As we start the day, we pop the top on illy’s Colombia single-origin coffee. This coffee promises to be a medium-bodied brew with ample fruit notes. It should make for a great breakfast coffee. So, let’s find out all that it has to offer through this illy Coffee Colombia review.
Pre-Grind Insights
The single-origin Colombia roast from illy comes in their signature sealed tin. It’s an attractive package with a “pop top” seal. This seal makes illy a solid choice for long-term coffee storage if getting fresh roasted beans isn’t your thing.
When we open up the tin, we’re immediately hit with a sweet, fruity, almost winey sort of sensation across the palate. This promises to have more body than the illy Ethiopian we reviewed and before we even grind the beans, I feel like we can sense we will get a thicker/darker experience with the Colombian.
illy doesn’t share a ton of information about the beans used in their Colombian roast. In fact, aside from the fact that it is a single-origin and sustainably produced, we don’t know anything about the specific location or processing of the coffee.
As is our custom for coffee reviews, we do a quick visual inspection of the beans on a white plate. With this, we see some significant variance in the size of the beans with some small stragglers. This isn’t necessarily cause for concern but potentially could speak to the grade or quality of the beans used. As for the roast, we get a consistent milk-chocolate appearance from the beans and see absolutely no issues there.
Taste Test – illy Colombia Review
We quickly shuffle the beans out of the tin and into the grinder so we can turn these beans into human delight.
Pouring the first cup, that winey sensation in this coffee is something we immediately take note of. There is a deep, thick wine-like and fruity sensation that I find dominant about the illy Colombia coffee.
Sitting on top of my palate, there is a little bit of crispness to this coffee as well. illy suggests there are citrus notes and that may very well be the case. If pushed into a corner, I’m calling it grapefruit.
The illy Colombian coffee is very smooth and balanced. It’s easy to drink with just a touch of bitterness.
Acidity Testing
The illy Colombia roast doesn’t come off as overly acidic. When you drink it black, it’s very balanced with very little bite. When you add a dash of cream, the balance becomes even stronger and the drinkability smoother. Just guessing with our palate, we believe this coffee is a 5.4 or so.
Breaking out our pH meter with the black coffee, science basically confirms our feelings on this one. We see the drip brewed coffee scores as a 5.5 on the pH scale.
illy Colombia Coffee Review – Summary
All-in-all, this isn’t a bad roast. The coffee brews up more than serviceable with a decent flavor, some interesting notes and there really isn’t anything offensive about it.
That said, there isn’t a ton to get really excited about with this illy Colombia coffee either. The flavors are solid but not real impressive.
We grade this one an 83. It’s right in line with the other coffees from illy. A solid choice for coffee survival but it’s profile doesn’t stand up real well to most of the fresh roasted options we have available.
