Aldi Alcafe Mocha

These are £1.25 for a packet of 10, compared to £1.29 for a packet of 8 from Tesco. Both have the same amount of coffee in total (making the Aldi individual portions slightly smaller) , and they taste similar enough. So the choice is between 8 big cups or 10 smaller cups. The price is good compared to Nescafe which are twice as much though Nescafe tastes smoother and creamier.  The pound stores have cheaper options, though the taste of the cheaper ones is not as nice.

The taste is fairly dry with a balance between the instant coffee flavour and the chocolate. This is not great coffee, but as a creamy instant it works well, and compares well with other creamy instant mochas. These are good value, though so are the Tesco own brand.


Score: 3

Aldi tea and coffee

Creamy instant coffees

Percol Italiano

This is dark roast, grade 5. Three scoops works OK, and is best left for over 3 minutes to get the most character and flavour. It is not harsh or bitter, and is softer than I expected for a grade 5 roast; however, there isn't much character, and what flavour there is is more of the dark roast than of coffee. This is a very basic coffee which is drinkable as an everyday coffee, but it's not attractive or interesting enough to offer to guests or to buy again for personal use.

Score: 3

Coffee roasts

Percol

Lidl Bellarom French Blend 100% Arabica

There is a pleasant soft hazelnut and almond paste flavour to this, but that's counterbalanced by a fairly aggressive bitterness and high caffeine level. This works best with milk, or as the basis for a cappuccino or other coffee flavoured milky drink. It's a French Roast, which means the bean is roasted almost until it is burnt, and what is noticeable is the flavour of the roasting rather than the flavour or character of the bean, so it is always the  less characterful beans that are roasted to such darkness. Not necessarily the poorest quality or cheapest, but certainly not a bean that would gain a premium price for its flavour, character, or individuality, such as Jamaican Blue Mountain. Italian Roast will go a little closer to the burn, and is about the darkest roast one can get. French and Italian roasts are used for espresso, as the brewing process is so quick and rough, there is no time for character to come through, so medium roasts or character beans would be wasted, indeed, would taste of little as espresso requires the strong roast flavours of a dark burn to taste of anything at all. I expect this is called a "blend" because it probably includes beans that are not fully roasted to dark, but may be medium roasted to give the coffee a little bit of sweetness to make it more accessible to a wider audience.

It's a cheap coffee, and a basic coffee, but the sweet nutty quality makes it interesting enough to explore further. On further exploration I discover that it's palatable when drunk with milk and with two and a half scoops rather than three, but also quite unremarkable.  Nice label, shame about the coffee.


Score: 3

Coffee roasts

Lidl Tea & Coffee

Taylors Rich Italian Coffee Beans

Not much character and not a lot of flavour. It's coffee, but it's a bit like instant coffee or a Starbucks. It's just coffee flavoured wit nothing significant to offer.



Bland, but drinkable as an everyday coffee when you don't care too much about what it tastes like..


Score: 3

Coffee roasts

Taylors of Harrogate

Nescafe Cafe Menu / Gold Cappuccino

Now with  ground coffee and a new name, but still tastes like a watery milk drink. It's not foul, but it's not coffee, it's not even frothy coffee. But I suppose people who drink cappuccino are those that don't actually like coffee.  But I can't imagine even someone who likes a milky cappuccino liking this. It's drinkable, but its an insipid kid's drink really.

Date: Jan 2019   Score: 2

It's drinkable, but it's not much fun. It tastes like what it is - instant coffee with dried milk powder. There's nothing to set this off - there are no interesting or fun flavours, so you get a moderately dry and plain and slightly bitter instant coffee flavour. Not good really.

Date: Jan 2016    Score: 2

Frothy coffee

Tesco Cafe Style Mocha

This is not too sweet, and is pleasantly dry rather than too creamy. There's a nice balance between the chocolate and the coffee flavours. At the end of the day it's still a StarBucks style milky drink rather than a coffee, but it's drinkable and quite acceptable if what you're after is a milky drink.

Date: Jan 2016    Score: 4

***

Tesco tea and coffee

Creamy instant coffees

Tesco Original Fresh Coffee Beans 3

A slightly stodgy and bitter everyday coffee.


Date: July 2017   Score:  3

These are not single estate beans, there's no character or individuality about them, no finesse, no beauty, but as everyday beans that make a decent cup of coffee with no fuss, they are great. The more care you take over their brewing the better they taste, but they are very forgiving, and won't come over as too thin, too harsh, too sludgy, or too acidic if you mistreat them. They produce a reasonably robust and nutty brew - no highs, but few lows. Drinkable and forgettable. At £2 for 227g they are very good value.

Date:  Jan 2016   Score: 5

***

Tesco tea and coffee

Coffee roasts