Public Service Announcement: Avoid Organo Gold And Other “Healthy” Coffees

Normally, I’m a pretty positive person. I can find the bright side in just about any situation. I don’t like doing negative reviews because I know that generally a whole lot of hard work has gone into a product. Maybe the roasters palate is different from mine or maybe they were having an off day. I try to avoid coffee that I think would end up getting a negative review, mostly for the preservation of my taste buds.

However this is one review that I couldn’t avoid. When it comes to so-called healthy coffee, I’m not going to play the role of the nice guy. I think it’s pretty well known what my thoughts are on healthy coffee, but as a public service I’m going to do my best to review three kinds of Organo Gold that showed up at the Daily Shot Of Coffee kitchen recently.

I’m not going to comment on whether or not I think healthy coffees are multi-level marketing scams or have any health benefits. I will comment on what they taste and smell like from the average joe’s point of view…

The Drink: Organo Gold Gourmet Black Coffee
Type: Instant Coffee
Overall Rating: .5 Out Of 5 Coffee Mugs

From what I’ve seen, all of Organo Gold’s coffees come in instant form. Meaning you add hot water, stir and magically you have coffee. (Not the good kind of magic for the record.) I haven’t come across to many instant coffees that are more than slightly above drinkable when you’re in severe caffeine desperation, but it would probably be pretty hard for them to make their healthy coffee in a whole bean form. Ok, impossible.

Not sure, why Organo Gold felt the need to make a black coffee, when in the whole bean form, the kind that you can buy at the local coffee roaster is healthy. There’s no calories, zero grams of fat and in moderation it definitely isn’t going to hurt you. However, they did make it and I did brew up a cup of it so I could tell you my opinion of it.

I was expecting horrible, but the aroma actually wasn’t that bad….however, it didn’t exactly smell like black coffee. There was a distinct herbal aroma and a little bit of a dark roast scent.

The taste on the other hand, was more of what I was expecting. It overloaded my tongue, with a herbal, bitter tart flavor, that was followed up by a chemical after taste and a hint of coffee. The coffee flavor reminded me of java that had been sitting in a pout at a 24 hour diner for a few too many hours.

I couldn’t help but noticing coffee was nowhere near the top of the ingredient list. Plus, I’m on this whole foods, back to basics kick. The idea is that if you can’t pronounce the ingredient and it wasn’t around when your grandmother was making meals from scratch, it’s probably not a good thing. I couldn’t pronounce the majority of the ingredients on the back of this packet, that’s probably not such a good thing. Also, it should be noted that it’s listed just as coffee. No mention of the origin or the kind of bean. Since it’s instant, I’m guessing robusta and that it wasn’t the cream of the crop either.

Overall, it earned a .5 on the Daily Shot Of Coffee scale. In other words, I couldn’t finish half a cup. Stick to regular black coffee made from whole beans, please! It’s healthy and a whole lot better tasting.

The Drink: Organo Gold Gourmet Cafe Latte
Type: Instant Coffee
Overall Rating: 1 Out Of 5 Coffee Mugs

Their Cafe Latte got my attention with a bacon grease aroma. If this were a smoked beer, that would be a good thing. However, it’s not. There was a hint of a creamy milk aroma of a latte.

In the taste department, it did have a creamy taste of a latte, but the flavor was off. It was hard to identify, maybe it was bacon flavor or mushroom or medicine or herbs. Whatever it was, it didn’t taste right in a latte.

This one earned a one on the Daily Shot Of Coffee scale. It was better than the black coffee, showed signs of being drinkable, but you couldn’t pay more to have more than one cup. If you like lattes, but are worried about the calories and fat, drink them in moderation as a treat. That’s probably a lot healthier than anything from Organo Gold and I know it’s a lot better tasting.

The Drink: Organo Gold Gourmet Cafe Mocha
Type: Instant Coffee
Overall Rating: 2 Out Of 5 Coffee Mugs

I have a weakness for mochas. If they didn’t have so many calories, I would drink them every day…so maybe the Organo Gold version would be a decent alternative….or maybe not.

Organo Gold’s version of the cafe mocha had a chocolate aroma that was pleasant, but that mixed with a strong herbal scent. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.

It started off with a delicious, yes delicious chocolate coffee flavor. However, there was that herb/medicine flavor that throws everything off and ended up dominating the flavor.

It was better than the other two offerings, but still earned a below average two rating. If I were in prison, they didn’t have regular coffee, and they only served Organ Gold, this is what I would want.

Please everyone, skip the healthy coffees like Organo Gold. Don’t let my suffering go to waste. Avoid these traps and stick to real healthy coffees…you know the kind that comes from whole beans and you brew in a coffee maker or French Press.

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