Lidl Deluxe Green Rooibos, Peach & Cherry

A fruit tea. Sort of. Rooisbos is the South African redbush tea - a sort of caffiene free black tea alternative. This one has been flavoured with peach, cherry, rose and something called "Natural Flavouring". There's a bit of vanilla about this, but if it was vanilla, I'm sure they would say.

It's fairly soft, bland, slightly tannic, with a mild peach flavour. Not really my thing.

See also:   Dammann Freres Rooibos Parfume Vanille

Score: 3   Date: Dec 2015


Since first reviewing this at the start of December last year, I have changed my mind. I keep returning to it, and I find it light and refreshing with a delicate peach flavour. It finishes with a pleasing coconut note.  It is becoming one of my green/fruit teas of choice, and I will be returning to Lidl to pick up some more!

Score: 7  Date: Jan  2016

Lidl Tea & Coffee

Lidl Bellarom Colombian Coffee

Best value for money Colombian coffee

£3.59 for 454g from Lidl. Excellent value for money. The beans do not come from any specific part of Colombia, other than "a high altitude". But Colombian beans are good, and high altitude is good, so high altitude Colombian is a good enough indicator of robust and tasty coffee without needing to go further, and at this price, really, why should we quibble. The coffee is easy to make - it's fairly forgiving, which is ideal for everyday coffee. It's got a robust but not overpowering bitterness, and a pleasant roastiness that gives interest and flavour without being too acrid. Not much acidity despite the high altitude claim, but enough to balance the robust bitterness and add further character. But we are not talking about a coffee with lots of character and interest, and a range of fruit and nut flavours, this is simply a good, everyday coffee. Limited, but very drinkable and quite appealing. At the price, this is the best value for money Colombian coffee you can get. It may not be the best, and it may be slightly edged in taste by the Aldi cheap Colombian, but not by much, and as this is slightly cheaper, this has to be the better value.

The Bellarom brand is what Lidl have been using for their own label coffee and chocolate products, though recently the Deluxe brand has been introduced to run alongside Bellarom. Bellarom seems to be for the lower priced products, and the Deluxe for higher priced products.


Score: 6

Colombian coffee

Lidl Tea & Coffee

Tesco Finest Peppermint and Liquorice

£2.89 for 15 bags (30g) from Tesco. Attractively packaged in a colourful box. The bags are pyramid nets with a string and tag. I like the fine net pyramid bags, but I don't like the string and tag - but that's not an issue as it can be cut off easily. Contents are 64% Oregon peppermint, 35% liquorice, and 1% blue mallow flowers. It's a lovely cup of tea - good sharp peppermint, and beautiful sweet liquorice. I'd prefer if the liquorice were a little earthier, but even so, this is a fine drink.

Score: 8

***

Tesco tea and coffee

Mint tea

McDonald's White Coffee

I go to Heathrow to pick up my wife, and I'm a little early. These days you have to pay £4 every 30 minutes to wait, so I go to the McDonald's on the A4 to wait, and buy a coffee to pay for my parking. I order a coffee, and am met with the "what sort of coffee" response that seems to happen these days. As this is a McDonald's I assume (correctly) that I'm not being asked "Brazilian or Kenyan". So I clarify - just a coffee - and, because I have a doubt it will taste nice, I say "white coffee" - and to make sure, sure, sure, I say, not a latte or espresso with milk - I just want a standard coffee. Some hope. What I get is shit. It tastes like an espresso with water and a splash of milk. It doesn't taste fresh. It tastes watery and bitter, like ashes and burnt black toast. There's no resemblance of a coffee at all. No coffee aroma or coffee flavour.  The UK website confirms it's a watered down espresso (sometimes these things are called Americano). The American website says they brew fresh every 30 minutes, but the UK one doesn't say that.

Is it really so hard for these quick food places to put three scoops of coffee into a plunger, wait three minutes, then plunge? I don't mind waiting. I do mind being given a watered down espresso when I clarified what I wanted was a coffee.


Date: Nov 2015    Score: 1

Aldi Alcafe Colombian Roast and Ground Coffee

£1.69 for 200g from Aldi. Nothing remarkable about this. Roasted acidity. Has a fresh and fairly bright taste. Soft body. A little too soft really. Nothing much going on, but not offensive. OK for the price, but not a coffee to give to guests. Just a cheap, everyday drink. Pretty much on a par with other non-region specific "Colombian" coffees, such as  Percol Colombia and Tesco Colombian, so price is the deciding factor here, and the Alcafe wins on that score.


Score: 5

*Best cheap Colombian coffee

Aldi tea and coffee

Colombian coffee

Aldi Specially Selected Sweet. Fruity & Fragrant Forest Fruits Infusions

This is lovely. Full of rich dark fruit flavours. Pleasantly sweet. Refreshing and satisfying. No tannic notes, just lots of lovely dark juice. 15 pyramid bags from Aldi for £1.99. Well worth it.

Date: Oct 2015  Score: 8

Positively yummy. Quite jammy and sweet and refreshing.

Date: Oct 2019     Score: 9

Aldi tea and coffee

Lidl Deluxe Colombian Risaralda Roast & Ground Coffee

£2.49 for 227g from Lidl. So a good price. Grade 4 roast. This is lovely. Creamy and smooth with a lovely body that is rich and flavoursome, but not overpowering. Nicely balanced all round with little flavour treats in all directions. My gosh I like this. This is a gentle, subtle brew. Low acidity and low burnt notes, even though this is a Grade 4 roast. There's a range of nut flavours - peanut, almond and hazelnut. This is soft, relaxing, and invites further drinking to explore the flavour combinations a bit more. I'm going to enjoy this one. My sort of coffee. The more I drink this the more I like it, and it has come top in three blind taste tests I've done against other Colombian coffees.

Risaralda is an area in Colombia that is part of Unesco's World Heritage Site for its historic coffee landscape and its global significance as representative of Colombia's coffee production. While Colombian coffee growers promote the region, opinion is divided, with some feeling the best Colombian coffee grows out of the region.


Date: Sept 2015  Score: 7/10

This does pretty much what I want in an everyday coffee. It is easy drinking yet flavoursome. There's flavour and character but without excessive bitterness or acidity. It is easy to make, and enjoyable to drink. It is rounded and satisfying in the mouth, and gives off a warm aroma. It's not an exciting coffee, but most of the time I don't want that - I just want a flavoursome and satisfying coffee that's quick and easy to make. And I love the flavour of this one. Crisp toffee, chocolate, butter and almonds. Nice.


Date: March, 2018   Score: 8


This is currently:

Best quality Colombian
Best value for money Colombian

***

Colombian coffee

Lidl Tea & Coffee

Percol Smooth Colombia / Easy Drinking Colombian

£2.49 from Lidl for the standard 227g, so an average price. Packaging is bright, but not attractive, and there is no reseal tape. The design appears to be giant lily pads, which is confirmed by the blurb on the back which tells us that "Colombia is home to over 130,000 species - including the giant water lily (which can support the weight of anything from a poisoned dart frog to a small child)."We are told nothing about where the coffee is from, other than somewhere in Columbia. The coffee is both FairTrade and Good For Life, which is Percol's own charity.

It has a medium roast, grade 3, though still manages to be fairly assertive with a fair amount of burnt notes. The coffee is gritty and sludgy in the mouth - something I've experienced before with Percol coffees. There are some bright notes, with pleasant acidity, and the coffee finishes with a pleasant chocolate and hazelnut flavour. I could possibly like this if it were not for the gritty grind.

I've tried this a few times now at various strengths, temperatures and brew times, and I've not quite managed to get a totally satisfying brew out of it - sometimes it's too thin, other times too acidic - though on the whole it's not offensive, and while unremarkable can be acceptable and pleasant.

Name change from "Colombia - The Smooth Coffee" to "Smooth Colombia"


Date:  Sept  2015    Score: 4 - 5

Another name change.  I like Colombian coffee - you get a proper coffee taste, and it tends to be easy drinking.  It can be a bit variable when making it - sometimes a bit too assertive or sludgy, sometimes a bit too watery, and sometimes both, and there are no heavenly delights or surprises. It's just a decent everyday coffee.


Date: Feb 2018    Score: 4

Other reviews
*CoffeeJudges
*CoffeeAdventurer
 

Colombian coffee

Percol

Percol

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

Percol (the main brand of  the Food Brands Group), operates their own Good for Life charity that supports families in third world communities.

Guardian article

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CoffeeJudges

Percol Colombia

Score: 4/10

Percol Guatemala

Score: 4/10

Percol Plantation Wharf Laid Back

Score: 4/10

Percol Italiano

Score:  3

Percol Plantation Wharf Dark Ric

Score: 2

Colombian coffee

Colombian coffee is regarded by many as among the best, if not the best, in the world. Since 2011 the coffee growing area has been a World Heritage Site.The coffee is apparently comparable to Costa Rican or higher grade Brazilian..

"The highland Arabicas thrive under ideal climate conditions: clouds, guamo and banana trees protect the coffee plants from scorching heat and severe winds. The Colombian coffees are a generally soft but very aromatic. Their body is somewhat richer than Brazilian coffees, but equally soft and rounded in taste. The Supremo coffee with its big beans can be described as velvety and well balanced."

"Colombia is second only to Brazil in overall coffee production and first in quantity of Arabicas grown. The Juan Valdez ad campaign helped make Colombia the best known origin. “Supremo” is the highest grade, based on bean size. Colombian coffee has long been considered generally good, but unspectacular. Some really fine coffees, however, are produced in Colombia, mostly in the southwest part of the country."


 Coffee Review

ColombianCoffeeHub

CoffeeChemistry

FastCompany

Dallmayr.

InterAmerican

Reviews

Lidl Deluxe Colombian Risaralda 
Best quality Colombian coffee
Score: 7  Price: £2.49 for 227g

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference
Colombian (Finlays)
Score: 7  Price: £3.30 for 227g

Aldi Alcafe Colombian 
Best cheap Colombian coffee
Score: 5  Price: £1.69 for 200g

Lidl Bellarom Colombian 
Best value for money Colombian coffee
Score: 5  Price:  £3.59 for 454g

CafeDirect Colombia 
Score: 5   Price: £3.79 for 227g

Tesco Finest 
Colombian Supremo coffee beans 
Score: 5   Price £2.99 for 227g

Taylors Cacao Superior Colombian
Score: 5
Price £3.50 - £4.50

Tesco Colombian Coffee 
Score: 4 - 5  
Price: £2.00 for £227g

Taylors
Colombian High Andes 
Score: 5  
Price: Currently not available

Starbucks Colombia 
Score: 5   Price:  £3.50 for 200g

Percol Colombian 
Score: 4 - 5  
Price: £2.50 for 227g & 200g

Lidl Deluxe 
Colombian Supremo Coffee 
Score: 3  Price:  £2.39 for 227g

Asda Extra Special 
Colombian Coffee 
Score: 2  Price: £2.79 for 227g

***

Lidl Deluxe Colombian Supremo

£2.39 for 227g from Lidl. Roast 3. This is a a full flavoured and rather assertive coffee, especially for a grade 3 roast. I have been struggling with it a bit, and have tried both smaller measures and less brewing time to get the right strength for me. I think the right approach is to use the standard 3 spoons, quick stir, and then plunge, pushing down slowly, raising the plunger to allow the coffee to settle, and then finishing off. The mouthfeel is creamy dense, and there's chocolate and all sorts of darkness, but nothing much to contrast it - no acidity or fruit, except a hint of violets. This is pure darkness. It feels intense, as though packed with caffeine, and I am wary of it. The finish is too bitter for me. I'd like to like this coffee, but I am still struggling with it.

"Supremo" relates to the size of the bean - it is the largest of the beans grown in Colombia. Other regions have different names for their largest bean, such as Superior, AA, or Extra Fancy. From what I 've been reading, some feel that as long as beans are the same size when roasted, so they all roast at the same rate, then size doesn't have an impact on the flavour, while others feel that larger size generally results in better quality. Beans grown at higher altitude tend to grow more slowly, and are harder, larger, denser, with more acidity and flavour.
"Highland" refers to the altitude at which the beans are grown. Generally the higher the altitude the more valuable and better tasting the coffee.


Date:  Sept 2015   Score: 3/10

I didn't get on with this. Found it lacked distinctive flavour - just giving off generic strong, bitter coffee vibes. Tried using less, and brewing for shorter times, but still found it too strong and bitter. Ended up drinking it with milk. 

Date: Feb 2018  Score: 3

Colombian coffee

Lidl Tea & Coffee