Coffee

Twenty-five kitchen staffers taste eight different samples of whole-bean supermarket coffees brewed at regular strength. Some coffee brands are deemed deep and smoky, others light and chocolaty, and some of… them bitter and burnt-tasting. Nearly two-thirds of the kitchen staffers normally drink coffee with milk, so the test was again conducted, but this time adding warm milk to the coffee. This article shows that how you drink your coffee and what roast level you prefer are lead determinates in what coffee you will like best.

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Forty-two regular and decaffeinated Colombian and Kona coffees are taste-tested by two experts. Editors find that whole-bean coffee usually tastes best, and that not all coffees from the same label are… good. Testers also say that high price doesn't guarantee quality, and that coffee-shop brands aren't necessarily better. Additionally, the Kona coffees tested didn't live up to their expectations or their price tags.

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Kenneth Davids purchases both canned and bulk coffees from national supermarkets in the San Francisco Bay Area and Trader Joes, and subjects 12 brands to a blind tasting. In the end, he concludes that… canned coffees can't compete with bulk whole-bean coffees such as Millstone. He states that the commercial canned coffees don't deliver the same dramatic flavor notes or intriguing depth as specialty coffees, but concedes that they also are devoid of any "dramatic fault." Folgers Coffee House French Roast tastes a bit better to Davids than the other canned/ground coffee varieties. Interestingly, Eight O'Clock is deemed the loser and of "wretched quality." Davids even found a small rock in the coffee.

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Twenty Fair Trade coffees are tested twice in blind taste tests by both Kenneth Davids and Lindsey Bolger. Of the 20, ten attracted ratings of 86 or better in reviews that read a lot like wine-tasting… notes. Many of the coffee varieties sampled are unavailable in national supermarkets, but Green Mountain Yirgacheffe is among the top-rated. Green Mountain coffee is available in some national supermarkets, but there is no guarantee that a particular variety will be sold in all locations.

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The Today Show's food editor Phil Lempert gives a short but interesting overview of types of coffee, along with the results of personal taste tests and preferences. The most important advice here is to… avoid Robusta beans, which are of lesser quality than Arabica beans. Lempert's top pick is the harder-to-find Illy brand, followed by Dunkin' Donuts Original Blend, both of which use all-Arabica beans. However, it's sometimes not clear if Lempert is testing beans that are ground and brewed at home or prepared coffee.

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The article reveals the results of a taste test of Fair Trade coffees judged by four panelists of differing backgrounds. The blind taste test was conducted by brewing each coffee in a French press for four… minutes and then consuming it black. Judges were asked to rate each coffee based on its body, acidity and balance. Though none of the coffees judged are available in supermarkets, the results are interesting because the top two coffees were of the same variety as Green Mountain Organic Fair Trade Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, top-rated in a separate review.

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