Taylors Brazil Rio Valleys

A robust coffee. It has roast notes and acidic notes. It's a drinkable coffee with a decent all round character. It's not one that gets me excited, but it works well enough. There's nothing offensive about it, but - other than the acidity notes - I'm not getting anything, for me, significantly enjoyable more than I'd get from a basic economy coffee.

Coffee has been produced in the central valleys of Rio de Janeiro since 1770, and during most of the 1800 the bulk of the world's coffee came from these valleys. Coffee production has since spread around Brazil, but much of the quality coffee from Brazil is still grown in tehse valleys.

Taylors of Harrogate

Taylors of Harrogate

Taylors was formed in 1886 as a regional company importing, blending and selling tea and coffee in the Yorkshire area. They opened a chain of cafes in Yorkshire, then in the Sixties merged with Bettys Cafes to form Bettys & Taylors Group Ltd, which has an annual turnover of £88 million producing a profit of nearly £8 million. The company is owned by 13 shareholders who are are family descendants of Frederick Belmont, the man who founded Bettys in 1919, and is run by a professional board under a family chair - Lesley Wild.

Reviews

Rare Blossom Ethiopia
Score: 10

Hot Lava Java 
Score:  7

Fika
Score: 5

Guatemala Cloud Forests
Score:  5

Cacao Superior Colombian
Score: 5

Colombian High Andes
Score: 5

• Lazy Sunday beans

• Score: 5

Brazil Rio Valleys
Score: 4

Rich Italian beans
Score: 3

Christmas Blend
Score: 3

Degraves
Score: 2

Tea

Taylors Yorkshire Tea
Score: 4

Taylors Peppermint Leaf

Some character, but lacks impact. Not worth the price.

Tea and Coffee Emporium Kenya Blue Mountain coffee beans

A few years ago I asked a friend to bring back some Blue Mountain coffee from a holiday he was having in Jamaica. Direct from source, the beans were fresh and genuine. But I wasn't keen. Too light and acidic for my taste. My taste inclines more toward African and Asian grown beans, so the idea of growing Blue Mountain stock in Kenya is quite interesting - if a little daft. This feels more like marketing gimmick - after all, the plant growing in Jamaica is the same plant that grows in Brazil, Ethiopia and India; the only difference is the soil and climate. An Arabica coffee plant growing in Kenya is going to be closer in style to other Arabica plants in Kenya than it is to plants growing in Jamaica, even if the plant was uprooted from Jamaica and replanted in Kenya. The beans will take their character from the local conditions where they are growing.

Funny enough, though, on first attempt at brewing, these Kenyan Blue Mountain beans do taste like Jamaican Blue Mountain - quite light and acidic. I've had these several times now, and they are drinkable, but not to my taste. Very lemony with violets and fruity red wine. Not enough chocolate, coffee and roast for my taste. And not enough body. If I make it strong, I get a caffeine buzz.

I can see that people who like acidic coffee, and who like Blue Mountain would enjoy this, but I prefer apples and these are oranges.


Score: 3

Tea-and-coffee-emporium Tarrazu Medium Roast Coffee Beans from Costa Rica

Medium roast Tarrazu beans bought from tea-and-coffee-emporium.co.uk for £3.25 per 100g. I had to play around with the amount of beans, length of grind, and time in the water to get this to my taste, and at the end of that I'm still not impressed with  Costa Rican coffee. With three scoops, a coarse grind starting toward fine, and leaving for four minutes, I have a creamy coffee with gentle dark chocolate flavour and a clean acid backbone that suggests lime and violets, however, it's also a little sludgy, and a little bitter. But if I grind too coarse, or leave for less than four minutes the coffee tastes weak and watery.

I'm thinking that Costa Rican coffee is not my thing.


4/10

Costa Rican coffee

Percol Guatemala coffee

Fair Trade coffee from an unspecified location (or locations) in Guatemala. Can be a bit sludgy, though also allows for some brightness if made with care. Acidity and bitterness are prominent, with little character or interesting flavours. This tastes more like a budget coffee than something special.

Guatemala produces a mild, balanced coffee; there are eight defined regions making quality coffee that is considered to be among the best in Central America, a region that in itself is not considered among the most desirable for quality coffee beans.

As the location is not specified in this coffee, and the coffee is not that good, I assume it comes from the lesser quality areas. It's each to their own as regards enjoying coffee;  I've noted that the reviewers at coffeejudge often have the opposite taste to me, and two of them seem to like this coffee. There will be others who like it as well.

Percol was founded in 1987, and mainly sells coffee from Central and South America

Rating: 4/10

Guatemala coffee

Percol