Taylors Take It Easy

It's fair to say that I'm a bit of a caffeine addict; I know it's not exactly good for me, but as with everything else that isn't good for me I find it hard to resist. It's not helped by the fact that my day job industry (I'm a programmer) is largely fuelled by coffee.

Sometimes, however, it's good to take it easy on the caffeine. I often find that fully decaffeinated coffee is pretty lousy – whatever process is used to remove the caffeine always seems to take the flavour out at the same time – so a 'partially decaffeinated coffee' can't help catch my eye.

This is Take It Easy, a blend of regular and decaffeinated coffee aimed at people who want to ease up on the caffeine without going all the way. It's also a gentle strength 3 coffee.

The grounds certainly have a gentle aroma; no real roast to them, but green fruit with a touch of melted, half-caramelised sugar and just a whiff of tobacco. That mix remains when brewed; an unripe fruit with just a little sweetness and a tobacco background.

In the mouth, it's a little lacking and watery. The sweetness is all but gone, and there's not a great deal to replace it. There's a slowly building tannic bitterness as a base, and if it had something to balance against it would be pleasant, but there's just not much else.

I'm not normally big on lower strength coffees, so it's hard for me to say if this is just on the weak side of strength 3, or if the decaffeinated side of the blend has robbed it of it's flavour, but this really isn't for me.

If I wanted to halve my caffeine intake, I'd rather just drink half as many cups of a really tasty coffee like Taylors' own After Dark. The score takes it as easy as the flavour, with 1.5 stars.

Many thanks to Taylors for supplying this coffee to sample.

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This review was originally published 11th March, 2013. It was last updated 1st June, 2023.