House Blend (Tassimo T Disc)

Blind Assessment: (As brewed in a Tassimo single-serve brewing device to produce a 6-ounce serving): Intense aroma: raisin, nut, dark chocolate. In the cup rich, roast-muted acidity, full body, continued deep-toned dark chocolate and raisin-like fruit. Considerably bitter astringency mars an otherwise sweet, chocolate-toned finish.

Notes: The Tassimo system, with its Bosch-manufactured brewing device and matching proprietary T Discs, aims at providing a convenience-first single-serving solution for a variety of beverages, including filter-style coffee, tea, espresso-based beverages and hot chocolate. The Tassimo T Discs incorporate a bar code that instructs the brewing device how to prepare the particular beverage incorporated in the Disc. This instruction aimed to produce a tall cup of coffee from the Starbucks Disc, but we used the Tassimo manual override to produce a shorter, 6-ounce serving, which based on our tests, netted a better quality cup. Tassimo is a division of Kraft Foods, with T Discs currently offered by brands mostly associated with Kraft. The recent breakup of Starbucks and Kraft means that most likely the Starbucks Discs, which in our tests produced by far the best American-style cup for the Tassimo, no longer will be available for the system. Visit www.starbucks.com or call 877-834-7271 for more information.

Who Should Drink It: Brewed short at 6 ounces an excellent single-serve rendition of a strong, Starbucks-style darker-roasted cup. Get it while it lasts, however; the Starbucks/Kraft breakup doubtless will wipe this T Disc option off the shelves.