Blind Assessment

An outright and unmistakably flavor-defective coffee. The aroma literally smelled like a whiff of something out of a summer sewer and the cup combined bitterly sharp mildew tones with rotten, compost-pile ferment.

Notes

Sold at A&P supermarkets, whole bean in 13-ounce sealed foil bag with one-way valve; $3.43/pound. In a worthy effort to deliver coffee of the respected arabica species at prices normally associated with coffee of the robusta species, Eight O'Clock Original over the years has tread a delicate line between filling its familiar red bags with outright defective arabica coffees and relatively decent-tasting ones. For me this month's sample set a new record on the defective end of the scale. Venerable Eight O'Clock Coffee claims to be America's number-one selling brand of whole bean coffee. Visit www.eightoclock.com or call 800-299-2739 for more info.

Who Should Drink It

Only aficionados who have been spared the taste of a really foul coffee and want to know what one tastes like. Unfortunately for such researchers, but fortunately for coffee drinkers on a tight budget, other bags of Eight O'Clock Original are likely to range from considerably better than this example to only mildly repellant. In way of fairness, it also should be mentioned that other Eight O'Clock coffees, particularly the specialty Royale line, are apt to be much cleaner and better tasting than the Original blend.

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