M&S single origin Columbian coffee beans surprisingly good.

murphyebass

Just a quick post or heads up for anyone looking for beans.

I have a subscription to 3fe, they deliver every month which is great but when I run out its a pain getting beans.

Today I was in M&S and grabbed a bag of the Columbian single origin, came in a brown bag thinking it was going to be average.

Well one double espresso later I can vouch for this being a really good alternative/substitute/break glass in emergency type bean.

Nice caramel tones with a good light acidic finish.

Obviously not anywhere near the freshness of a bag from 3fe or similar but definately one I'll be having handy.

Conba

Agreed. That's my supermarket coffee of choice, followed by SuperValu Signature range Columbian, followed by Tesco Columbian whole bean. The latter two aren't great, but they're not half bad either.

newacc2015

M&S used to be 3 for 2 for literally years. Like they were always 3 for 2 for about 6/7 years. They were only like €3.30 a packet. Now they are around €4.40 and never are on special. They are excellent, but they used to be a lot cheaper.

murphyebass

newacc2015 wrote: »

M&S used to be 3 for 2 for literally years. Like they were always 3 for 2 for about 6/7 years. They were only like €3.30 a packet. Now they are around €4.40 and never are on special. They are excellent, but they used to be a lot cheaper.

€4.40 is still very cheap for a pretty ok bag of beans imo.

tooth*grinder

Hate to be that guy but Columbia is in North America. Colombia is where the coffee comes from.
Out of interest what kind of roast are the beans?

murphyebass

tooth*grinder wrote: »

Hate to be that guy but Columbia is in North America. Colombia is where the coffee comes from.
Out of interest what kind of roast are the beans?

If it makes you happy be that guy all you like. ;-)

The beans are medium-dark roast.
Closer to medium imo.

adrian522

Does it give the date of roast?

murphyebass

adrian522 wrote: »

Does it give the date of roast?

I'm 99% sure I looked for this and couldn't see it but I'll check again this evening when I'm home and let you know.

I know it's not ideal to say the least not knowing the roast date as fresh roast makes a huge difference to the extraction and flavour etc..

As I said originally I use 3fe for my coffee as much as possible as the freshness is just simply superb.

..but as a 2nd coffee/back up its not half bad imo roast date or no roast date. I will check again though.

adrian522

Either that or a best before date, which may be 1 year after it was roasted.

I typically go to Nicks in Ranelagh if I run out but this is good to know also.,

murphyebass

adrian522 wrote: »

Either that or a best before date, which may be 1 year after it was roasted.

I typically go to Nicks in Ranelagh if I run out but this is good to know also.,

Yeah I think I saw the best before being nearly a year off and was thinking the same logic you're saying there.

And I go to Nicks in the Phoenix park the odd Sunday. He sells beans at it too. Delivers too and prices seem reasonable in general. I haven't made it to his shop yet though. Must get out at some point soon out of curiousity.

murphyebass

I meant to look at the best before date but I forgot I threw out the bag and put the beans in a 3fe bag as they have the zip lock type bag thing to keep them slightly fresher.

I'll be buying more soon and will post up the expiry date then

murphyebass

Got two bags today both best before a are January 2017 so I'd imagine it's fairly freshly roasted.

alec76

Tried them, love it !
It is definitely good beans , medium roast , full body .
As for the roasting date , I believe they using standard 4 digits supermarket codes ( well, obviously just to confuse customers )
6005
6- first digit stands for year (2016)
005 - last 3 digits for day of the year (5th January)

5365
i.e
2015
365=31st of December
Bag I've got , was roasted :
5356 51
i.e.
22nd December, 51st week

The_Pretender

Just out of curiosity are any of those real numbers you used? I know for fruit and veg that the code is the week and the day; so 1203 means the 3rd day of week 12 (occasionally you might see the day and week reversed.)

It could possibly be different for coffee though.

EDIT: I just re-read the post and notived the last bit you said It's obviously a different format to fruit and veg so I'd say you're right!

dball

got this in Lidl at the weekend, also surprisingly good (€2.49 ? i think)

J_E

Do the Lidl beans also have a roast code?

dball

BB 05 2017

J_E

dball wrote: »

BB 05 2017

Ah, no good! Too hard to gauge a roast date from that. I wonder do they have a roast date hidden somewhere on the pack...