Blind Assessment

Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a T Disc capsule on a matching Tassimo TAS451xUC brewing device. Crisp, sweet-toned aroma, leather and chocolate notes. At a one-ounce shot leanish, rather astringent mouthfeel with flavor dominated by fir and leather with the slightest hint of chocolate. Simple finish with some richness. In two parts hot milk, balanced flavor (dark chocolate, continued aromatic wood notes) but thinnish mouthfeel.

Notes

The Tassimo system, with its new Bosch-manufactured brewing device and match 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. The overall versatility of the system is impressive, and the Tassimo makes a fair "long-black" style Northern European cup, but we found the Tassimo and its T Discs produced rather listless espresso when we brewed a classic one-ounce serving using the manual override button to interrupt the bar-coded instructions on the T Discs. Allowing the T Discs to have their way with our beverages simply meant a bigger serving without, in our view, netting any improvement in character and impact. At this writing about 50 cents per disc at the Tassimo website. Tassimo is a division of Kraft Foods, with T Discs currently offered by brands mostly associated with Kraft, like Swiss-based Mastro Lorenzo, and with Starbucks. Visit www.tassimo.com or call 877-834-7271 for more information.

Who Should Drink It

Tassimo owners who want to experiment with espresso. Among the three espresso-oriented T Discs we reviewed, the Mastro Lorenzo for us produced the most attractive espresso shot.

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