The Best Tasting Coffee Beans

Step aside, Starbucks. There’s a better-tasting, cheaper, home-brewed alternative in town.

Eight O’Clock Coffee nabbed first place in Consumer Reports’ blind test of 19 ground coffees. The budget-friendly brand, which costs about $6.28 per pound, handily beat Maxwell House (Stock Quote: KFT), Peet’s Coffee (Stock Quote: PEET) and even Starbucks (Stock Quote: SBUX).

The best part? Eight O’Clock is less than half the price of other name brand varieties.  In fact, many of the surveyors’ top choices could help a java enthusiast pocket up to $75 each year, and that’s just drinking a six-ounce cup per day.

Consumer Reports’ blind-tasting coffee experts focused exclusively on 100% Colombian—a top-selling bean—for regular coffee. Most of the decaf coffees are a variety of different beans.

Here is an overview of the top-rated brews:

CAFFEINATED
Best combination of taste and price:
Eight O’Clock, at $6.28 per pound.
“A complex blend of earthy and fruity, with a bright, pleasing sourness.”

If money is no object:
Caribou, at $11.76 per pound and Kickapoo, at $14.33 per pound
“Both have well-defined fruity aromas.”

DECAFFEINATED
Best combination of taste and price:
Folgers, at $8.55 per pound
“A touch of fruitiness and earthiness, but papery and cereal aromas make it a good candidate for milk and sugar.”

More money, slightly better flavor:
Dunkin’ Donuts, at $10.25 per pound and Millstone, at $11.59 per pound
“Fruity and earthy, though both could use milk and sugar.”

—Catch more of Farnoosh’s advice on Real Simple. Real Life. on TLC, Friday nights at 8.