Has Maxwell House coffee gone bad?

by donald fitch
(naugatuck,wv,usa)

QUESTION:

I have used regular Maxwell House for many years, but lately it just is not any good. I used rich original, but now the bag or can says Arabica beans. I have called the company but the lady couldn't tell me anything, so I'm hunting for a good tasting coffee again.

Thanks, Don Fitch

ANSWER:

Don, hi

I assume you have been buying the ground coffee, and not Maxwell House's instant coffee.

I checked out their site and see that they have changed their packaging recently. Whether or not they made any changes to the coffees they put in the cans, who knows.

Almost all coffee sold by North American companies is 100% Arabica. That said, if Maxwell House formerly used a blend of both Arabica and Robusta beans in their blends, that would explain the change in taste. (Large companies sometimes like to use a percentage of Robusta beans, simply because they are significantly cheaper to buy.)

Anyway, if you no longer like the Maxwell House coffee, there are hundreds of other coffees available in stores and online.

If you want to check out some Robusta blends, to see if that is the taste you are missing, look out for Italian coffees in your local stores and read the packaging.