Aldi Specially Selected Ethiopian Ground Coffee

Aldi Specially Selected Ethiopian Ground CoffeeBuying anything from one of the discount supermarkets like Aldi always seems like a gamble - even though they seem to consistently come out top in blind taste tests. They had quite a shelf of coffee in Aldi, so we went for them. At £1.99 a pack you can't expect to be blown away - this is ridiculously cheap stuff. But it does the job pretty well - its got that slightly citrus taste that you would expect from anything from the East African highlands and every time we made it in the caffetiere it looked like velvet - with a creamy head that lingered down the cup as we drunk it. In fact, we could drink this stuff all day. Our only gripe is that it's a fairly course grind which meant we could never get it to really deliver on strength, no matter how many spoons went in the pot. Not a hangover cure then, more of a sunny afternoon, refreshing all day glugger. 7/10

What the Manufacturer's say: 

"This Specially Selected Ethiopian Coffee grows in the fertile highlands of Sidarmo where green beans are dried in the sunshine to create a distinctively African blend. Characteristically full flavoured, it's rich with warm, fruity, evocative aromas"

7.5
Average: 7.5 (10 votes)
0
Your rating: None

Comments

Great value as you'd expect from aldi, while any reservations about the cost's impact on quality were immediately quashed after my first gulp. Tick's all the right boxes without being overtly impressive, this brew does everything it says it will on the packaging with the exception of the 'strength 4' claim which is a little exaggerated. Describing this as a middle of the road coffee would perhaps be unfair as it is far tastier than many of the pricier products available elsewhere which are packed full of added flavours and seem to come with their own scenery and theme music. This coffee seems to have been created to conform to our archetypal 7/10 rating on CoffeeJudge, which is exactly what I'm giving it...
brianrolph's picture

Citrus flavour is something I desire in tea rather than in coffee, but I don't mind the little taste of citrus in this. Unlike the Kenyan coffees I tasted, this does at least have a coffee taste to it. Because the strength is less than potent this isn't a coffee I'd drink too much in winter, but at this time of year it makes a nice cup. I give it 7/10.

£1.99 from Aldi. Cheap and cheerful. Grown in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, one of the four main coffee regions, Sidamo coffee is pleasant, rounded, with some gentle fruit character. This coffee has the gentle character and flavour, with some lingering bitterness, and low acidic lime and green apple notes. This is a coffee for those who like a mild taste, but with some character. Creamy body with good balance of fruits - fragrant violets, and milk chocolate. Smooth, easy drinking with no harsh bitterness. This coffee won the 2013 Quality Food Award for coffee. The winners are only chosen from those entered at £500 per product - so it's mainly the big supermarkets that enter; shortlisted were Morrisons and Tesco with coffees sourced from Finlays, the UK's largest coffee roaster. When compared with Sainsbury's Ethiopian Sidamo, this came out around the same in terms of character and flavour. The Sainsbury's costs £3.30, so Aldi is much better value.