly tasteless.

– Might be too acidic for those who like lightly roasted coffee in the morning.

About Allegro Coffee

Allegro coffee started in Colorado in 1977. By 1995, Allegro was distributing its coffee throughout the United States. Natural products pioneer Whole Foods Market—one of Allegro’s earliest customers—acquired Allegro in 1997, culminating in a mutually beneficial decade.

Now, it’s common to find Allegro coffee sold online but is still the perfect choice to order directly from Whole Foods since freshness can be controlled better.

Allegro Coffee Company has continued to improve the time-honored, artisanal practices that make the coffee the most flavorful you can find since 1977 when they established themselves as one of Colorado’s first specialty coffee manufacturers.

Choosing the Best Allegro Coffee

Type of beans

Coffee beans that come from South America are the most common and therefore are pretty common. If you want an exotic taste that comes with a price tag, importing beans from Africa is a great choice. Choose a coffee bean based on flavor profiles but don’t forget that Arabica beans give the best flavor. Robusta beans often get mixed into blends to stretch the Arabica supply but also add excellent flavor to strong-tasting Arabica beans.

Always look at the flavor profile of bean blends or single-origin variants. These will tell you what you can expect but the real taste test is to try different blends of beans to find the one that appeals to you the most.

Type of roast

Everyone has a specific opinion of the taste of their roasted coffee beans. This is never an easy selection due to the flavor difference that comes from the degree of roast levels. Most people enjoy (in general) a medium roast which makes a fine everyday drinking coffee. Dark roast is often better for those who enjoy espresso blends. Light roast is often very selective for those who like fruity notes over the developed coffee flavor that deeper roasts can bring out.

Check our articles for the best light roast coffee beans and best dark roast coffee beans if you want to dive deeper into these types of beans.

Whole beans or ground coffee

Always stick to whole beans since you can always get the correct grind size using a good coffee grinder. A conical burr grinder is the best coffee grinder to use so the grounds will all turn out the same size instead of random bits that might brew sooner than you want. Ground coffee also will expire faster than whole beans making an entire bag worthless if it gets exposed to air for long periods.

Where to buy Allegro coffee 

If you want to get the freshest ground coffee from Allegro, you’ll need to find a local Whole Foods market. This is the best way to find coffee. But you can also find this coffee in other online stores, including Amazon, making it convenient for people to buy it, even if they don’t have access to a local Whole Foods market.

Conclusion

I hope this review helped you to understand the origin of this company and gives you more information about their products.

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