Reviews for Yuban
Evaluated at proportions of 5 grams of instant coffee powder mixed with 8.5 ounces (250 ml) of hot water. Not attractive. Rotten suggestions (composted orange, lily) and acrid wood dominate, along with a metallic note. On the positive side, hints of prune, salty caramel, cardamom. Bittersweet and acrid in structure; lean but smooth in mouthfeel. Continued bitter and acrid in the finish.
Aromatically simple but rich, with a roundly roasty character and suggestions of dark chocolate, nut and cedar. Silky mouthfeel. The finish is sweet-toned, though slightly woody and astringent. The can does not claim 100% Arabica but we found no obvious suggestion of Robusta in the cup.
Sweet-toned and pungent in the nose, with composty, prune-like fruit and bitterish wood notes. Retains the fruit and wood hints in the cup, but turns more aggressively bitterish and sour. Thin, leanish mouthfeel. Heavily astringent in the finish.
In the aroma caramel and wet burned wood notes. Muted but heavy, bitterish acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Woody with less burned sensation in the cup, with a caramel and perhaps prune-toned sweetness. The finish is woody, bitter and astringent, with only the slightest hint of caramel sweetness.
Burned, salted meat sensation dominates in the aroma, perhaps softened by a hint of caramel. Dull to non-existent acidity, medium body. Sweet but burned and rubbery in the cup and finish.
An easy cup to describe but a difficult one to rate, given that canned blends of this kind are hardly coffee at all in the traditional understanding of the term, rather another kind of beverage altogether: no acidity or brightness, sweet but woody, with an herby, peppery pungency and a molasses note that aspires to chocolate but doesn't quite make it past the wood and herb. Smoothes out in a neutral but pleasantly sweet finish. We gave it the benefit of the doubt at 81.
The aroma is sweet but neutral and thin, with wood, caramel and nut notes. In the cup caramelly with a hint of cedar, but dominated by a cloyingly sweet nut character, the calling card of inexpensive coffees of the robusta species.
Cloyingly sweet, earthy/mildewed character with very distinct grassy notes.
Sweet, balanced, restrained. The fruit and vegetal cocoa notes are faint but pleasant, the roasty tones understated.
