It is a mellow electropop, acid techno and R&B song, unique for its production-laden sound featuring breathy keyboards, glitching electronics and elements of ambient music.

The track was met with general acclaim from music critics who likened it to the group's previous single "Pure Shores" for their wistful chorus delivery and Orbit's distinctive production.

Bo Johan Renck directed the accompanying music video which features the group serenading an arguing couple in bullet time in a high rise apartment block.

All Saints promoted "Black Coffee" with live performances on CD:UK, Children in Need, Later... with Jools Holland, Top of the Pops and at the 2000 Smash Hits Poll Winners Party.

[5] Believing the track could be established as a single for Bertarelli, Davies canvassed record companies with her demo, hoping it could result in a major label deal for the singer.

However, Bennett was unimpressed with Bertarelli's potential and wanted "I Wouldn't Wanna Be" to be recorded by his group All Saints instead which Davies, Kirsty and Nichols all agreed to.

[2][6] Orbit along with Lewis and group member Melanie Blatt gave "I Wouldn't Wanna Be" a new arrangement and renamed the song "Black Coffee".

In the Appletons' 2002 autobiography Together, Natalie wrote that Lewis was "staking her claim" by arriving early for the first session because Blatt sang lead vocals on "Pure Shores" and not her.

[13] "Black Coffee" opens with a stark introduction sung by Lewis, accompanied only by glitching electronics with no chord progression, before going into the pre-chorus where a more mellow sequence featuring breathy keyboards begin playing.

[8] The track later ends in an outro sung by Lewis using the same lyrics and starker sound from her introduction, but enhanced by guitar, synths[1] and welding, clipped dance rhythms.

[20] London Records serviced "Black Coffee" to UK radio on 22 August 2000 and released it physically on 2 October 2000 as the second single from Saints & Sinners.

[30] In the Sunday Herald, Samuel McGuire characterised the track as "a gem of a truly wonderous lustre";[31] the newspaper's Graeme Virtue hailed it as one of "the best pop singles ever".

[32] BBC Music's Nigel Packer chose the song as a highlight on Saints & Sinners,[10] while Russell Baillie of The New Zealand Herald said "Black Coffee" along with "Pure Shores" and "Surrender" "put [most of the album] in the shade.

"[14] Similarly, Eva Simpson of the Daily Mirror wrote that the track "brought the same high-gloss sheen" as "Pure Shores" and cited it as a curtain raiser for Saints & Sinners.

[11] A Western Mail reviewer viewed the two songs as "equally tremendous",[35] while The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan found "Black Coffee" superior, describing it as "beguiling treatment of a domestic scenario" and "easily the most alluring depiction of a bleary-eyed morning routine ever recorded.

"[42] Clem Bastow of The Sydney Morning Herald said the song in particular won All Saints "major critical points" over the Spice Girls and complemented their "impeccable back catalogue".

[43] In the Daily Record, Julie MacCaskill wrote that "Black Coffee" along with "Pure Shores", "Under the Bridge" and "Never Ever" are a testament to the group's "pop power".

"[45] In 2016, Digital Spy's Lewis Corner placed the song at number three in his ranking of All Saints singles, highlighting its "euphoric" chorus and deeming it "pop-form caffeine".

[3] Kirsty earned royalties of over £12,000,[61] while Nichols stated in an interview for HitQuarters, "when that song was released, the opportunities that [I got] certainly in the UK, but also Europe-wide, [were] absolutely huge.

Jon Stewart, author of Oh Blessed Holy Caffeine Tree: Coffee in Popular Music, wrote that the video put emphasis on the romantic disharmony of the lyrics.

[18] CBC Television placed "Black Coffee" at number five in its ranking of the group's music videos, praising the special effects and combination of "an angelic serenade during an argument".

[87] In 2004 year German musician Markus Guentner used chorus and some samples for his track with same name "Black Coffee" which was released on Detective Stories EP (Ware Recordings).