Too Much Coffee

Most of you coffee snobs are going to be disgusted with me when I say this but Tesco have great (columbian) beans on offer under the "Tesco's finest range" !!:oops: (only cost me €2.50 for a bag !!)

I'm very fussy when it comes to my coffee but I tried them out of curiosity and they produced great creama with a fantastic rich aroma - much nicer than what Illy have to offer for a third of the price (Using an Ascaso Inova dream/grinder).

As the old expression goes....don't knock it until you've tried it

The Waitrose espresso beans are quite nice too, perfectly OK if you run out of fresh stuff. Much preferable to my palate than Lavazza.

I once recommended them to a lady who was perusing coffee at Waitrose at the same time I was picking up a can of Waitrose own beans. As she was clearly undecided about what to choose I told her the Waitrose ones were very nice, thinking I was doing her a favour by recommending something both tastier and cheaper. She looked taken aback and then said haughtily, 'oh no, I wouldn't consider their own brand'. I thought 'fine, pay extra for the cheapest Lavazza with its 40% robusta or whatever and don't listen', smiled to myself and let her get on with it.

So are the Tesco beans branded 'espresso' or one of their other Finest range? I noticed some beans alongside their Finest range of ground coffees from Columbia (liking the Terrazu(sp)), Kenya etc.

Somewhere way back in the annals of TMC you will find me waxing lyrical about Tesco Colombian beans. We used to use them all the time when we first had our superauto, and I still think they are (or perhaps were as this was pre Tesco Finest days) the best supermarket beans out there.

Eventually we changed machines, tasted other beans and found we got more when utilising those beans, which is when we stopped using the Tesco coffee.

Ultimately, I see the Tesco beans as a solid Nissan Micra to the Ferrari of beans that we now drive. The Micra will always look respectable, but it'll never beat the Ferrari whilst the laws of physics remain in place.

Illy make pretty tins, 'nuff said

Of course, everyone's mileage differs

Welcome to TMC Schnorbitz


Edit: Clearly still learning to spell

manhatten wrote:Most of you coffee snobs are going to be disgusted with me when I say this but Tesco have great (columbian) beans on offer under the "Tesco's finest range" !!:oops: (only cost me €2.50 for a bag !!)

Absolutely right about brand snobbery - we don't care where our coffee comes from as long as it's from Monmouth Coffee....

Dr Chris and Wifey

PS I do use Sainsbury's continental (and Tescos when I can get it) in a french press at work and the beans are probably in a lot better condition than something from a jar in a deli (Dr Chris)

PPS Not wishing to subscribe to brand snobbery at all, but Lavazza is terrible and Segafredo is even worse IMHO...(Wifey)

Ok, I'll hold my hand up, and admit to having a random bag of unopened Sainsbury's beans (still). Can't say I've ever drunk any of it, but I do find cheap supermarket beans useful for seasoning after a good clean

Hi Guys,

Was out all last week...It's Tesco's Finest Colombian Supremo Coffee Beans.

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-pr ... _227g.html

I used to buy off a fellow who imports and roasts locally but ever since I accidentily came accross these beans a few weeks ago I've been using them ever since !

Before that I enjoyed Palombini but didn't have a machine back then.

What beans do you all use ? I'd love to buy a hottop and roast myself (pop-corn maker's out of the question also) but my wife would probably kill me !

manhatten wrote:I'd love to buy a hottop and roast myself (pop-corn maker's out of the question also) but my wife would probably kill me !

a small price to pay for fresh coffee!

However, roasting coffee beans is probably a better idea.

With the postal strikes and me being stupid and not planning ahead i ran out of hasbean coffee, so had to buy some sainsburys beans. Honestly id have been better off with starbucks, the overriding taste and smell was one of charcoal with just a hint of burnt, really awful. Ill have to remember to go to tescos if i ever run out again.

The Waitrose espresso beans are quite nice too, perfectly OK if you run out of fresh stuff. Much preferable to my palate than Lavazza.

Yes, this is my experience too. They do a 500g pack of Columbian, which i had recently to tide me over.

It's unremarkable coffee, but probably a good bit fresher than lots of the big-name brands. (I've been trying CafeDirect this week - their whole bean "Gold award" Nicaraguan and Peruvian - and the Waitrose Columbian was definitely fresher than these).

Talking of which.... does anyone actually know where Tesco's gets its coffee from? I think they used to get from Bewley's in Ireland but are Bewley's just toll-roasters or buyers as well?

I think its Gala Coffee.