Lidl Deluxe Honduras Cristobal

Found three wonderfully packaged coffees in Lidl for around £3.30 each for 250g of beans and the useful wooden barrel. There is little information in English regarding the beans - the info on the backs of the barrels is in German.

Descriptions are in German

Honduras coffee used to be mediocre, but has gained a reputation recently for the improvement  in quality coffee from a handful of areas. The coffees are not seen as the highest quality, but as very decent. The Cristobal name only comes up in relation to Honduras coffee to a single grower, Cristobal Fernandez who is used by Blue Bottle Coffee distributors. I have enjoyed the Honduras coffees I have had from Tesco and Monoprix, so was hoping for a bit more than I am getting so far from this Lidl Deluxe.  There are chocolate notes and some violets and lime, which is very attractive, but the whole is a a little sludgy, not clearly defined, and finishing with a little bit of bitterness. I am playing around with the brewing as I see some potential here, but as yet I haven't found the right amount or right grind.

I found the right amount - just over three spoons, and ended up really enjoying this coffee.

Score: 7

Lidl Tea & Coffee

Twinings Apple Crunch

This is quite fresh and delicate with a pleasant apple and rosehip flavour. It's OK.


Score: 4

***

Twinings

Lidl Deluxe Uganda Erussi

Found three wonderfully packaged coffees in Lidl for around £3.30 each for 250g of beans and the useful wooden barrel. There is little information in English regarding the beans - the info on the backs of the barrels is in German.

Descriptions are in German

Uganda mostly produces the lower quality Robusta coffee which is used in instant and espresso coffees, but there are a handful of regions where decent quality Arabica coffee is grown. Erussi is a region in the north of Uganda.

The coffee is pleasant, soft and easy drinking with little character. It's OK, but the Kenya Masai is the better buy.


Score: 5

Lidl Tea & Coffee

Lidl Deluxe Kenya Masai

Found three wonderfully packaged coffees in Lidl for around £3.30 each for 250g of beans and the useful wooden barrel. There is little information in English regarding the beans - the info on the backs of the barrels is in German.

Descriptions are in German

The beans take the name of the Masai which is a protected region in Kenya named after the Masai people. Coffee is grown there, and is considered amongst the best that Kenya has to offer.

Highly regarded coffee is grown in the Masai Mara

I have had a Deluxe Kenyan coffee from Lidl, which I didn't really take to as it was too strong and too acidic for my personal taste. I find this Kenya Masai coffee to be more refined, more balanced, more pleasantly drinkable, but lacking in distinct character. It's an easy drinking everyday coffee provided you find the right amount of beans to use. I like to use three and half spoons of beans, ground fairly fine. There are faint lime notes in the finish. It makes a very pleasing and satisfying coffee. I could happily drink this again and again.


Score: 8

Lidl Tea & Coffee

PG Tips Pear & Caramel

I bought these a couple of months ago when they first appeared in the shops. Fruit and herb teas are becoming so popular that Britain's oldest and most conservative tea brand has got in on the act. I loved the pear and caramel flavour when I first had these, but over time I noticed the flavour fading. That seemed to happen quite quickly, and now, either I am now accustomed to the flavour or it has completed faded; I no longer taste pear and caramel, just mostly the base rosehip. I mean, it's OK, but just that, OK. I find rosehip to be an unexciting flavour especially as it tends to being a little tart. The delicate and inviting sweet warm flavour doesn't appear to be present any more. If the flavour fades so quickly that it goes within two months, then I won't be getting any more of these. I like them, but not enough to drink 25 in a couple of weeks.


Date: Nov 2017   Score: 4

Raw Bean Mellow Mexican Reserva Finca Aurora Single Origin

Saw this and had to get it - Mexican coffee is rare to find in a supermarket (I think it was Sainsburys), and a new supplier is always interesting to check out - and Raw Bean turns out to be fairly local to me, as it's in Winchester, just a short drive up the road from my home town of Southampton.  One of their Mexican roasts is listed as among the best single estate coffees in a report by The Independent.

Mexican coffee doesn't as a whole have a great reputation, but some locations are known to produce drinkable coffee, and some farms within those locations can add a little character, so independent coffee roasters on the look out for something a little different to offer, may have a Mexican or two on their list, such as Coffee Compass who also sell beans from Finca Aurora (which means something like Eagle Farm).

The finer details

The coffee is not complex, so is easy to make and quite forgiving. It is an easy going, mellow, everyday coffee. The roasters advise adding milk, and I can see why, as it is a soft, sweet, creamy coffee, but I don't find the milk is necessary, as the coffee stands well by itself, with no bitterness, just a lingering rustic roast. There's some pleasing caramel, though little fruit - just a hint of tangerine and raspberry.  This is not an exciting wow coffee, nor something deep and serious to study, this is a good, tasty, drinking coffee, that you can offer to friends as something a little bit different as it comes from Mexico. 


Score: 6

Modern Standard Ethiopia / Konga Cooperative

Picked these up in Sainsbury's for £4.50 for 227g, so a little pricey, but I liked the packaging, I am curious to try a new supplier in a supermarket, and I love Ethiopian coffee.

There's no information on the pack regarding the roast, but it looks like some form of medium roast. After a bit of trial and error I found that three and a half spoons of beans ground fine and left to brew for four and a half minutes gave a very satisfactory brew. Good coffee character with a fine balance between roast and acidity. I found the acidity to be subtle and fragrant with citric flower flavours, and the roast to be intriguing rather than aggressive, with hints of chocolate, roast, and coffee. This is pretty much how coffee should be. Intriguing and satisfying.

The Konga Cooperative is in the highly respected Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia

I will be getting more of this.

Modern Standard were formed in 2015, and have a regular outlet in Sainsbury's. The company is run by Lynsey Harley who was interviewed on a London coffee blog in February 2016.


Score: 8

Ethiopian coffee