I love coffee. I always have and my journey with this elixir over the past decade has seen me enjoy it in many forms, from freshly ground to my current Nespresso set up.
When I worked in an office (gosh remember ‘back then’?), I even had my own Nespresso machine installed behind my workstation. Along with my Aeroccino I could make a hot coffee in under three minutes.
I moved on from the Nespresso original capsules to Nespresso Vertuo capsules which yield a larger cup. I sometimes do miss the flavours of the original capsules, but the larger cup is more of an incentive to stick with Vertuo.
I usually buy capsules online from the Nespresso store. However I also really enjoy visiting the Nespresso boutiques, because it’s a great time to taste new flavours and see what’s hot.
During my last visit to the Nottingham Boutique, I discovered Nespresso offer a blind tasting experience. This an interactive coffee quiz for coffee fans to really test their tastebuds.
What’s in the Nespresso blind tasting coffee kit
The kit comes with seven secret coffees that are unnamed. They’re in identical packaging, so the point is to sample each coffee, score it, then once all pods have been finished, choose your favourite, scan the QR code and get ready to love your new coffee.
I love a good taste test, so it was during the course of one week that I decided to try out the taste test. Each pod was 230ml, six of which were roast and ground coffee whilst one was decaffeinated.
I scored each coffee out of five with a few tasting notes scribbled on the back of the handy handy leaflet. Several coffees yielded a similar score (four out five), but I was surprised to discover that Stormio, a coffee which I thought was previously OK, had come out in my top three.
I do enjoy Stormio, which is marketed as ‘rich and strong’ on the Nespresso website. It has a heavy body with low acidity, but it also can be slightly bitter, so an added sweetener, such as a flavoured syrup or brown sugar cube, is needed.
I already have several sleeves of Stormio at home, plus the other coffees that scored highly (four out of five) which were Soleilo and Odacio. I am a little bit gutted to discover that there was a time limit to complete the blind tasting experience, because if I had completed it by the end of August, I would have qualified for a free sleeve of Stormio.
I had great fun regardless, as I love learning about coffee and I will be keeping an eye out for other coffee related fun quizzes. I am currently exploring coffee and chocolate pairings, so do keep your eyes peeled as I carry out research for this very exciting blog post.