What is in the Kick Ass and Smart Ass bundle?
One dark, one medium, one whole bean, one ground, and it is the only way to get Smart Ass here.
Kicking Horse publishes Kick Ass dark roast whole bean with tasting notes of chocolate malt, molasses, licorice and an earthy finish, and Smart Ass medium roast ground with notes of tart red currant, sugar cane and milk chocolate. Both are 100% arabica, Certified Organic, Fairtrade, Kosher and Shade Grown, roasted in the Rocky Mountains in Canada.
Smart Ass has no page of its own, and this is why
It is not sold as a single bag on Amazon US.
Searching for it returns a case of six with nine reviews, or bundles like this one. There is no clean single listing to review, which is why the other five Kicking Horse coffees have their own pages here and Smart Ass does not.
Its published notes are worth having anyway: tart red currant, sugar cane and milk chocolate. Red currant is a sharp, tart berry acidity, which makes Smart Ass the brightest coffee the roaster publishes, brighter than Three Sisters and considerably brighter than anything in the dark range.
The fourth certification appears here and not on the single bags
Shade Grown is published on this bundle. The individual bags list three certifications, not four.
Shade grown means coffee cultivated under a tree canopy rather than in cleared full sun. It matters because sun-grown coffee yields more and ripens faster, and clearing the canopy to achieve that is a major driver of habitat loss in coffee regions. Shade grown coffee also ripens more slowly, which is generally held to develop more sugar.
It is recorded here, on the listing that states it, and deliberately not added to the single-bag pages. A claim on one listing is not evidence about a different product, even from the same roaster, and quietly propagating it would be inventing a credential.
One whole bean and one ground is an odd pairing that works
It looks like an oversight and it is arguably the better arrangement.
The dark roast is the one you would grind for espresso or a press, where freshness and grind control matter most. The medium comes ground and ready for a drip machine.
Whether that was designed or is just what was in stock, it means a household with a grinder and a filter machine is covered for both, and somebody with neither still has one usable bag.
Is the bundle worth it?
Worth it mainly as the only route to Smart Ass.
If you want to try the roaster's brightest coffee, this is the practical way to do it, and Kick Ass alongside it is the range's best known bag.
Against that: it carries 18 reviews, there is no gift packaging or message option published, and no price comparison against buying separately. Kicking Horse publishes no origin country, farm, altitude, varietal, processing method or roast date here, and no bag weights on this listing either.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it for the Smart Ass, and take the Kick Ass as the known quantity.
It suits somebody who already likes the roaster and wants the one coffee they cannot otherwise buy, and a household running both a grinder and a filter machine.
Do not buy it as a present, since nothing is packaged as one. Do not buy it if you want two of the same format. And if you only want Kick Ass, the single bag is cheaper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you buy Smart Ass on its own?
Not cleanly on Amazon US. It appears as a case of six or inside bundles like this one, which is why it has no page of its own here.
What does Smart Ass taste like?
Tart red currant, sugar cane and milk chocolate, per the maker. It is the brightest coffee in the range.
What is shade grown?
Coffee grown under a tree canopy rather than in cleared full sun. It yields less and ripens more slowly, and it avoids the habitat clearance that sun-grown coffee drives.
Why is one bag ground and one whole?
Kick Ass comes whole bean and Smart Ass ground. It suits a household with both a grinder and a filter machine.
Is it a gift set?
No gift packaging or message option is published. It is two bags.
