Italian Style (Waitrose)

Can supermarket coffee be any good? I didn’t think so, until I needed inexpensive coffee to experiment with grind settings. I did not want to spend a lot of money on failed experiments, so I thought a bag of inexpensive commodity coffee beans would be a better choice than specialty coffee. My choice was Waitrose’s Italian Style espresso blend.

Supermarket coffee gets bad reviews, because it tries to appeal to the broadest audience and do it at the lowest possible cost. But does it mean that supermarket coffee is bad by default? I don’t think so. As I was dialling-in my espresso, I noticed that what was a fairly uninspiring beverage made from beans ground at setting 4, gradually became a familiar "work coffee” at 3. Going further, when ground at 2, a nice cocoa note appeared to become more pronounced, but at 1 it’s given way to a dark chocolate note, possibly due to the blend’s darker roast. This gave me food for thought and was another confirmation of the simple fact that the grinder has more influence over the taste of espresso than the espresso machine. Please note that regardless of the grind setting, firm tamping is needed to get optimal extraction time around 24-26s.

It is a good Italian-style blend, which you can dial in to be a lorry driver’s delight or a pleasant cocoa experience. It is not in the specialty coffee league, but you can tell that the specialty coffee roasters have made the commodity coffee sellers take notice.

I keep a bag of this coffee around at most times. A dependable workhorse. Works well with milk.

Where to Buy

It is widely available in the UK from the Waitrose supermarket stores and online.

Equipment

• Coffee grinder: Sage (Breville) Smart Grinder Pro

• Espresso machine: Sage (Breville) Bambino Plus