We've never found Colombian coffees to be that sophisticated - you always hope they're going to be amazing and give you a super buzz - but somehow they never do.

Especially when the Brown Bear marketing department were obviously so wired they forgot how to spell Colombia and also thought they were knocking back liquid toffee apples. So  we thought we were in for a Class A treat here. But, as always seems to be the case with Colombians - it's pretty mild - there's no danger of it keeping you awake at night. But it does have a subtle fruity taste that makes it slightly unusual and will send you back for more. Due to its light roast we tried to beef it up a bit - normally with a light roast you can spoon it up to your heart's content and it still won't go wrong. Not with this one though - the effect of loading up our plunger ended up with a much more bitter brew - with a metallic aftertaste we've not sampled since someone swapped the contents of our packet of Werthers for a load of copper washers. The conclusion then - accept this one for what it is - a slightly fruity and refreshing cup, and nothing more. So, one point off for our strength disappointment - it's a 6/10

We would always imagine an espresso blend to be strength 5 - yet this Brown Bear coffee is only a strength 3 - and it shows. Making it in the plunger resulted in no creamy head, that's for sure. Every cup came out the same - it's impossible to over do it. For us judges though it was lacking any novelty twists to the flavour - it's just plain straight coffee. In fact - it's pretty difficult to review - it's hard to think of a metaphor. You need something to hang your criticism or praise on - and this one just hasn't got any hooks. But it tastes fine enough and maybe deserves to be run through a high pressure Gaggia to get the most out of it. In the mean time its a 7/10

This is a strength one. Strength one! I really had no idea that these really existed - only in fairy tales. After 150 coffees reviewed, this is our first ever one-er. The Judges are renowned for liking their ball crushing coffee - so we approached this one somewhat nervously. Would we even be able to taste it? Would it just taste like a cup of tea? Well, first off, the folks at Brown Bear have under scored this - this is easily a mid ranger - we've had strength 4's that are weedier than this. In fact, this one is packed with flavour - to the point where we had to re-read the side of the packet just to be sure we were drinking the right thing. Maybe the clue is in the line that says this coffee contains Robusta beans - which are normally known for the higher caffeine content but harsher and generally nastier flavour. So if those beans are in there, then this coffee really is a paradox. We spooned it up the wring the maximum strength out of it - for two cups we used 5 spoons - which would normally be over the top, but it just made this coffee taste better. But it does have a peak - at 6 spoons it was overcome by a metallic aftertaste. Still - this is actually a great coffee and ideal for those that don't drink too often or those obsessed with strength, as it has a good interesting flavour, is easy to make and will do you proud. Unfortunately it can't score higher than an 8 - as it still is only a strength 1, and we'd never live it down. 8/10

These beans are pale, large and dusty. Not that unlike the contents of the Judge's underpants. Visually though, if you ever had a pet guinea pig and looked in its hutch a week later, you'd be forgiven for thinking you had a Golden Goose that had been busy laying Blue Mountain coffee. We've had this stuff before - of the Jamaican variety - which is one of the ponciest coffees known to man and generally only bought by toffs in Nottinghill. We're presuming this is the same variety but grown somewhere less salubrious. It's a mild roast - we couldn't over cook this no matter how hard we tried. If there was a taste to label this with it would be nutty, and the harder you brew it, the nuttier it gets. The packet mentions "maltyness" which is a fair comment (for once). It's like it's been cut with a spoon of Milo. It does tend to get a little dry on the tongue if you get a bit heavy handed with this one. We slurped the whole pack down in a few days though -so it's an 8/10

I've never been a fan of liquid prunes early in the morning, but that's what this coffee promises. Not only that, but served over a bed of nuts. Despite all this bad-boy fruit name dropping - this is actually a nice coffee to slurp down. I made one for an unsuspecting guest yesterday afternoon and spooned it up big time. He was last seen driving at 120mph down the hard shoulder of the M3 before. So, it can deliver on punch. The only thing we'd say is it can be a bit dry tasting. Not a real thirst quencher. No real extraordinary flavours showed through to us - which seems pretty typical of a Brazilian. (7/10)

This coffee came from a Calais supermarket, and with a name like this it just stood out from the crowd. It's rare to find a French coffee in a poncy paper bag like this rather than in the standard glossy euro-brick. The beans are a very light brown and very dry looking. So dry in fact it looks as though they may have been languishing on the shelf for the last five years. But this is an ok cup of coffee - not as flouncy as the packaging might suggest - but definitely not of the hard core burnt ashtray taste we've come to know and love from the Frenchies. It's a doddle to knock up - under or overdose - it all comes out the same. Again - unusual for a French one where normally one extra grain makes a life or death difference. Its an average nice one at 7/10

Another blend from the guys at Brown Bear - this time a strength four. Everything looks "normal" about this one - the raw beans, the ground beans, the brewed beans.... nothing to write home about so far. But, while it's brewing we read the packet - "rose water finish". What the f*#k is that? Firstly - who on earth has been drinking rose water to know what it tastes like? If that's the kind of thing these Brown Bear boys get up to in their lunch break, then we've got to ask are they even from this Earth? And not only that - they don't claim it fully tastes of rose water - only the finish! What the?! There must be something wrong with our taste buds then, as we're getting no roses here at Judge Towers. If anything, it's a bit ashy this one. But not in a horrible way - just in a good first-thing-in-the-morning kind of way. Hmm... on re-reading they claim the finish is also liquorice. I think their marketing boys must have been on some heavy hallucinates when they knocked this one out. Still, piss-taking aside, the coffee's good - works well as a wake me up - nothing fancy and easy as hell to make. Just grind-brew-glug. That's it. So, one point off for the marketing bullshit, gives it a 7/10

These Brown Bear packs are heavy as hell - it says 225g or whatever on the side but it feels like they've chucked just that bit more in there. There's nothing worse than a bag of coffee that rattles around making you feel like you've been stitched up. This is their Italian which, for those who think that the coffee must have been grown in Italy, actually just means burnt. Ok... that's a bit harsh, but for the un initiated out there, to make an Italian coffee you just shake out the dust from your Vespa tail pipe before sleeping with the next woman you meet - available or not - and then going home and having your mother cook your tea. So it's not for the faint hearted. Luckily, here at Judge Towers we like giving a Vespa tail pipe a good rimming, and that's just what this is. The beans are clearly two types - there's a lighter and darker one in there - and they're pretty greasy - a sure sign of having been given a damn good roasting as it's this that drives the oil out of the poor little mites. You need to be careful with this one though - like all dark and powerful coffees - just one grain too many in that plunger and you'll be jittering all the way to A&E to get some sedatives. It takes some care with the grinding too - we've been chipping the sludge off the bottom of the mugs all week. Anyway - we love it. It's not sophisticated (like the Italians might have you believe) but it's a good 'un. An extra point for the very useful packet too - it re-seals. YES - it actually does! 9/10

Another lovely dose from Adams and Russell. The beans for this one are tiny - and quite dusty looking . There's no obvious oily ness to them. In fact they look like they may have been picked up of the floor of the drying room shed. Don't let that fool you though into thinking this is an inferior brew. It's not - it's strong, yet forgiving to make. Nothing came out bad no matter how much we varied the dose. As with a few of these Adams and Russell coffees we've had - there's nothing to really set this apart from the crowd. It's just coffee. Good coffee. It would take the taste buds of 1000 virgin angels to find any other flavours in there. So, overall it's OK... just a bit, well... boring? 7/10

The beans of this coffee immediately put you on your guard - they are dark as hell - one bean too many of this in your grinder and you'd think that you'd be blowing your head off. But it turns out to be a real sheep in wolf's clothing - we lowered the dose down for the first cup to 4 spoons, fearing the worst, and the end result was something so weak that even the two girls who shared the pot commented on how feeble it was. And one of them was an accountant. So for the next cup we spooned it up to max and made sure we ground it pretty fine to drain what we could from it. The result - much better - strong without killing us, yet still a tasty little brew. There's nothing fancy about it - no lemons or flowers, nothing out of the ordinary. Just a fairly decent cup of coffee - which in itself it a little disappointing as we've not had anything from Timor before and was hoping for a bit of a twist. A solid 8/10 though.