Atelier-Cafes Bretagne Cafe De L'Atelier

Chrissie brought these over-roasted beans of no character and no indication of country of origin back from Normandy for me. It's sludge. Best drunk with milk. Or best not drunk at all. I wonder who exactly drinks this garbage, and I suppose it must be folks who drink espresso.  One of the least attractive coffees I have drunk in a long time.


Score: 1

Taylors Praline Especial Brazil

Taylors usually do some pleasing blends, but I'm not keen on this one. It's a darkest roast, so of course there are dark chocolate flavours, but there's also a fair amount of sludgy bitterness with few sharp or acidic notes to balance it out. Some creamy toffee or caramel adds to the interest, but overall this is too much in the direction of a simple strong roast.  There is absolutely no regional character due to the dark roasting, so putting Brazil in the name is not helpful - I don't doubt that the beans came from Brazil, but they could have come from anywhere, the regional character has been roasted out of them.

Not impressed.


Score: 3

Taylors of Harrogate

Taylors Berry Reserva Nicaragua

Not so keen on this. Still playing around to try to get an attractive cup out of it. Each cup I've had so far has been either a little characterless or rather bitter and sludgy.

It got better as I got used to it, and became drinkable, but wasn't a coffee that really impressed me, or that I looked forward to drinking.

Score: 3

Taylors of Harrogate

Taylors Rare Blossom Ethiopia

I love this! Such a wonderful range of flavours, and yet so easy drinking. There's a range of exotic fruit flavours, and nuts, and spice, and wood. It's like a Christmas coffee with all the fruits and nuts and spices and even a hint of whiskey.  It comes from the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, which is the main coffee growing region. Contained within the region are the areas which have acquired a reputation for good coffee: Harrar, Sidama, Yirgacheffe, etc.  Taylors are a coffee blending company, and are skilled at that, so - given the wide area they have named, and that they haven't narrowed it down to a specific area, it likely that this is a blend from various farms within the region. It is a delightful blend. It serves my purpose, giving me a really flavoursome, fascinating, and easy drinking coffee that I can offer to anyone. It will engage the interest of any coffee enthusiast, yet is so undemanding and so pleasantly easy drinking that it can be given to the most casual of coffee drinkers.

This coffee was launched in Feb 2017, along with several others, during an extensive redesign of the Taylor's brand.

I love Ethiopian coffee. And this is the best one I have ever drunk. I love it!


Score: 10

Taylors of Harrogate

Ethiopian coffee

Instacafe Cappuccino Whisky

Cheap from our local 99p store. The same company make an Irish Coffee flavour. This is very thin and watery with a vague artificial creamy toffee flavour, there's little coffee or whisky flavour.

Not as much fun or as satisfying as some of the better creamy instant coffees.


Score: 2

Creamy instant coffees

Percol Americano

Another new Percol blend. This one appears to be intended to be unintrusive, while retaining some coffee flavour. The result is something that tastes like coffee - a sort of generic coffee flavour that you'd find in coffee flavoured chocolates and similar products, but has no character. The coffee finishes with a sort of instant coffee bitterness. This is not a product for coffee lovers. Those who drink espresso and its milky derivatives such as cappuccino, are likely to be the intended audience - and its probably designed to be drunk with milk.  The Americano is a style of espresso in which hot water is added in an attempt to replicate a traditionally brewed coffee - it is thought that the name came about from Americans adding water to their espressos in Italy before the milky espresso (latte) became popular in America in the 1980s via the Seattle based Starbucks, and America gradually switched its allegiance from traditionally brewed coffee to the steam brewed espresso. 


Score: 3

***

Percol

Coffee roasts

Lavazza Cereja Passita

A Brazilian single estate coffee from the old fashioned Italian coffee makers Lavazza. The coffee has been ground too fine, so it is a little sludgy, even when plunged almost immediately (it needs stirring before plunging, otherwise there's a strong resistance, and if pushed too hard coffee will splash everywhere!). There's some chocolate notes, but on the whole it tastes like a cheap over-roasted blend of no character. I think this is more for espresso drinkers than coffee drinkers.

Lavazza was founded in Italy in 1895, and claim to have invented coffee blending. 

Cereja Passita is from the Cerrado plateau in Brazil, which has a rich soil and dry climate that makes for easy drinking coffee of low acidity. The beans from this area are generally described as nutty, with hazelnut, chocolate, caramel and walnut flavours. That may be the case, but the roast and grind of this Lavazza coffee results in too much sludge for my taste. Yes, there are mild coffee flavours, but the darker roast counters that, so there's a sort of artificial balance.

I'm not impressed.


Score: 3

Percol Rich Roast Cafe Grand

Another of the new Percol blends. At first I thought this was an unremarkable, everyday coffee. Not offensive or unpleasant, but not particularly outstanding either. But as I worked my way through the pack I found myself looking forward to my morning coffee more and more, and paying more attention to the flavour. This is a very attractive and subtle coffee - there is the familiar everyday coffee roast, but there's also a delicate and very pleasant nutty flavour, with slight hints of chocolate. Percol call it a walnut flavour, and I wouldn't disagree.

I am going to get some more of this as I liked it a lot. I'm not one for blends - I am not attracted by the idea. I love the romance and intrigue of a single estate. But this is particularly nice.


Score: 8

***

Percol

Coffee roasts

Taylors Fika

Taylors and Percol are both putting out a new range of blends which attempt to capture some kind of cool atmosphere or mood from an area - such as London or Australia, and this one which is Scandinavia.

The blurb

The blends so far tend to be smooth, easy drinking styles. Nothing very exciting or interesting, but inoffensive, easy to make, and quite drinkable. They are unremarkable, everyday coffees. I'm quite happy to drink them, but they are not coffees I'm going to take time to linger over or consider. And they are not coffees I would offer to a fellow coffee enthusiast, though would be quite happy to offer to friends and family who drink coffee casually.  This fits right in there with the others. It has soft chocolate notes. Soft hazelnut. A hint of toast. Some malty bread. It's OK.


Score: 5

Taylors of Harrogate

Percol Medium Roast London Blend

Bunch of new Percol coffees in the supermarket, so I grabbed them all. This is the first I've tried, and I like it. I'm not really one for blends, preferring the individual character of a single estate, or at least, a single region or country, but this blend is well thrown together such that it is drinkable, and yet has its own soft character - a roasty, chocolate biscuit with  jam flavour, that is quite appealing. This is not a coffee you'd offer friends to impress them, but is one that is easy to make, easy to drink, and serves as something pleasant, comforting, and undemanding for those times when life is too busy to even think about the nature of your coffee, you just want to drink it, rather than appreciate it.

Though I drink my coffee black, this has a milky creamy feel that is rather nice. Not a top end coffee by any means, but as an easy everyday drinker, this works for me.


Score: 6

***

Percol

Coffee roasts

Lavazza Selva Alta

Lavazza are known to me as an old fashioned coffee company who do characterless blends in vacuum packs, but here they are doing single estate coffee from Peru, and packed in a modern vapour release.

This is a pleasant and subtle coffee with flavours of honey and chocolate with hints of blackcurrant.

The only other coffee I've had from Peru that I can recall is CafeDirect Machu Picchu, which seems to have similar characteristics.



Score: 7

Instacafe Cappuccino Irish Cream Flavour

Tastes like a certain milky toffee my nan used to like. But mostly it tastes artificial, with an artificial whiskey taste which is quite curious.  Not as much fun as some of the better creamy instant coffees.


Score: 2

Creamy instant coffees

Taylors Degraves

Spotted a couple of new Taylors of Harrogate coffees in Tesco, so grabbed them both. I didn't know what Degraves mean, and on looking it up find that it's a street in Melbourne, Australia which, among other things, is known for its espresso bars.  There are various ways that espresso is marketed - with or without milk, and in different proportions. There is a version called flat white, which originated either in Australia or New Zealand, nobody is quite sure, though Taylors seem to feel it originated in Degraves Street.

Blurb on the packet

It's a muddy ill-defined sort of coffee. A bit of coffee flavour, and a bit of bitterness. It's not much cop on its own, and when milk is added it's not much better, but is at least drinkable.  This Degaves seems to me to be more about the marketing than the taste. It's poor quality coffee beans sold off as something cool and trendy. That the makers say to "enjoy with milk" is an indicator that this is not a blend for coffee geeks. Eeek!


Score: 2

Taylors of Harrogate

Douwe Egberts L'Or Intense Intensity 8

Drinkable as long as only two and half scoops are used, but not pleasurable. I am struggling a bit with these L'Or coffees.....

Score: 2

***

Coffee roasts

Douwe Egberts

Twinings Salted Caramel Green Tea

Salted caramel is all the rage at the moment, and here it is as the flavour of a green tea. Well, I kind of like salted caramel, but this didn't have much flavour of that. It tasted more of a sort of bland vanilla. Slightly dry and nothing much to encourage repeat drinking.


Date: July 2017    Score: 3

Twinings

Douwe Egberts L'Or Elegant Intensity 5

L'or is a brand launched earlier this year (2017) by Douwe Egberts as a "premium" brand.  I thought it was an old fashioned cheap or standard brand.  It tastes the same as the other rubbish by Douwe Egberts, but without the romance of the name. In fact it probably is the same stuff, but in new packaging.

The Elegant is dark roasted, but not harsh. Lots of roast flavours - quite rich, but no character. It's drinkable, but tastes just like every other dark roasted coffee. If you like dark roasted I think you can safely go for the cheapest brand you can find, because there is little actual difference between them.

This is a little smoother than the Classique Intensity 7, so I find it a little easier to drink. But, like the Classic (sorry, [assumes French accent] "Classique"), I am not going to finish the whole packet. Life is too short for rubbish like this.


Score: 3

***

Coffee roasts

Douwe Egberts

Douwe Egberts L'Or Classique Intensity 7

L'Or is a brand launched earlier this year (2017) by Douwe Egberts as a "premium" brand.  I thought it was an old fashioned cheap or standard brand.  It tastes the same as the other rubbish by Douwe Egberts, but without the romance of the name. In fact it probably is the same stuff, but in new packaging.

The Classique is dark roasted, but not harsh. Lots of roast flavours - quite rich, but no character. It's drinkable, but tastes just like every other dark roasted coffee. If you like dark roasted I think you can safely go for the cheapest brand you can find, because there is little actual difference between them.

I got bored and irritated by this after a few cups, and didn't finish the packet.


Score: 2

***

Coffee roasts

Douwe Egberts

Percol Americano

This has an inviting aroma of vanilla and chocolate, but the taste is simply over roasted coffee. No character, no range or depth of flavour, just a one-dimensional roasty bitterness. This is meaningless sludge. I should imagine those who buy this will drown it in milk and sugar and drink it without pausing to taste it.

I can only drink this with a bit of a struggle. Needs some milk to cover it up.

Score: 2

Percol

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Tanzanian Moshi Peabody Coffee Beans

The full name is Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Tanzanian Moshi Community Sundried Peabody Coffee Beans, which is quite a mouthful.  Long name, but a great coffee.


Score: 9

Sainsbury's own label tea and coffee

Aldi Diplomat Jasmine Green Tea

Fresh, green, pleasant, light and drinkable. This is a pretty decent jasmine tea. Refreshing, with a delicate floral aroma and flavour. Nice one.

Date: June 2017   Score: 8

***

Aldi tea and coffee

Miles Finest Teas West Country Original Blend

More and more tea blenders are jumping on the Yorkshire Tea bandwagon and selling blends of black tea under regional names. D. J. Miles & Co are a Porlock based tea company, founded in 1888, who also import and roast coffee.

We've not been impressed with this tea - it's either strong or its vaque - there's no balance to be found in which the tea is delivered in a crisp and fresh manner. There's a chemical, soapy quality. It doesn't sit well with milk - it gives it a vomit flavour, and on it's own it's a little crude and tannic. Now, it may well be that I don't like the Assam tea or the African tea they use in the blend, and that those who like Assam or African tea will like this, Most African tea is grown in Kenya, processed by the crush, tear, curl (ctc) method, then sold in bulk to be blended in tea bags.  Most ctc teas reveal little of their origin as they tend to all taste the same. They just make basic brown tea of no character.


Score: 3

Finlays Cafe Express Premium Guatemalan Beans

A one pound (lb = 454g) brown paper bag of Guatemalan Beans from Lidl for around £3. Can't say no to that. This is a Finlay's package - most people will not have heard of Finlays, but will certainly have drunk their tea and coffee if they have ever bought a supermarket own brand, for Finlays are one of the UK's main suppliers of tea and coffee for the supermarket own brand ranges.

This is a smooth, slightly nutty, slightly sweet coffee with hints of milky chocolate. Easy drinking but lacking in character. I'm not getting much in the way of aroma, and there is little depth or range, but it's pleasant enough. This is not a coffee to sip and savour, it's simply something to drink. As it's fairly sweet, with little roast character, it's not really a coffee I can enthuse about, but it's not at all objectionable, and I don't mind drinking it. It's easy to make - standard three scoops, easy to grind, no fuss at all, and quite forgiving.

The more I drink this the more I like it. Easy to make. Easy drinking, and quite flavoursome. It lacks character and interest, but makes up for that in sheer drinkability.


Score: 7

Guatemala coffee