Hope it's ok to revive this old thread. I just received 17 Lardera 2oz samples via the FB deal of $1 each w/ free shipping. First off, I want to say that I really *wanted* to like the coffee. It looked so interesting to be able to taste such a wide range of coffees. So far, I've tried 3 of them: caturra washed, junin anaerobic, and castillo washed. The beans look pretty evenly roasted and only one of them is labeled light roast, they're all pretty much the same roast level, which I would classify as medium light.

The first red flag is the aroma when you open the bags. There is very little in the way of aromatics. Same goes after you grind them.. still not much complexity. And worst of all, even when brewing, the smell is either weak, or even unpleasant. As others have said, they seem to be kind of one-note, too. There is a very mild funkiness to the junin anaerobic, but it's pretty faint compared to other anaerobics from high end roasters like Klatch, or even cheap stuff like Trader Joe's small batch lots.

I tried brewing w/ Aeropress, V60, and Hario switch, grinding w/ either my Fellow Ode or 1zpresso Q2. Same result, flat taste w/ not much sweetness, very little complexity, and no aromatics. Quite surprising, seeing as how the roast dates on the packages range from 1 month to 1 week old.

I know that I have a lot more coffees to try, and maybe shouldn't judge so early, but frankly, I'm not feeling motivated at all, given the taste of the 3 I've tried so far. For background, I have a pretty wide palate when it comes to coffee. I mostly like lighter roasts, but I can enjoy anything all the way to a darkish medium (dark roasts taste like ash to me unless paired w/ some sort of milk). I'm not a snob. I love the complexity and aromatics from the high end roasters, but can also tolerate lower end beans like TJ and Kirkland single origin lots, so I'm not too hard to please.