Best Coffees – Caffeinated and Decaf

Americans drink about 400 million cups of coffee daily. Taste is an individual thing, but most consumers would like to know how professional tasters rate their favorite brands.

This is an analysis of the top-rated coffees “lab-tested” by the ever-trusted Consumers Union, as published in the March 2009 Consumer Reports magazine. Consumers can depend on their comparisons to judge the best values and tastes for themselves. CR tested 19 caffeinated and decaf coffees.

The top three best-selling brands for ground coffee are Folgers, Maxwell House, and Starbucks, but they didn’t rate tops in the Reports.

CR taste tested 100% Colombian beans for regular coffee and decafs composed of bean blends.

The top-rated were expected to test well for aroma, flavor, some “floral notes and fruitiness, a touch of bitterness, and enough body to provide a feeling of fullness in the mouth.” Coffees were down-rated if they tasted “woody, papery, or burnt.

Decafs did not contain more than 5 mg. of caffeine per 6-oz. cup. Regulars contained much more, with some as high as 195 mg., with the highs beating out the lowest by four times the amount. Medically speaking, up to 600 mg. per day should be safe, but pregnant or nursing women and heart patients should stay below 200 mg.

If cost is important to you, some of the top-rated, at one cup per day, could save you $25 to $70 per year.

Grinding your own coffee beats pre-ground for taste and using a good coffeemaker makes a difference. In the January 2009 Reports, a top-rated Michael Graves (carafe model 40304) coffeemaker sells for $40; a top-ground coffee grinder, Mr. Coffee GBX23, costs $50; and the top-rated 1-cup to 2-cup to-go models included the Melitta (Take2 ME2TM ) cost $25.

Blind tests were made with 19 caffeinated and decaf coffees, and coffees were judged for taste, cost per 6-ounce cup based on retail cost of original purchase, and caffeine level.

Flavors include “earthy, like baked potato skins; fruity, like aroma of ripe non-citrus fruits; and nutty, like toasted nuts.” Less desirable tastes were “woody, like wet ice-cream sticks; papery, like wet cardboard; burnt, like charred beans.”

Coffees were made according to manufacturers’ suggested amounts. “Packages ranged from 11 to 16 ounces.”

Coffees are listed by rank, with cost per pound and per 6-ounce cup, caffeine levels in mg. per cup, and noted taste attributes.

Caffeinated coffees from 100% Colombian brews:

Very Good – even when black:

1. Eight-O-Clock Coffee 100% Colombian, $6.28 per lb., 15 cents per cup, 140 mg. caffeine per cup, with earthy, fruity tastes. This is the only coffee that earned a “CR Best Buy” mark. “A complex blend of earthy and fruity, with a bright, pleasing sourness.”

2. Caribou Coffee Colombia Timana, $11.76, 36 cents, 195 mg. caffeine, tasted fruity.

3. Kickapoo Coffee Organic Colombia (varied in quality batch to batch), $14.33; 40 cents; 155 mg. caffeine; tasted fruity.

Numbers 2 and 3 caffeinated are rated as “Recommended” and top-scoring for their type, but may not be top value.

Caffeinated – Good: weaker flavors, stronger flaws; maybe better with milk and sugar.

1. Starbucks Coffee Colombia Medium, $11.53; 25 cents per cup; 115 mg. caffeine; tasted earthy, fruity, nutty, woody and burnt.

2. Bucks County Coffee Co. Colombia, (from Langhorne, PA) $8.85; 34 cents; 195 mg. caffeine; with earthy, fruity tastes.

3. Archer Farms (Target) Colombia Supremo (variable quality from batch to batch), $9.05; 27 cents; 180 mg. caffeine; tasted fruity.

4. Gloria Jean’s Coffees Colombian Supremo, $12.99; 32 cents; 110 mg. caffeine; with earthy, fruity, nutty tastes.

5. Chock full o’Nuts 100% Colombian (variable quality from batch to batch), $5.19; 10 cents; 110 mg. caffeine; fruity taste.

Also rated “Good” are Peet’s Coffee (130 mg. caffeine), and Maxwell House, Folger’s Gourmet, Millstone, and Folger’s Coffeehouse series, which contained 50 to 60 mg. caffeine.

Decaffeinated Coffees: None rated “very good.” Same warning applies: flavors are weaker, with more or stronger flaws; milk and sugar may help.

Good Decafs:

1. Dunkin’ Donuts Dunkin Decaf, $10.25; 19 cents; 5 mg. caffeine; earthy, fruity, woody tastes.

2. Millstone Decaf 100% Colombian Medium Roast, $11.59; 14 cents; 5 mg. caffeine; tasted earthy, fruity, burnt.

3. Folger’s Gourmet Selections Lively Colombian Decaf Medium Roast, $8.55; 11 cents; 5 mg. caffeine; tasted earthy, fruity, and burnt.

All three Decafs are marked as “Recommended” with the best scores, but are probably not the best values.

Rating only “Fair” among decafs were Maxwell House Decaf Original Medium, Starbucks Decaf House Blend Medium, and Folger’s Simply Smooth Decaf Medium. Sources:

Consumer Reports magazine, “Coffee,” Consumers Union, March 2009.
Consumer Reports magazine, “Coffeemakers,” Consumers Union, January 2009. Consumers Union is an independent, nonprofit organization that accepts no paid advertising, tests thousands of products a year and publishes their results for consumers. They are based in Yonkers, NY.