October 2011

Lavazza have done the business with this one. It's strong but mellow and that espresso taste lingers in your mouth in a nice way. Not only that, it's easy to make - every cup came out well, no matter how shaky the hand measuring out the spoons. Even the packet exudes quality and continental sophistication. The only downside is minor - the stupid vacuum pack is almost impossible to open without tools, and once it is open, you can't re seal it and you will end up with coffee all over the shop. But hey, I'm not going to knock a point off for that. That's part of its charm. This has to be scored top marks - but is it as good as the Hot Lava Lava?  We'd have to do a side by side taste-off I think. (10/10)

This is a Percol Big Boy. It's a strength 5 so we're fumbling with the packet in excitement. In the end it's come out good, but my God it was a lot of work to get there. By which, I mean the first three cups all failed for one reason or another - too weak, too strong, too much powder in the cup... We were at the point of giving up until Hank took a deep breath, donned his white lab coat, and made it under full laboratory conditions. Despite plunging it so slowly that the plunger's progress was slower than a snail going down an up escalator, it's still full of powder in the cup. So we ended up with a slightly metallic taste which, over a whole mug, is a bit much. So for all that faffing, only 7/10

The folks at Percol came up trumps and delivered the Judges a box of freebies - one of every single Percol. (Thanks Niomi!) This is the first then of a Percol Marathon we're going to have to do over the next few weeks. First things first - when you see all of them together you really can't tell the difference - the packaging all looks like a scene from Predator. All jungle-y and, let's face it, a bit tacky. No continental style and sophistication in sight. This one looked great on arrival, a nice froth on the top. But there's a weird taste to this one - and a very long lasting after tase. It's just a little bit too "sharp" - if there is such a thing. Mind you, having read the side of the packet they are claiming "grapefruit" - which is sharp as hell. Why the hell would you want a f*cking grapefruit in your cup? That's a trait they need to engineer out of this one, not boast about. It's still OK though, just above the average at 6/10

After our last illy scoring a 9/10, this one was stacked up to be even better. I mean, it's a dark roast this time, which must equate to a strength 5 on the usual coffee strength scale. It's been a problem though, as usual with espresso super-fine grinds. If you do it as you'd normally do it, it will blow the top of your head off in a caffeine and powder OD catastrophe. So much so on the first cup I wasn't all that partial. So over the next few cups we toned it down a bit, coming down to 5 spoons (from 6) for the 3 cups. By the end it's pretty good - but still not quite what I was hoping for. It's chocolatey, dark, and not a whiff of a logan berry. I suppose it's more economical in that you need less coffee than the medium roast (for the same piss taking price!). Great though it may be, it scores down again one point for expense, and another for the fact we just couldn't get it right. (8/10)