September 2011

A standard, always available coffee. No matter where you go, you can pick this one up, and to be honest, it’s nothing special. It's not overly strong - we just did 5 spoons for 2 cups. The flavour is there, but it's the kind of coffee I'd expect to be served in a restaurant or something - just a generic filter coffee. It's got something of a dry aftertaste too which lingers around. Drinkable enough but I just wouldn’t rush out and buy it unless it’s all that’s available. Scores just a passable 5/10 at this point.

We've been putting off this one for some time on the grounds of cost. How can anyone justify £6.13 for a standard pack of coffee? It would have to be phenomenally good. Errrr - it is. From the moment you hold the sturdy tin with its brushed aluminum lid in your hand, you know it's gonna be good. The lid unscrews with an engineering precision - this is not just any old Ikea storage jar. Inside, the coffee is again sealed with a ring pull membrane, which opens with a satisfying rush of air. As far as coffee packs go - this is as good as it gets. We've done two cups today and both are packed full of flavour and somehow feel fresh. Like the coffee is straight out of the roaster. There is definitely a hint of the "floral note" they claim on the tin - maybe slightly citrus even. The grind is very fine - which means some care is needed to press it down slowly, otherwise you could end of with a mouthful of grinds. All in all - it can't be faulted. But sorry - it cant get a 10 score - at over six quid a tin it's just crazy money. It's more of a gift package than an every-dayer. Come on Illy - make us one in a standard vacuum pack for half the price and we'll be on it everyday. Until then it's a 9/10 from this Judge.

This one has been a real puzzle. First time round it had a creamy taste to it. Like it was crying out to be made stronger. It was also quite sweet tasting - I was definitely thinking that this is a coffee for girls. Then every time we've made it since it just got more bitter - now is this a part of the aging process? Can it change that much, over 2 days, kept in a sealed tin? Or is it some kind of reaction to us emptying the stupid vacuum pack out into the uber-cool Illy tin? Whatever, I needed a tiny bit more sugar to make this to taste for me. In the end though, it's a 7/10 while you're drinking it, but it does have a bitter after taste, which pegs it down to a 6/10.

One of the judges has managed to sort himself a nice little Mexican Señorita. Now, the rest of us have never met her, so it could have just been a cover story for his frivolous nights spent on Hampstead Heath. But then, low and behold, he disappears for two weeks and turns up with a real life Mexican coffee, thus adding indisputable weight to the "Señorita story". What ever the truth - we're having the coffee. It's all new - a bigger packet (340g) and super coarsely ground. There's no real smell when we open the pack - which doesn't bode well. It just smells like cheap coffee. The usual dose in the pot gives as an un-drinkably weak cup. So much so, all I could taste was the milk, so I left mine. We tried again: stronger. Still no cigar. One last chance today - and I took charge of the pot and really loaded it up. EIGHT spoons f'chrissakes! That just about nailed it - we can finally taste coffee. But it's still a washout - there's no depth of flavour and there's plenty of aftertaste, due to us having to make it so strong. They claim some acidity - and that fruityness is just about there - but it's disguised under several layers of mud. It's a holiday coffee, let's face it. Presumably you can buy it near Hampstead Heath. (4/5)