Best ground coffee

From Consumer Reports

Eight O’Clock Coffee 100% Colombian ranked number one in Consumer Reports‘ tests of 19 ground coffees, besting Folgers, Maxwell House, and Starbucks – America’s best-selling ground coffees.

CR’s testers focused on 100% Colombian – a best selling bean – for regular coffee. Most of the six decaffeinated coffees tested are a blend of different beans. Testers consider a great cup of Colombian to have lots of aroma and flavor, some floral notes and fruitiness, a touch of bitterness, and enough body to provide a feeling of fullness in the mouth. Woody, papery, or burnt tastes are off-notes.

Top Ground Coffee

• Eight O’Clock Coffee 100% Colombian ($6.28 per pound) — A CR Best Buy, Eight O’Clock costs less than half the price of Gloria Jean’s, Peet’s and other more expensive brands. CR’s coffee experts deemed it a complex blend of earthy and fruity, with a bright, pleasing sourness – a good thing in coffee parlance.
• Caribou Coffee Colombia Timana ($11.76 per pound)
• Kickapoo Coffee Organic Colombia ($14.33 per pound)

Top Decafs

• Dunkin’ Donuts Dunkin’ Decaf ($10.25 per pound)
• Millstone Decaf 100% Colombian Medium Roast ($11.59 per pound)
• Folgers Gourmet Selections Lively Colombian Decaf Medium Roast

Starbucks Coffee Colombia Medium, $11.53 per pound, didn’t even place among the top regular coffees and trailed among decafs. While the Regular rated “Good,” testers noted it had flaws such as burnt and bitter flavors, though milk and sugar may help.

Other trendy brands fared less well. Bucks County Coffee Co. Colombia, from Langhorne, Penn., tasted only OK, and Peet’s Coffee Colombia from Berkeley, Calif., was burnt and bitter, despite costing $14 per pound.

Weeks of sipping and swirling confirmed that even 100% Colombian coffee and its Juan Valdez logo don’t guarantee quality. CR’s testers unearthed other surprises: Chock full o’Nuts and Maxwell House have pushed coffee that’s “heavenly” and “good to the last drop” since 1932 and 1907, respectively. But off-notes, little complexity, and for Chock full o’Nuts, variable quality, put both behind Eight O’Clock.

How to Choose the Best Ground Coffee

• Consider how you take it. Coffees judged “Very Good” taste fine black. Milk and sugar can improve a mediocre coffee, but not even cream is likely to help the lowest-scoring coffees.
• Choose a good coffeemaker. The best rated by CR reached the 195 degrees to 205 degrees F required to get the best from the beans and avoid a weak or bitter brew. A top Michael Graves model costs just $40.
• Consider grinding for fresher flavor. Even the best pre-ground coffee just can’t beat the best fresh ground when it comes to taste. One top grinder from CR’s January ‘09 report, the Mr. Coffee IDS77, costs only $20.

The full results of the coffee ratings are available online at ConsumerReports.org.

Source: Consumer Reports

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