Should you take the plunge? Buying your plunger coffee pre-ground from the supermarket can be a bitter experience ...(Test: plunger coffee)(Product/Service Evaluation)(Buyers Guide)

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Australian Consumers' Association

Australians love coffee. Supermarkets devote large chunks of their aisles to it, we re particular about the way we drink it, we read about the virtues of it in newspapers, and some of us are even on first-name terms with the barista who makes it at our local cafe. And coffee consumption in Australia is increasing.

When we're not out drinking espressos in cafes, we can choose from the huge range of ground coffees available in supermarkets and enjoy the convenience of making them at home. If you don't want to go the whole hog and buy an espresso machine, you can get espresso-style coffees to use in your plunger, and with names like Prima Blend, Espresso Gold and Prima Qualita, you'd expect them to be pretty good quality. But are they?

We bought 28 supermarket coffees--all espresso, dark roast or Italian-style, suitable for plungers--and asked over 400 subscribers and a panel of experts to taste them (see What we did, page 16). The results were disappointing.

AN AVERAGE BUNCH

Even CHOICE subscribers tasting the coffees at home--who don't necessarily have the expertise to pick out specific strengths and weaknesses of a coffee --weren't overly impressed with the samples on test, giving scores ranging from 45% to a pretty ordinary top score of 60%.

And on the whole, the coffees on test did very little for the refined palates of our experts. A comment from one summed up the judging panel's experience: "Some were so poor I'd rather drink instant coffee." The overriding complaint from members of the panel was that many of the coffees tasted stale (see Fresh is best, right).

While none of the brands was highly rated, ANDRONICUS Espresso and VITORIA Natural Decaffeinated Espresso were the top-scoring coffees in the home trial. CAFFE AURORA MEDAGLIO D'ORO Espresso (incidentally, one of the cheapest on test) received the highest overall score--a meagre 36%--from the experts. Both home tasters and experts rated DOUWE EGBERTS MOCCONA Espresso second for regular coffee, which was about as close to agreement as the two groups came, suggesting it also might be worth a try.

The amount (or lack) of enthusiasm for the coffees in general can perhaps be summed up by this home taster's lacklustre comment about ANDRONICUS Espresso, the best-rated coffee in the home trial: "Quite good--it was pleasant to drink."

CAN DECAF TASTE GOOD?

In both the home...

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