The Classic

Classic does what a morning coffee should, it comforts without shouting. Nothing about it is overpowering. It's just great coffee, smooth the whole way through, with an easy, clean finish. I tried Classic first on purpose. I love to start with a roaster's most basic cup before I trust the rest, the same way you order a plain cheese pizza or a scoop of vanilla to find out if a place gets the fundamentals right.

Here's the tell for me: I'm normally a light-roast drinker, and this is a medium, and it still won me over completely. Kuma clears that bar and keeps going. One small thing I appreciated: every bag has a roast date on it. The beans in this cup were roasted just a few days before I brewed it, and that freshness shows up.

Kuma calls Classic their iconic house blend and roasts it medium. It's a fresh crop blend, so the beans rotate with the season (right now it's a Honduras lot), but Kuma says the profile stays put: caramel, chocolate, stone fruit, and honey.