About the
Ultimate Beans & Ground
Coffee Comparison for T&T

What started off as a personal comparison test, soon grew into something bigger.

I’m no expert or connoisseur on coffee tasting, however, I have a sense of when a product is not good or not worth buying. The Ultimate Coffee Comparison is my personal preference in taste and quality, along with, whether it is worth the price, the taste and does it give me a boost or not.

I have my coffee without any sweetener and only a bit of milk.

HOW IT STARTED
I had just finished a hike that I was not physically prepared for in no way whatsoever; on my way back I stopped at Starbucks for some coffee after feeling understandably low in energy and to treat myself. Got the brew of the day with just almond milk, which was smoother than the instant “Gold” coffee I had at home; I enjoyed it thoroughly. It then made me wonder if I could recreate that same feeling at home, that I wasn’t getting with the instant coffee I’d been consuming all these years. I knew there was a way, I just hadn’t figured it out yet.

MY REASON FOR DOING THIS
After that experience one day in the supermarket I picked up one pack of ground coffee, then another, and another and so forth, next thing was my cart was filled with various ground coffee and coffee beans options,  because I wanted to try them all, so I decided then and there to do my very own comparison. It was meant to be personal, but I soon realised it was definitely worth sharing for anyone interested in purchasing and brewing their coffee beans at home like I recently started doing.

Unfortunately, I’ve been consuming mostly instant coffee all my life, which apparently isn’t good healthwise since it’s filled with additives like oats (who would think that?), other non-coffee ingredients and who knows what else for profitability.

TIME PERIOD
This journey took months; it wasn’t rushed, and I’ve consumed each in their entirety, even the “bad ones” because I wanted to give every brand a fair chance. If I had done just a taste test, I would’ve spit out the Hong Wing instantly because it reminded me of gasoline, but eventually got accustomed to it like a lot of people have.

Plus each one was bought with my own cash from a regular supermarket. It was not sponsored by any of the brands so I have no bias toward any of them.

BREWING YOUR OWN COFFEE
I think it’s better to brew your own cup of coffee, especially grinding the beans yourself since not only would you have fresher tasting coffee, but you have full control over what goes into your cup for your own well-being. Studies against coffee consumption eventually showed that it was the additives such as regular milk or sugar/sweetener contents that caused the negative side effects and not so much the coffee itself.

Which is why I drink my coffee with just a bit of almond milk, that’s it. I’m sorry I tried drinking coffee alone, that’s not my cup of tea… umm I mean coffee i.e. not my thing. And if you do drink coffee alone, good for you but that doesn’t make you better than anyone. Just sayin.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS
I’ve been drinking ground coffee from coffee shops, like Rituals Coffee and Starbucks, off and on over the years, to treat myself, probably since Rituals came out in Trinidad in the early 2000s, but I’m not loyal to any. Before that, Nescafe French Vanilla was good as it got for me.

Those coffee-house cups are way too expensive for daily consumption and personally, struggling to make ends meet while buying brand-named over-priced coffee is just plain dumb if you ask me. You’re paying something like eight to ten, even twelve times the price than if you brewed it at home. It’s okay to treat yourself from time to time like I do/did, and If you could afford them, daily or weekly, then good for you. For the rest of us, we have to rely on more cost-effective means to get our daily “perk” or “kick”, while not compromising our bank account and possibly health.

I hope the comparison helps in your decision-making on which ground coffee or beans to purchase. There are a lot more brands available locally to try, which I will be doing next. Let me know what you think about your favourite coffee and your recommendations in the comments below.