We decided to review something today which is somewhat cloaked in mystery much like the Caribou Obsidian K-Cups or the President’s Choice T-Discs. Today we review the Gevalia 15% Kona Blend T-Discs. These T-Discs were not widely advertised and the only place we’ve been able to find them lately was our local Bed Bath & Beyond retail store and the Tassimo Direct website.
It would appear you can also order from the Bed Bath & Beyond website if you don’t have a retail location near you. As far as we can tell, Gevalia 15% Kona Blend T-Discs’ are only available in USA.
Seems a bit odd for Gevalia to be releasing a Kona coffee blend since there are still issues with the recovering Kona crops in Hawaii at the moment which have forced Keurig & others to stop selling Kona blends due to shortages or insufficient supply.
Despite this, we appreciate the fact that they chose to incorporate a 15% blend since most blends a few years back were only 10%. It’s not much more, but hey, we’ll take what we can get.
Brewing the Gevalia 15% Kona Blend T-Discs’ resulted in light smoky aromas blended with hints of nutty aromas wafting about in the background. We also detected some minor molasses & chocolate notes hiding underneath.
The first thing we thought was that this smelled like coffee you’d get at a top-notch restaurant. Flavor was much like the aroma as we got similar smoky notes with nutty flavors along with dark chocolate, molasses and even faint bread-like notes. Fantastically smooth yet complex, color us impressed.
Even though this is labeled as a bold coffee, we found it to be rather the perfect mix of a strong medium with shots of a dark roast thrown in for good measure. Not too strong, not too weak, just perfectly balanced.
Body was a dark medium-brown with hints of orange & red when held in front of a light source. Acidity was just as balanced as the flavor and kept things in perfect harmony throughout the cup. You got the sharp almost citrus-like bite where needed yet things were smooth enough to not be overbearing.
Mouth feel was were the Kona blend really shined though, as all was super smooth & silky throughout.
Not oily yet far from watery. Category after category, the word that kept popping into our minds over and over again was BALANCED. Finish was clean with a slightly nutty aftertaste which made for a nice change of pace after smoky aftertastes being the norm with most coffees lately.
- Aroma – Light smoky aromas intermingled with further notes of nuts in the background. We also detected minor molasses & chocolate notes hiding underneath. The nutty notes of the Kona shined through without any difficulty. Superb.
- Acidity – pretty damn hard to reach the level of balanced acidity that Kona coffee usually enjoys, but somehow, Gevalia have managed to do exactly that. Things were kept in harmony with sharp almost citrusy bites where needed and pure smoothness elsewhere.
- Body – Dark medium-brown color with shades of deep orange & red shining through when held in front of a light source.
- Flavour – What a treat! After going soooo long without a Kona blend in single serve format, we were ecstatic to find notes of light smoke, nuts, dark chocolate and even faint molasses and bread-like notes. Just awesomely complex & satisfying. Not too strong, not too weak, just perfectly balanced.
- Mouth Feel – The Kona really shines here with sheer super smoothness throughout the cup from beginning to end. Not oily yet far from being watery. Yet again, balanced.
- Coffee Drinker – Well, this should come as a no-brainer but if you like Kona coffees and enjoyed some of the Kona blends available in other formats over the previous years, you’re going to LOVE this. We highly suggest you RUN, don’t walk, to your nearest Bed Bath & Beyond and scoop some up as soon as you get a chance. We have a feeling these may soon be in short supply once more people realize just how good these T-Discs are.
Overall Rating: 98 – Excellent
We must confess, we were totally gutted when GMCR and others were forced to stop producing Kona blend coffees and anytime we can, we are continuously bugging friends & relatives to bring us back bags of Kona coffee anytime they head to Hawaii.
Thankfully, more and more stores have started selling Kauai coffee which isn’t as top-notch as Kona, but still pretty darn good nonetheless, so we’ve been using that during our Kona shortages to avoid withdrawal symptoms from setting in.
So, when we stumbled upon these T-Discs while at our local Bed Bath & Beyond, then noticed they had a 15% blend instead of a 10% blend, we damn near cleared the shelf.
We admit that some of Gevalia’s past T-Discs haven’t been all that stellar, but this time around, not only did they bring back a blend that coffee fans have been desperately seeking, they bloody knocked this one into the next galaxy. Sorry King of Joe, Gevalia just kicked you off the throne and stole your crown.
It’s only perfect irony that Gevalia holds the Royal Warrant for coffee roasters serving the King of Sweden. We think H.M. King Gustaf would be more than pleased if he gave these T-Discs a go & we can’t recommend them highly enough.
Gevalia 15% Kona Blend T-Discs will work in most Tassimo Brewers and are available in 16-packs for $10.99 USD at retail locations across USA & online at Amazon.