Going to the heart of coffee.

Advantages: great taste and less guilt
Disadvantages: packaging

...Back when international trade was first developing, in the days of the silk road, when people travelled the world to bring back rare and exotic spices, we had a very different attitude to many of the things we now take for granted. There was a time when chocolate and sugar were rare, precious, and treated with caution. Really speaking, coffee belongs with these spices and rareties, as a luxurey for occasional use. The trouble is that we don't want to use coffee occasionally and pay accordingly for a thing of great value, we want, as a culture, to guzzle it in vast quantities every day and pay very little for it. This really isn't on. The result of this is that farmers growing coffee have the prices they can command pushed ever lower, leaving them in poverty. Fair Trade goods attempt to redress the balance, giving a fairer share...

Bryn_Pearson 10.02.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Cafedirect Ground Coffee

Abby changes the world by drinking coffee

Advantages: Fair trade, tastes quite nice
Disadvantages: Tastes nice is very different to tastes gorgeous

...As most of you probably know, I recently wrote an op on maketradefair.com, a website run by Oxfam about the inequalities in the world of trade (if you haven’t read this, please do – it’s a very important issue and we need to spread the word!) So I thought that, seeing as I’d given you all this advice about what you should, and shouldn’t buy, I better review some of it! Café Direct is a company who pay the best price for the cocoa beans they use, in order to stop the cocoa bean farmers from living in poverty. As you may have seen in my op, the price of coca has fallen dramatically over the years, meaning many coca farmers can no longer afford to survive. By charging slightly more for their coffee, Café Direct can ensure that this doesn’t happen. I paid £2.25 for 100g of this coffee, but it...

drunkenabby007 04.09.2002 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Cafedirect Ground Coffee

Amazingly cheap and lovely ground coffee!

Advantages: Nice Tasting
Disadvantages: none

...Shopping twice in two days and both at our normal supermarket. I was trying to hold off our shopping, making the last of the Christmas stuff go a long way, but Mr Bubbles was whingeing at the dregs in the freezer and threatened to go and do a supermarket shop. He said are you coming? No I am too busy and off he went in our little Saxo. Before he went, I advised him to do a list otherwise by the time he got there, he would be side tracked and come back with everything except what I had asked him to get. One of my requests was to get me some Kenyan Coffee at a reasonable price and I tried to explain to him on numerous occasions what the packets would look like. Now I was in his hands and was dreading what he would turn up with. He came back like a little schoolboy with new sweets and showed me this coffee that he had bought and to be...

BUBBLES171 10.01.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Bewleys Connoisseur Kenyan Coffee

Say Goodbye to Coffee Shops!

Advantages: Tastes brilliant, you'll never need to leave the house for great coffee!
Disadvantages: A little overpriced

...Some basic information first: -PRICE = £4.55 (Tesco UK) -QUANTITY per PRICE = 250g -MORE INFORMATION: Pure arabica beans Made in Italy Certified Quiality System Approx 100mg Caffiene per 7g of coffee in water Phew, the boring stuff is over... Lets get on with the review! Value For Money: You many think it's expensive, but you know what they say! You get what you pay for! And you certainly get excellent coffee for that £5 note and 45p change! Also, you get more in quantity. Most packages of espresso ground coffee are 227g, but in this it's 250g. Which is approximately 3 more shots of espresso. SO it's approximately 35 shots of espresso for the money. But think of it like this. In starbucks, an espresso shot is £1.40. Times that by 35, and see the total. The total is actually £49. WOuld you rather pay les than a tenth...

Necormancer 16.02.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Illy Espresso Medium Roasted Ground Coffee

Co Co Coffee.

Advantages: Convenient.
Disadvantages: A little on the expensive side for a value purchase.

...***INTRO*** I decided to search for something a little special as a purchase for my evening coffee. I checked out my Tesco store and went for their Columbian Supremo at £2.90 it is not an inexpensive purchase and rather bumped up the cost of my weeks shopping. It came in a 227g sealed foil package. I bought mine on the 7/July/2005 it's use by date is 31/May/2006. ***THE PRODUCT*** The coffee is sourced from the Medellin district at the foot of the Cordillera Mountains in Columbia considered to be the largest producer of Arabica coffee. The coffees are roasted and ground from 100% Arabica beans. These are sourced from mountain plantations and are hand picked and graded. The package is simple with a silver and brown cover with a picture of what looks like a Mayan idol. And comes packed with advice. It is roasted and packed in...

JeffreyB 07.07.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Tesco Finest Colombian Supremo Ground Coffee

Tesco Original coffee beans

Advantages: Why does every other coffee taste worse and cost much more?
Disadvantages: So cheap, Tesco will either double the price soon or delete it!

...Don't waste your time and money on any coffee product from ANY supermarket or shop: simply try "Tesco Original" beans - not, repeat not, the ready-ground variety. They are the cheapest beans by far - £1.28 for, I think 227g -, and took over where the even better "Tesco Colombian" left off (literally deleted from the range - again, NOT the more colourful and expensive "Tesco Colombian Supremo" pack which is anything but supreme - quite nondescript, in fact, especially for the price. The Original beans pack smell glorious when squeezed and sniffed! Even the check-out people comment on the aroma if you do it casually whilst waiting in the queue, and have bags of taste and character without being overly strong. Mind you, we also have the cheapest and best coffee maker ever - the Toshiba Filtermill all-in-one grinder and percolator!...

jewulak2 30.08.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Tesco Finest Colombian Supremo Ground Coffee

Rich, Dark Roasted, Value-for-money Coffee

Advantages: Rich dark-roasted flavour
Disadvantages: Not suitable for cafetieres (too fine)

...Lavazza Caffe Espresso is a premium coffee which makes a strong brew with good crema (froth), and should ideally be used in an espresso machine or stove-top pot. It is not suitable for cafetieres as it is too finely ground. As the label suggests it is made from 100% Arabica beans. Arabica is acknowledged to be the oldest cultivated coffee variety. As such, you will not find the chocolatey taste of the Mocha Sanani bean in this coffee, it tastes purer. Lavazza Caffe Espresso has been roasted darker than usual which makes it ideal for after-dinner coffee, but it is perfectly suitable for making morning coffees such as Cappuccino and Latte, especially for those who prefer a richer cup. This coffee is very reasonably priced for the quality and is available widely within the UK. I thouroughly recommend it....

Dajm 15.09.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Lavazza Caffe Espresso 100% Arabica Italian Ground Coffee

Conscience Coffee

Advantages: Fairtrade, ethical business, reasonable product
Disadvantages: Bit bland, not full bodied as rivals or real ground coffee

...I really love the taste and smell of fresh ground coffee, especially from Colombia or Costa Rica. There is a richness and distinctive aroma as you open the pack which just sets the taste buds tingling???..Alas, all too often it is simply not practical or best use of time to indulge in real brewed coffee so instant must suffice. Unfortunately in this sector of the beverage market price is often indicative of quality, and premium brand instant coffees almost always taste better than the standard or economy offerings. Having experienced enjoyable cups of Percol Fresh Ground Colombian Coffee I had high expectations from the instant variety: even more so since it was on offer at just over £2 for a 100g jar making it very competitive against other premium brands. The packaging with it?s familiar green green hue and prominent Fairtrade...

suehome 22.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Percol Fairtrade Instant Colombian Coffee

Not Grounded in Reality

Advantages: Kids will probably love it.
Disadvantages: Adults will be yawning their heads off through the predictable shenanigans.

...) loud pop punk. It?s not what you?d call inspired. ?Grounded: Unaccompanied Minors? is the kind of movie that will find its home on DVD or the Christmas TV schedules because it fits the template for children?s films so neatly. Those under the age of ten may well chuckle their way through it as the stuntmen take all manner of harsh looking falls (mainly during the improvised sledge chase) and the kids get one over on the adults. But grown-ups may find themselves snoring through the cheesy dialogue, predictable shenanigans and schmaltzy ending. And if your young ?uns are prone to imitating what they see, you might want to supervise them while they watch because the many stunts don?t appear to have any negative consequences. It?s an entirely unremarkable movie in all aspects. Tell you what, if your age is in single figures, add another star....

afy9mab 30.04.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Grounded (DVD)

Taking Curious Minds Under Ground

Advantages: Chock full of excellent learning. Well written and superbly illustrated.
Disadvantages: None to speak of.

...INTRODUCTION With our second child due in six weeks, my new duties as primary bed-time parent for our four year old have intensified, especially as my wife is flaking out at the end of the day with more and more regularity. In an effort to stop my brain from turning to mush (there?s only so many times you can read ?Bear Hunt?, ?Cat in the Hat? or ?Hungry Caterpillar? before your sanity begins to fray around the edges) I have delved deep into my daughter?s extensive library for new material. A colourful book called ?Under the Ground? caught my eye and I decided to give it a go, for no other reason than it didn?t seem to involve fairies, princesses or energetic cats in fancy headgear. DETAILS ?Under the Ground?, first published in 2006 by Usborne Press (www.usborne.com), is penned by Anna Milbourne and inked by Serena...

Hishyeness 12.09.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Under the Ground - Anna Milbourne