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

Murroughs Welsh Brew

I'm Welsh, so Chrissie brought this home for me after attending a meeting where it was being served. My memory of "proper Welsh tea" is that is is strong and bitter. This is thin and tannic. Not my thing at all. Closer in style to Yorkshire tea than either the Irish or Dorset teas that I love, and nothing like my memory of the way tea was made in Wales when I was a kid.  It has some of the dry tea flavour of Yorkshire, but not the body. This is pretty poor tea really. It is blended and sold by the Murrough family who are based in my home town of Swansea.


Score: 1

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Colombian Coffee Beans

Smooth, delicate, and with attractive chocolate notes with hints of summer flowers and Italian red wine. An enjoyable and satisfying coffee with some character.


Score: 6

***

Colombian coffee

Sainsbury's own label tea and coffee

Asda French Style Coffee

A fairly simple, slightly crude, coffee. Not offensive, and it is drinkable, but it is very one dimensional, and offers little beyond a basic dark roast flavour. This has been roasted an inch too far for my taste. If there are folks who don't like the taste of coffee, but like the taste of burnt toast, they will enjoy this. I suspect those who like such darkly roasted coffees also like espresso.


Score: 2

Asda tea and coffee

Coffee roasts

Thompson's Family Teas Irish Breakfast Blend

It seems everywhere in the British Isles there is a region specific tea. I can accept Yorkshire tea, as it is a tradition there for strong tea, and to a certain extent accept Welsh tea, as that is also strong, but not quite as strong as Yorkshire, but none of the other places that claim regional significance have any particular tradition. But, it is fun to have these teas, and there is some pleasure in the association. This is an Irish tea, and it's a breakfast blend, so I somewhat expected a strong tea, and was both disappointed and pleased that it turned out to be a soft and drinkable tea. Disappointed because I wanted some guts and glory, but also pleased because it is easy drinking and thirst quenching. There is, yes, a lack of character, but sometimes that's exactly what you want. This is a good drinking tea that quenches the thirst and washes down the breakfast without intruding. So it works as well with the fry up as it does with the jam and croissant. Flexible, refreshing, undemanding, everyday tea. Not one to offer your guests nor for that quiet reflective moment in the garden with a book, but certainly something easy to slurp down.

Date: April 2017    Score: 4

Founded in 1896, Thompson's are a family tea firm based in Belfast who have recently started marketing their tea outside of Ireland. Their Irish Breakfast Tea is based on the traditional English breakfast tea, which is a blend of teas based on Assam tea from Northern India, Kenyan tea, and often one or more others. This blend just uses Assam and Kenyan, and as such lacks character. It's probably done to save money. We found the tea to lack brightness and flavour, no matter how we brewed it. If brewed stronger or longer instead of getting more flavour, we simply got tannic bitterness and cardboard.

Not a successful blend for us.


Date: Dec 2018    Score: 3

McDonald's Toffee Latte

This is not a coffee. Don't get excited. This product has no idea of what a coffee is, and those ordering it don't care about or understand or want a coffee. They want a warm, sweet, milky drink. And that's what they get. Judge it as a coffee and it's crap. I mean. I'll repeat. This is not a coffee, so it's like judging a meat pie on how good a sports car it is. There's is no point of reference. So. Not a coffee. But a fun drink.

I enjoyed it for what it was. But I wish McDonald's in the UK was like McDonald's in Europe, where you can get a beer instead of this juvenile pap.


 Score: 4

Creamy instant coffees