$4.79 for 9.6oz Black Silk (above) – smaller oz can – December 2022
A great can of ground coffee is easy to find, if you know what to look for when shopping in your local grocery store. It is up to you, the coffee drinker, to find new varieties of roasts and blends.
The product location of the store shelf can often catch your attention, so big brands such as Folgers or Maxwell House blends will usually have prime eye level placement in the coffee aisle.
The Black Silk coffee from Folgers, in my shopping excursion, was at eye level, and the fancy font for the coffee name, and the black background label on the front of the Folgers coffee can easily caught my attention. “Oh, ‘Black Silk’ , let’s see what this is about.”, I thought. The dark harsh roast coffee is not usually a first choice in a new coffee for me, but this intriguing roast name sounded like a smoother, gentle dark roast. With the ‘Silk’ in the name, it has to be smooth, right?
$5.36 for 10.3oz Black Silk (below) June 2022
Reading the can label, displaying the easy to read Folgers roast strength chart of where this coffee was placed on their roast level, it was at the highest roast, Dark. Written above this chart it says “A blend of bold and smooth flavors”. To me this said “strong taste, but easier to drink than a near-burnt standard French Roast of Folgers and every other brand that has this variety. Bold, yet exceptionally smooth with a subtle smokey note. The old can, from 2010 just said “Bold, Yet Smooth” as the tagline – but does it have more caffeine than a typical coffee? Many coffee drinkers assume the dark roast has higher caffeine content. I’ll get to the caffeine content a little later. If you first see this in the store you may think to yourself, “Wow, with a description like that I just KNOW I want to try it.”
Freshness matters, so you know that a ground coffee in a sealed can always tastes fresh when you first open the can and prepare your first cup of coffee, the freshness can go downhill after about a week. Sooner for those that can be particular about their coffee freshness. Brewing the Black Silk, or any dark roast in a percolator will make this seem even stronger, so I recommend a French press, or auto drip for this Black Silk coffee. A bag of Black Silk coffee beans would have been a better, and fresher, choice, but, after looking in the whole Folgers coffee section, and the official Folgers website, the bean variety was not to be found. Since I first saw the Black Silk in 2010, and with the coffee variety still being sold now, including the new can designs over the years, you would think you could by Black Coffee beans by now. Sadly, they do not exist for purchase. You can get this in a K-Cup, and if you are feeling bold, you can get the coffee in a decaf version, if you are considering a switch to decaf. Make sure if, and when, you buy this coffee that you pick the can with the freshest date. The newer cans will usually be to the back of the shelf because the older cans are typically moved to the front when the workers stock the shelves. Just like checking the date on bread or milk, you want the best and freshest coffee, should you decide to buy this roast of coffee.
2012 photo
New COFFEEHOUSE Series
The can says it can make 90 cups of coffee. The size of the cup of coffee for the 90 cups is 8 ounces. That is quite small for a cup of coffee, unless you are drinking an espresso. A standard USA size coffee mug is 12 ounces, just like the Starbucks tall is 12 ounces, so this coffee can size will get you about 45 12oz cups of coffee. A good deal when you do the math and compare this to getting a coffee made to order in a coffee shop like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or Tim Horton’s. Doing a rough calculation, this will cost about 11 cents for each cup of coffee to brew at home. Sounds really cheap, even though the 2022 coffee can price is $5.36. In 2010 the cost per cup was about 6 cents, with the full can of ground coffee costing $2.99.
Compare the design of the 2010 coffee can to the 2022 coffee can, you can see how the Black Silk has a new fancy font on a dark background. The older can has an ALL CAPS serif font. The old can also mentions that the coffee is part of the Coffeehouse Series. The 2022 can has this as part of the Roast Master’s Series. Most likely, as a consumer, you would not notice this change in the coffee category. What happened to the Coffeehouse Series? And what other varieties came in this series? The other blends in the Coffeehouse Series included the Breakfast Blend, The Gourmet Supreme, French Roast, the 100% Colombian variety. Seems like all varieties of Folgers fell under the Coffeehouse Series. The series was ‘retired’ or renamed to the Roast Master’s Series. To make it more confusing, they now have a variety called Coffeehouse Blend, medium-dark roast. To add to the confusion on the dark, yet smooth Black Silk, Folgers has the Noir variety of coffee, sold in all black cans. One of the varieties in this ‘Noir’ is Rich Satin dark roast. The scale on this roast has it as INTENSE DARK, but says it has a smooth finish. Is this the same as the Black Silk, just under a new name? Let’s stick to this Black Silk for now.
None of the Folgers coffee mention the caffeine content over different blends and roasts. Of course the Half-Decaf is just that, half the caffeine. Drinking the Black Silk you would think, or hope, the dark roast would have extra caffeine, since the really strong taste of the coffee would seem like it should be extra caffeinated, right? So, what is the caffeine content of the Black Silk?
You may think that the really strong taste of coffee means MORE caffeine, it is actually the light roast that has more caffeine. It isn’t THAT much more. An average cup of coffee has 180mg caffeine, a DARK roast may have 170mg, and a light roast may have 190mg. Other factors play a part in the caffeine content, such as the strength of the coffee, the ground style, and the cup size. So, the Black Silk coffee does not have any more caffeine compared to a regular coffee. If you want more caffeine, just use a larger coffee mug. This does not say it has any added caffeine, even though the coffee taste is very strong.
The Facts:
$5.36 for a can (2022 price) 10.3 oz can
$2.99 for a can (2010 price) 10.5 oz can
Sight and Sound:
It is dark brown, almost black. It doesn’t make any sounds, but that is typical of most coffee.
The Taste:
Like coffee. Not a whole lot different. Has a BOLD taste. Kinda like the French Roast, but smoother.
Other Information:
It is a 10.3 oz can in 2022 (10.5 oz can in 2012?). Very hard to find a brand of coffee that actually comes in a one pound 16 oz can anymore. Folgers is Mountain Grown – it says so on the can. Their rating system ranks this as a ‘Dark’ coffee. UPC 025500002194.
In short, the longer the coffee is roasted, the more caffeine reduces. – The caffeine content is in the same range as a regular Folgers coffee. Did you know GREEN coffee beans are loaded with caffeine – but you couldn’t make coffee with them raw.
The roasting process cooks away the caffeine, so go for the light roast if you want MORE caffeine. It isn’t MUCH more, but it is more than a dark roast!
Final Comments:
Looks like coffee, smells like coffee, tastes like coffee. Nothing really different. Has a wicked cool name though! Although the NOIR coffee cans look much fancier and, well, darker. With this Folgers coffee variety you’ll just want to buy it because it is called Black Silk.
It is Folgers, so it IS good, but just not all that different. The name is really good though.
You could join, for free, the Folgers Wakin’ Up Club to be notified of other new coffee blends, and perhaps get the news that Folgers has Black Silk coffee beans. Join the club at Folgers:
https://www.folgerscoffee.com/sign-up Get your ‘emails filled to the brim’.
On the Folgers scale: DARK
A good style of roast with a smooth taste. Recommended for coffee drinkers that wish the French Roast wasn’t so harsh tasting. Would definitely buy again, especially if it came as whole bean.
Where can you buy Black Silk?
Most grocery stores!
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About Mr. WeGotCoffee
We Got Coffee is where I share all of my coffee obsessions, meal prep guides and recipes for things that pair well with coffee. I also throw in lots of humor and caffeinated wisdom. Read More...
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