Nabob's flavour from around 1980.

by Chris Marquardt
(Rockyford, Alberta, Canada)

Some Nabob coffees.

Some Nabob coffees.


QUESTION:

Why did Nabob change the flavour of the many coffees they have now but, none of the new coffee flavours taste anything like the old flavour from around 70's or 80's.


ANSWER:

Chris, hi

Interesting question. As you can see from the links below, others have been asking the same question about Maxwell House, Folger and Yuban coffees.

The simple answer, I believe, is that along with the others, Nabob has been cutting costs by buying cheaper coffee beans.

The simplest way to cut costs is to use a lower proportion of Arabica beans, and more Robusta beans. And even with Robusta beans, some are of higher quality than others.

One thing to check for is the words on the label.

It used to be that household coffee brands declared, “100% Arabica”, or “100% Arabica Beans”.

These days it’s more common to find the phrase, “100% Coffee”.

What that means, of course, is that they are adding Robusta beans to the mix, and the flavor changes and suffers as a result.

Thank you for raising the topic! I’ll be interest to see if other readers have had the same experience.


Related information that might interest you:

Has Maxwell House coffee gone bad?.

Did Yuban Original Medium Roast Formulation Change Its Flavor?

Are Maxwell House and Folgers coffees making people sick?

Comments for Nabob's flavour from around 1980.

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Maybe not a mystery
by: Nick (Coffee Detective)

Pistachio, hi

Good to hear from you!

My guess is that the Arabica beans are finding themselves in the hands of decent coffee shops and roasters, and the low end big brand coffees are making do with more of the Robusta.

Nick

mystery....
by: Pistachio

so then..... where are all the Arabica Beans.....?

Obviously nowhere you can find them....

It used to be that you chose your coffee from a lot of pretty good brands.... now... any you choose,,, not so good....

Impossible to find a good coffee on the store shelves......


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