9 Coffee Pods At Aldi, Ranked

It can be daunting looking at all the different coffee pods at Aldi, trying to decide which ones are worth your time. The price certainly is right at under $5 per 12-pack or just over $11 for a 36-pack. All of the pods are 100% Arabica coffee, and they're all 2.0 K-Cup brewer compatible. However, they're not all equal. If you're like me and grab the wrong one the first time you try them, you're likely to swear off Aldi coffee pods forever, which is why you need to know what to expect before you try them. However, armed with a ranked list, you're more likely to come home with one that you'll like.

In order to determine which coffees were the best at Aldi, I tried all of the non-flavored varieties both with and without creamer and ranked them from worst to best. While none are going to knock your socks off, I feel like the top three coffee pods on this list are in a completely different category than all the others. They're coffees that I'd actually buy on purpose if I were looking for coffee on a budget. As a former barista, I looked for pods with a more pleasant, smooth flavor and ones I thought would be more universally liked and not taste as cheap and bitter. However, I tried to give a fair analysis to fit different tastes and purposes. Without further ado, here's my ranking and analysis of nine Aldi coffee pods.

Let's start with the very worst coffee pods Aldi has to offer: Barissimo midnight blend dark roast. I like a good, bold coffee, but this one does bitterness better than boldness. A lot of people go for dark roast coffees thinking that they're getting more caffeine from them, but that's simply not true because coffee beans start to lose caffeine the longer they roast. Without being able to provide you with more caffeine, this one probably isn't worth your time, as there's a better bold coffee blend in the top three.

Unfortunately, this is a coffee with little personality. It exists, and it's dark. The bitterness hits the roof of your mouth fairly evenly. In a surprise twist, adding creamer actually seems to intensify its darkness and bitterness. The writing on the box suggests that this should be on the earthier side of coffee. It also promises a plethora of tasting notes. While I could stretch my imagination to maybe detect dark cocoa in the bitterness and slight nuttiness, I'm not getting any tobacco or brown sugar.

I already know now that this one is going to stay in my K-Cup stash for years without anyone ever reaching for it. It exists to be bold and bitter. But I promise you that you can have a bold and dark coffee that actually tastes good.

I had to do multiple sips before deciding if the Barissimo French dark roast was the worst or second-worst coffee pod Aldi had to offer. Honestly, this pod and the previous one taste similar once you add creamer, but this one is a bit darker, as we would expect since French roast coffee is generally the darkest of dark roast coffees. It also has slightly more sweetness, which I think might make it more likable than the midnight blend. 

Without creamer, this one's bitterness reminds me of an IPA beer. The bitterness centers on my tongue. I definitely like it better with creamer. Compared side-by-side with the midnight blend with creamer, it's ever so slightly richer, which makes it taste better to me. However, it's still hitting really low on my like-o-meter.

Something I will say about both the midnight blend and the French dark roast coffee pods from Aldi is that they manage to be dark without tasting burnt. So, they get bonus points for that. However, neither one of them is that great. They're drinkable, but this is another I'd only grab if I had no other choice and it was the last thing left in my coffee stash. Interestingly, Barissimo French dark roast hits the No. 1 spot when it comes to the best bags of Aldi coffee. 

Aldi's Simply Nature organic Guatemalan light roast coffee pods did not have the flavors I expected. However, it did excel at being the cheapest tasting of all the coffees I tried. While light roasts tend to lack the body and boldness of other coffees, you expect a high level of bright acidity and less bitterness than other coffees. The acidity level was high enough that I could feel it on my teeth afterward. It gets low points for being very bitter, with the bitterness hitting strongly at the back of my tongue. 

Besides tasting cheap, it's also weak. Don't make the mistake of trying to make iced coffee with this light roast if your coffee maker has the option, because it's not going to be strong enough to counter all the melting ice. Half and half brings out a caramel note, which I wasn't expecting since light roasts usually tend toward more fruity or floral notes. When tested against the others, it has a very distinctive twang, like tea that's about to go sour. Perhaps the sharpness could be construed as fruity, but I don't think so.

People who like this type of coffee make me question whether they've ever had good coffee before or not. It's the type of coffee pod that you bring to work to secretly foist upon unsuspecting co-workers. I only ranked it above the dark roasts because the caramel note made it more interesting.

When it comes to decaf coffee pods, some can hold their own against caffeinated coffee pods. However, the Barissimo fair trade decaf donut store medium roast isn't one of them. I tried this one previously, thinking it would be as good as Dunkin' decaf, but it's definitely not. So, don't be fooled by the name. I'm not sure I can find anything to redeem this coffee for me. Although it didn't taste as weak and bitter as the Guatemalan, which raised its ranking. 

The flavor profile of the decaf version of the donut store blend coffee is far different and more interesting than the caffeinated version, but it's not necessarily better. Without creamer, the bitterness hits at the top back of the roof of your mouth. It also has a slight caramel note, which is true for Dunkin's decaf coffee as well. So, I don't think the same company is behind Dunkin's coffee. The packaging suggests that it should have a nutty flavor, and I agree. Overall, the flavor is rich. Although it changed a lot when I added half and half, developing more of a sour sharpness to it, which I don't like. So, this one might be best consumed black.

I'm going to say that the donut store decaf is still among the worst K-Cup coffee pods that Aldi has to offer. While I'd drink it in a pinch, I'd never buy this cheap-tasting coffee on purpose again.

I was expecting to be wowed by the Barissimo donut store blend medium roast since it comes in a larger package than the others, leaving me to believe people purchase it more often. However, it didn't fill me with the delight that I expected. I suspect that it's more popular because people assume it's more like Dunkin' coffee. However, I find it very bland. It ranks higher than the decaf because it's not twangy, and it rises above the others for being less bitter and more well-rounded. 

If you go into it thinking you're getting coffee like Dunkin's, you'll be disappointed, as I was the first time I tried this. This coffee has zero personality. Adding half and half changes it, turning it into essentially creamy water. It's weaker than all the other medium roast coffees on this list and even weaker than the light roast. The box suggests that it should taste nutty, but I think it tastes like paint — kind of like how walnuts taste when they've gone bad.

Although I have to say that having no personality of its own might make it a blank slate for fancy creamer. The bitterness isn't the first thing you notice, which might make it a better bet for those who don't really like coffee but do like using them to make flavored coffee drinks. It's not a coffee I want to drink, but it's not horrible.

Simply Nature's organic extra bold medium roast coffee pods are a good choice for those looking for a rich, intensely-flavored coffee on a budget. The only caveat is that you may not like it without creamer. I like this because it offers a bold option for those who like stronger flavors, and it has more personality than the donut shop one. However, it does still taste cheap, which keeps it lower on the list. 

To be honest, this one was downright awful before I added creamer. Consumed black, all the alarm bells for bitterness were ringing in my head, and it left a distinctively bitter aftertaste that centered itself along my entire tongue. The bitterness reminded me of the very worst IPA beer without anything else going for it. Luckily, it's much, much better when you add creamer. It still tastes like cheap coffee, but the creamer brings out a fullness and robustness that makes it quite pleasant. I'd drink it and not complain.

I was ready to place this coffee dead last on my list when I tried it black, but with creamer, it surprisingly earned the fourth-place spot. It's a good choice if you like a bolder cup of coffee. The fact that it's organic is another bonus point for it, but it didn't factor into my ranking. I ultimately opted to place it fourth because it tastes cheaper than the top three coffees on my list.

The top three coffee pods at Aldi are ones that I'd buy on purpose when looking for budget coffees. The Barissimo fair trade breakfast blend medium roast feels like a bridge between the best coffees on the list and the ones that I'd never buy. It's not necessarily memorable, but it's not objectionable. I think that if you drank enough of it, you might be able to convince yourself it wasn't cheap coffee, which is more than I can say for the ones that rank lower on the list.   

The breakfast blend is robust and strong — far stronger than the donut shop one. The bitterness is slight and hits the roof of your mouth. It has a bitter aftertaste when consumed black, but adding creamer seems to cut some of the bitterness, making it smoother and more appealing than the extra bold one. The acidity hits after about the third sip. The box makes a lot of flavor promises that the actual coffee doesn't seem to deliver. I can agree with the sweet cocoa somewhat if I try hard enough, but I don't detect dried fruits or spices unless the slightly sharp twang it leaves behind is supposed to be fruit.

Despite making it to a top spot on my list, this coffee tastes kind of bland to me. It's still just okay and not anything special. 

Surprisingly, the Aldi coffee pod that made the No. 2 spot is a decaf coffee: the Barissimo fair trade decaf breakfast blend. Tasted side by side, the caffeinated and decaffeinated breakfast blend coffees taste somewhat similar, which brings them to the same area of the list, but some positive differences make this one taste better in my opinion.

I find the decaf version of the breakfast blend to have a much calmer flavor than the caffeinated version. It's rounder, smoother, less bitter, and bolder. The bitterness centers toward the top back of the tongue. Adding half and half makes it even better, cutting a lot of the bitterness and reminding me of the flavor of walnuts more than the sweet cocoa mentioned on the box. There's also a slight sweetness that the full-caff version doesn't have, but it's not anything like the dried fruit and spices the box suggests.

There are better decafs out there. However, if you're looking for the best one at Aldi or are looking for one on a budget, this one is certainly worth a try. Just remember to look for the rooster on the box rather than the donuts when going for decaf.

For me, the Barissimo Colombian medium roast is by far the best Aldi coffee pod. It's got a unique flavor that I don't think I've experienced before. Strangely enough, the image on the box of a jaguar in tall grass captures the experience well. Every time I made a taste run through my top picks, this came out as the definite winner for being smooth, having low bitterness, having a pleasing combination of flavor notes, and not tasting cheap.

The Colombian is very well-rounded. The flavor hits your whole mouth rather than concentrating in one spot. The bitterness blends into the whole and doesn't stand out even if you're drinking black. Adding creamer brings a bit of bitterness to the back of the roof of your mouth. Everything about this coffee is smooth, which is why I think the image on the box creates great imagery, with the tall smooth grass and the sleek, smooth fur of the jaguar being analogous to the coffee's mouth feel. I agree with the label describing dark chocolate and brown sugar as part of the flavor profile, but I don't detect the red fruits it mentions.

While this coffee is far from the best coffee I've ever tried, it's a good budget option. Its smoothness and boldness stand out above the others on the list. It's also a good starting point for making fancier flavored drinks with flavored syrups or creamers.

The first order of business for ranking coffee pods from Aldi was to decide which to try. I decided not to include cappuccino pods or any of the six flavored coffees in the mix. I haven't really been thrilled with the flavored ones I've tried in the past, and thought it would make sense to rank the unflavored ones. As a former barista, I feel it's more important to start with a good coffee as your base. Then, you can add your favorite flavoring, coffee syrup brand, or creamer (flavored or non-flavored) to enhance the flavor. I also tried both decafs because I like having a good decaf coffee choice in the evening, and was wondering if either of the ones the company offers is any good. I tried one years ago and didn't care for it, but at such a cheap price point, I felt they were worth a retry.

To test and rank the coffees, I started with the lightest roast, working my way up to the darkest roast. I tried them black and then with half and half. I noted the flavor profile for each one. I also had a palate cleanser of sparkling water and plain crackers between each one so that I could appreciate each coffee separately. When I was in doubt about ranking, I retried the coffees multiple times side by side, deciding which flavor was more pleasant, smoother, less bitter, more likely to be a crowd pleaser, and didn't taste as cheap.