Side by Side Comparison of: Eight O'Clock Coffee vs Cafe Don Pablo

This is as good as those high-dollar gourmet coffees. I honestly can taste very little difference. This brand has been around for decades, and there is an excellent reason why--it is darn good coffee.

I love this whole bean coffee. I have tried some "coffee store" name brands, but I like the "original" Eight O'Clock Coffee better than any of those. It has a great smell when opening the bag, and a clean, smooth taste after it is ground and brewed.In fairness I should disclose, I am very new to the home grind and brew experience. I only recently started making my own coffee in this fashion after a prominent coffee chain changed their reward program, drastically cutting the benefits for plain coffee drinkers. I am now saving a lot of money by brewing my own coffee at home, and Eight O'Clock "original" whole bean is my daily choice.Also, if you use an automatic drip coffee maker, and are looking for an inexpensive grinder to prepare your Eight O'Clock whole bean coffee, I recommend the KRUPS F203 Coffee Grinder. I love mine. It works like a champ and only costs around $20.

When I was a kid in the 60's, A&P Supermarkets was the place to buy Eight O'Clock coffee. Every check out register had a grinder to grind the coffee to your liking. When a local market started carrying it, I compared prices to Amazon and subscribed and get a 42oz bag every month. The Cuisinart Grind N Brew is our favorite for whole beanhttp://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DGB-550BK-Automatic-Coffeemaker-Brushed/dp/B000VTP45Q/ref=sr_1_2?srs=2587949011&ie=UTF8&qid=1455994471&sr=8-2&keywords=cuisinart+grind+and+brew

I have been getting this every month for almost a year without any problems. I absolutely love eight o'clock whole bean original.This month however the order was completely wrong. Instead of two 42oz bags of my beloved original whole bean, I received one 40oz bag of Colombian Peaks whole bean and one 42oz bag of ground original. I grind my beans by the pot because there are few things in life as good as fresh ground coffee. Even if I were ever inclined to buy pre ground (nope) I would never buy it in that quantity. After the first three pots it will just taste old. So I am left with stale coffee for two weeks of the month and fresh but not my flavor choice for the other two weeks. What happened Amazon? Ok update, Amazon is awesome. Crediting my account asap!

I have been brewing the original whole bean Eight O'clock coffee for over a year now. I don't like the dark roast, Italian, French coffee beans, they taste bitter to me. This is a smooth mild-med style coffee. I make this coffee every morning. I've purchased the ground and whole bean and I definitely prefer the whole bean. You can normally find the smaller bags in grocery stores and Target/Walmart but the large bags are out of stock the majority of the time. With subscribe and save I don't have to worry about the stores being out of stock. Great coffee at a good price!

I am a rotating shift worker and I always start my workday with a cup of this. Ever since I started brewing this everyone on my crew has been raving about my coffee. This coffee beats the more expensive competition hands down. It's very consistent and not bitter at all. You open the bag and take a whiff and its like smelling flowers in the garden of Eden. All of life's problems melt away. I'm glad they have the big bags like these but it still goes quick so order 2. I have never been disappointed by this brand since I started drinking it several years ago. They could double their price and it would still be worth it. If you're a bean head like me you will not regret buying this

Ok I'll admit it- I'm a coffee snob. I set my bar with some of Europe's finest in Belgium, France and Italy where coffee is syrupy, dark and rich but not bitter- assuming it's prepared well. America on the other hand generally prefers it's coffee bland, pale and more like warm coffee flavored water.I'm assuming that the negative reviews I've read here are by people who prefer the latter and would be happier with Folgers because this bean is beyond superb for brewing a full bodied cup of coffee. I use a stove top moka espresso maker and about 3-4 oz of med-fine fresh ground bean per cup with a little half 'n half whisked in with a frother. The result matches or exceeds any coffee I've ever had anywhere in the world. Don Pablo is typically Honduran in character- chocolaty, earthy and mellow yet rich. It comes very very close to my favorite Honduran microlot bean at my local roastery at 25.00 per pound so at 8.50 a pound Don Pablo is the best deal ever.

Smooooooth and delicious! Cafe Don Pablo Subtle Earth Organic Gourmet coffee in the medium-dark roast brews up smoothly every day in our French press. Cafe Don Pablo has a subtle clean flavor that will give you joy whenever you brew a cup. We are not fans of harsh tasting, strong coffees filled with creams, sugars, and whatever, preferring instead to let the coffee shine and be the star. Low acidity (thank you!), certified organic, and GMO free, roasted to order, plus a terrific price with subscribe and save making it a breeze to buy. Go on and treat yourself today!!

I have been ordering this coffee for more than a year. I have been a heavy coffee drinker my whole life. Tried so many different brands, but this so far proved to be one of the best to my taste for brewed coffee. And you cannot beat the price, especially considering that it is organic. We are more of espresso drinkers, meaning we like our coffee strong, dark and with a hint of bitterness, and no acidity or it goes down the drain. This coffee delivers all of this without the burned smell and taste of Starbucks, or the acidity that you can find in so many brands on the market.

This is an excellent organic coffee. The price is extremely reasonable, especially as an organic brand. The aroma is heavenly and the taste was delicious! Nothing like a great cup of coffee first thing in the morning. I love to brew my own coffee from grinding the beans fresh daily to typing it off by frothing my own crème. I have a French press and the over the stove espresso maker...it's am amazing experience and worth the effort...beats Starbucks any day! I enjoy Don Pablo beans over Starbucks...theirs is too pricy and even the flavor falls short.

As a coffee addict I found Don Pablo Organic coffee beans the best ever.I have purchased other coffee beans from Cafe Don Pablo and decided to try this one as I was looking for a richer full bodied coffee taste. This is well worth the additional cost and now we are on our second bag and the consistency is the same.The coffee is smooth and rich tasting and seems to be low in acidity as it never has upset my stomach.The only thing I can say about the coffee beans they tend to be oily as most darker bends can be and that might effect the coffee puck coming out of the grinder. We use a Gaigga Expresso coffee machine with automatic grinder and the machine seems to be adjusting to the oilier coffee bean.

good grief this is still wonderful coffee!!!! I don't know the technical terms for coffee's attributes but I bought this originally to try with my cold-brew system... omg, it is smooth and full-bodied and I am going to have trouble stopping with my normal three cups of coffee... Since the beans come in a 2 pound package and my cold-brew system holds one pound, I did invest in a digital scale, an excellent burr grinder, and an air-tight container for the remainder of beans until my next batch. I did correspond with the company and discovered they recommended to NEVER freeze or refrigerate their beans and I have not... the results of the second batch is as good as the first batch... and oh, by the way, there are MORE than 2 pounds of beans in the bag... shhhh..8-2-15... continuing to reorder this coffee... truly made me into a coffee snob with my cold-brew system!!!11-1-15... I wish this was on the auto reorder list... lol... but as soon as I open my last bag, I order it again....

I like it pretty good. Not as balanced as other coffees I've tried. No acidity at all really, which I guess is fine for an everyday cup in the morning. Has a little bit of a chocolate like aftertaste. All in all I like it, will probably buy again.

I've used Eight O'clock Whole Bean Coffee for 40 years and when my local A&P closed, I worried where (if) I'd be able to find it. It was a great relief to know I could find it through Amazon. This morning, when I opened the most recent shipment, I was a bit concerned, however. Although the bag was labeled Whole Bean, the contents was a mixture of whole beans and ground coffee. While it's usable, and seems to have the aroma and flavor I expect from Eight O'clock, I have to wonder what's happening on the production line to have two products end up in the same bag.

It's not the best coffee in the world, but it's probably the best at the price point. Obviously, taste is going to be subjective, but I find this to be a good everyday coffee.

We brewed this coffee while on a mission trip to Madagascar. It was smooth and delicious. We had to use filtered water but the coffee still tasted fine. It was even better with bottled water. It was worth the money to have good coffee in a region where coffee is not very good.

My parents used to buy 8 O'clock at the local A&P. I always remember that red bag sitting in our kitchen cabinet. I just started buying it here on Amazon, and it's great coffee .... great taste and a good price. Both the original and decaf whole bean have awesome flavor. I'm getting ready to buy some more. I thought I was getting some pretty good coffee at Sam's for a decent price. It's all sawdust compared to this. I look forward to my mug up every morning.

It a over-roasted, and the beans are oily, but it is a relatively good coffee value. Its even a better value at the local Walmart where it is less expensive. The choices are quite limited for whole bean coffee, especially at local retailers. Many of the major food chains have reduced their stock to ground coffee only. ...To make room for those repulsive plastic pods perhaps? UPDATE: Purchased "same" coffee at local Walmart on 28April2015. However, this coffee is not over roasted, nor is it oily. In fact Its Great!!! Close to Perfect!! Why the difference? Dunno ...Poor QC? Different source? Different roaster? Hallucination?

Mfg. describes taste as: Rich and chocolaty with profound depth of flavor, velvety body, and low acidity but I would not describe the taste that way. Not sure about the chocolate notes but does have a flavor depth and it's smooth going down.More of a good medium roast.Nice way to start the day. I may try cold brewing a batch and see how that taste. . This is my first purchase so I will finish off this batch and then determine if I will buy it again

Good coffee for the price. I liked being able to grind only what I needed before brewing so I know what is actually in my grounds. I am prone to heart burn and had none with this coffee. Aroma was mild. Not very strong at all. I tried this both in my Keurig and my french press. I will admit to enjoying this more in the afternoons than as a morning coffee. Overall it has good flavor. I have ordered twice and will order again.

I liked this but I expected more POP but it is SMOOTH with no bitter taste or burnt taste at all. It is really good coffee and excellent quality I used the amount of ground beans and was so far the best coffee I had except for the coffee at Essau Cafe in Carpenteria Calif. But I forget the name......love that is organic and the one at Essau Cafe is not.

I've been making my coffee with Starbucks for years. Guatemalan, Ethopian, special holiday blends. I love it. But decided I wanted to go organic when I read how many chemicals are used on coffee crops. I don't really know how accurate that is, but this is organic and about half the price of Starbucks - plus I can have it auto-delivered, thereby avoiding the dreaded "Ugh! I forgot to go to Starbucks for beans yesterday!" mornings.This is a good coffee, but this medium-dark roast seems a bit too light. I guess my Starbucks is more of a dark roast and I'll try that next time. This coffee is very smooth, just needs a bit more flavor for my palate.

I purchased this product a couple weeks ago based on the reviews of others. I find the majority of most american coffee to be burnt and flavorless and where I live in south Florida the selection of coffee available is disturbingly non-existent. It was only recently that I realized that the better branded and tastier coffees could be found online for a reasonable price. I purchased both a manual coffee mill and my first bag of whole bean coffee. I'm still experimenting with the amount of coffee needed vs. the amount of time needed in the French Press I brew the grounds in. The difference in fresh ground coffee vs. store bought is outstanding. The only reason I didn't give five stars is because I have nothing to compare against as this is my very first bag of whole bean. Otherwise, I've brewed both espresso and regular coffee from the Cafe Don Pablo Gourmet beans and am finding the coffee to be smooth and velvety with complex flavors that tickle the taste buds and delights the senses. Can't wait to try other whole bean flavors!

While I'll admit I'm not an everyday coffee drinker, this bag did last me over 4 months! Just ran out of my last beans today. I did put the bag in the fridge to extend its life. I haven't noticed much flavor loss from the first time I brewed my first cup! So, all in all, a bag lasted me almost 4 months. The coffee itself is decent, I have purchased better tasting coffee from true roasters in the Texas area. What sold me on this is that it's Organic. While its just a certification, any reduction of pesticide in my body is always a plus! Very few choices in my local stores without being sky high in price. And the price on this cant be beat by any local store.

It's an OK roast, nothing special. What I found most interesting is the lack of static when grinding these beans.

This is not the best coffee money can buy, but if you have to spend less than $10.00 a pound I feel it is the best you can get in that price range. If I were to get a cup of this in a restaurant or someone's home I would welcome it. This used to be the store brand for the A&P markets My mom and grandma swore by it. It is still as good as it was 60 years ago.

Tasted a bit "pedestrian" to me... a little "gas-station-coffee-ish"

Eight OClock is a great value bean. This Original roast is smooth and mellow. My wife's favorite. low acidity! I enjoy blending their flavored beans to make a refrigerated iced coffee that creates wonderful iced latter's! No sugar added! OOnly compliant is too big packaging again. Box and pillow pads don't work as well as other company's using padded envelopes!

I have to admit, not quite thrilled with this coffee. I normally like my coffee strong and a bit bitter, but this coffee has forced me to set my maker to "mild." Not sure if I just got a bad batch.Good price, but for a bit more you can have much better coffee.

I have ordered this several times and I am not sure what has happened to the Eight O'Clock brand. When I first started ordering it, it was fresh and robust. The latter orders I placed were dull and flavorless. It is almost as if the company is using a plethora of different beans to get their roasts. It makes for a muddled tasteless mess if you are a coffee addict like me. There is better out there for the money.

This coffee is weak. I used the same amount that I would normally use with other coffees and got what looked like a tea. I also tried different levels of fineness with the grind but to no avail. I don't know where people got these "fruity notes" from because all I noticed was an over roasted taste. I won't be buying this product again.

I like that these beans are organic and low acidity; but with this I have to make sure to use a very small amount. I would like this so much better if I could find it in a medium brew over the medium to dark brew that I have been getting. But if you like strong coffee, purchase this!!! ORGANIC!!! No GMO or pesticides with these beans!!! Coffee beans are the number one highly pesticide sprayed product!! Surprised? Yeah, I was too!!! Really, what bugs want to eat coffee beans?

It's OK, not sure if I'll buy again or try something else. I love that it's organic and affordable, but I'm not loving the taste. Just a personal preference I guess, but if anyone is familiar with the Sam's Club organic coffee that was discontinued recently, this is no comparison. It was superb and many are still searching for that coffee, hoping it was a private label that we will discover somewhere else. In the meantime, I'm mixing this with a non organic coffee that I like better. The search continues for me.

This coffee is ok if you're just looking for some bulk organic coffee. The roast and taste is fairly unremarkable. I'd categorize this as more of a medium roast. Decent coffee but honestly, there is so much excellent organic coffee on the market now, why bother with this stuff unless you're getting it for the bulk price factor?

My review is for the Don Pablo Organic Whole bean Coffee (Honduran Macala). Price is affordable. Flavor is rather weak and bland. I first brewed it in a 6 cup percolator with weak flavor results. Next I used a single cup stovetop espresso maker with much better (stronger) flavor results. I used a clean Burr Grinder. I have to admit this coffee is NOT bitter which is one its highlights besides the price. I have yet to try it in my French Press. I would give it 3 1/2 stars if I could. It's not bad but it's not exceptional IMO.

I usually like coffee without cream or sugar added, but this coffee has an acrid bitter taste. I actually dumped my first cup of this coffee out and rinsed the coffee cup, thinking the dishwasher might have left some soap or rinse agent in the cup. The second cup I made tasted the same, so it must have been the coffee. I added some cream and sugar and the taste was very good, but it lacked flavors I usually expect from coffee.3 stars because:Without cream and sugar, even though that's how I normally like coffee, I'd throw it out.With cream and sugar, I'd give it 4 stars as a drink, but 3 stars as coffee - it's not what I expect from coffee, but aside from my expectations it is a delicious drink.

We have purchased this coffee a couple of times on subscription but on this last delivery the bag did not contain whole beans, the majority of the bag was ground with a few whole beans.

not like I remember it. I used to think this coffee was pretty good. No longer.

I was disappointed in this brand of coffee beans. The beans are very dried out, and the grounds are strange. Most of the time about half of the grounds didn't get wet in my maker, a Capressa. Will not buy again.

This was my first order of this coffee in the 42 ounce bags, and although the coffee is a great value for the money one of the bags was so poorly sealed that the vertical seam on the rear of the bag was wide open and completely emptied the contents on the counter and floor. It took 3 Quart ziplocs to collect the beans, and who knows what contamination they might have been exposed to in transit. Clearly Eight O'Clock has some work to do, and Amazon should pay more attention to quality control.

I am drinking this coffee right now. I can't speak for all Eight O'clock coffee, but the package I got from Amazon tastes stale. The "use by" date listed on the bottom is well in the future (December 2014) but it tastes to me like this coffee has been sitting in a warehouse for too long. Hopefully this bag was just a fluke.

We have purchased Eight O'Clock Coffee, original whole bean variety, for years and always loved it. The last couple months they changed their packaging from a white bag to a red bag. Since then, I don't know if they changed their formulation or not, but the beans have tasted bitter and burnt. There is also a difference in smell to the beans between the white bag and the red bag beans. White bag beans had a strong smell, red bag beans smell burnt. Hopefully they fix this.

The beans are oily and when brewed the coffee tasted bitter.

First let me say that Honduran coffee can be very hit or miss depending on the year - some years it is delicious and velvety smooth, and other years it's tasteless and bitter. Unfortunately this coffee falls into the later category. I've had this coffee for almost a week and have been experimenting with different grinds and quantities. I really wanted to love this coffee, but alas it is either tasteless or tasteless and bitter depending on grind. I've had a different brand of Honduran coffee from the same region and it too was tasteless, but not bitter. I guess from reading other reviews this is just an off year, which is a pity because Honduran coffee is one of the best when it's right on.

Before my formal review, attached are pics of the product brewed for espresso. The pic with the three different roasts has the product, Subtle Earth Coffee med-dark roast, on the left. Center bottom is a light roast and on the right is what I would call a med-dark roast. I also have a pic with the coffee ground for espresso. I use a Classic Gaggia with filtered water.The good:PriceGrinds wellFew if any bad beansNext "your preference":Very smoky in oder & tasteStrong tobacco flavorChard oak flavorBitter stale dark chocolateThe bad:There is no nuance or subtletyThis is really a DARK roastThe tobacco smoky taste is over the topThe bean should not be roasted this dark.I would not recommend this to coffee oficionados.I would recommend it to smokers that drink coffee or to those that love smoky tobacco flavors.

Nah. Just isn't good enough.

I was hoping this coffee would be the replacement for the organic coffee I had enjoyed for 12 years that was no longer available. I'm so disappointed that it was not. I'm giving the coffee order two stars. One star for the quick delivery and another star for the packaging. The coffee package was attractive and had much information on it concerning the coffee. My disappointment is in the roast. As soon as my husband unpacked the coffee, he said, "This coffee smells like the burnt coffee." It did. We ground enough for a pot of coffee, and it tasted horribly burnt. We made another pot, using less coffee, and it still smelled and tasted burnt. I guess there's a niche for this kind of coffee, since two well known brands use this type of roasting, but we don't drink it. We are now trying to give away the rest of the two-pound bag. We are currently drinking a non-organic coffee that has been roasted for a smooth taste.

What happened to that great coffee aroma and flavor? Last time I bought this it was $13.99, now it's $16.99 and when the bag was opened there was no fresh coffee aroma that I had always experienced with this brand previously. Took a break from the Eko Brew K cups using the regular pre-filled K cups for a spell then started feeling guilty for contributing to the landfill problem again. Hoping that when the beans were ground, the aroma and flavor would surface - not the case. The date on bottom of the bag was "Best used by May 2018" so there shouldn't have been a problem. What a disappointment.

I have been using Eight O'Clock's K-Cups for over a year and have loved them. I don't like any other coffee now. This package provides extremely weak coffee. I'm not sure if I received an old bag of beans or what happened, but I'm now considering purchasing from another company because K-Cups have went up and our now too pricey, and this was a horrible experience (worse than gas station coffee at 2AM).

Eight O'clock Original is my favorite everyday coffee - grind the beans each night nd set the timer so my coffee is ready when I get up. This bag, however, was some of the worst. Totally dried out. Beans should have a little oil on the surface, and should cake slightly in the grinder, The oil is what gives coffee its flavor. This whole bag of beans was totally died out and worthless for making good coffee. Tasted like hotel room coffee. I will just continue to get this coffee locally at Kroger or Publix.

This coffee is bitter and burns my stomach. Won't be buying it again.

I'm not super picky when it comes to coffee and like most brands. But the bag of this I got was just so bad I threw it all away after 2 tries. I use a french press, so usually I can get a strong brew even if the coffee is really weak. But there was no hope with this even filling half the press. After seeing so many positive reviews I'm guessing this might just have been a bad bag, or really old and mislabeled or something. It seems like only a small percentage of reviewers have this problem. But I was one of them and don't want to risk good money trying for better luck next time. =/

I decided to give this a try because it was $10 cheaper than my usual coffee (kicking horse). After reading all the positive reviews, I was extremely disappointed with this coffee. Seems like 10 dollars makes a huge difference.Beans: No aroma, except for an unnaturally musty smellCoffee: FlavorlessDon't buy it!

We have been using Starbucks House blend for a while. It is not the best coffee, but is decent. Decided to try something different, hoping to find something with a milder roast and taste. Eight O'clock had good reviews, so we made a leap of faith and ordered two large bags of Original and Colombian Peaks.We're serious about out coffee, use burr grinder to get consistent taste out of the beans. I have to say that both Eight O'clock coffees have been a tremendous disappointment. Both have a watery taste, weak, unsatisfying coffee flavor when you take a sip, followed by strong acidic aftertaste. This is especially evident in the Original. The bag says 100% acabica coffee, but the taste is something that resembles robusta. For us, two, two-pound bags are going into the garbage and two thumbs down for Eight O'clock.

Soooooo disappointed in this coffee. In whose mind this is good I can't possibly guess but I was lured in by the ratings, the fair trade, the organic, etc....fool I was. The good news is, it forced me to do some research online as to how coffees are rated, grown, roasted and so forth. I'm MUCH smarter consumer now and will never make this mistake again!

Terrible cup of coffee, tasted like burnt ash. So many good reviews, doesn't make sense.

This "coffee" is terrible. It has absolutely ZERO flavor. I'm very disappointed because I had high hopes.....now I'm stuck with 2lbs of this stuff. I'll never buy this again.

NO SMEL NO TEST WORST STAFF

I bought based on the good reviews and I'm pretty shocked that it's so bad.After the first pot I thought I'd shake up the bag and try again but it's still aweful.I'm really surprised too but it tastes like DIRT.....kinda like old maxwell house coffee.that sits way way in the back of the pantry for emergencies.

I love coffee and have been drinking it for years like most coffee lovers. I tried the light roast and it was just horrible. The taste is bitter and it's not smooth at all.