Beaumont Naturally Decaffeinated Coffee (canned)
13 oz

I love two things for the purposes of this article - coffee, and my local Aldi store.

For those of you unfamiliar, Aldi is a German grocery company that, in the US, sells common and basic grocery items under house brands for about 40% less than the local grocery store.

One won't find Folgers decaf, but one does find "Beaumont" coffees of every stripe.

Aldi has impressed me over the past few years in some of the house-branded items they've offered, and coffee under the Beaumont label is no exception.  In addition to the canned stuff, one will also find bags of 100% arabica coffees that compete quite strongly with other premium blends.  One of my favorite recent offerings has been their Donut Store Blend with pink packaging suggestive of... well, you know.

To cut right to the chase, I picked up a can of Beaumont Naturally Decaffeinated coffee yesterday for under four bucks.  The verdict?  Love you Aldi, but Beaumont Naturally Decaffeinated is undrinkable.  When it hit my lips, I thought that I might have accidentally filled the coffee filter with cat litter.

I'm no coffee expert, but I do wonder if Beaumont decaf has a high robusta bean content.  That might explain the bitter, dirty taste and the punishing, rotten finish. 

I was most surprised by the fact that I find Beaumont's instant decaf - probably a lower grade than this, even - much more palatable and even, sometimes, enjoyable.

I'm sure that Beaumont decaf's failings have little to do with Aldi in general, and it is probably a fitting substitute for people used to Maxwell House or Chock Full-O-Nuts canned decaf.  For people who like to buy their coffee in bags, however, stay away.  You'll only find yourself pouring your coffee from the carafe into the drain, bypassing the mug altogether.