Commercial coffees I have enjoyed

Since I bought an Aeropress, I've really enjoyed sampling different blends of coffee. Here are a few of my current favourites.

Lavazza Caffe Torino has a nice dark cocoa taste. I've found it's great when brewed with water around 65-80C. There's less bitterness and a big rich chocolate-y body, which is a characteristic of all three Lavazza blends. The others have more of a roast-y flavour and they all go a long way. I find you can get away with using less, maybe three-quarters of what other brands require.

These two Vittoria blends aren't tied for second place. In fact, I find them a bit ordinary on their own. When you put them together though, there's a complementary flavour that emerges. The Mountain Grown brings body, while the pissweak Organic flavour fills in around it. I also like the regular Vittoria and find it benefits from hot, almost boiling water to bring out depth.

Caffe Aurora Italian Blend is really distinctive as it tastes burnt. When I share it with people their response is usually "Yuck!" but the charcoal flavour works for me. It softens the bitterness to the point of making it like a cup of milky Milo. I don't like the competition promoted on the bag though, as the stickers were blank when I turned them over so it annoyed me that I couldn't enter to win $10,000 since I've bought three bags now.

Robert Timms Italian Espresso Style has a dark body that's not very rich. It also has a bitterness that's more akin to the regular Vittoria but darker, even when brewed at lower temperatures. There's an acidity too that's quite distinct. The other thing I like is that it reminds me of when I first started drinking their coffee bags in the 1990s and discovered how much smoother brewed coffee was to instant.