Everyone Drank This Coffee In The '80s — Now It's The Lowest Rated On Consumer Reports

Home coffee brewing has come a long way in the past few decades, and Consumer Reports' lowest-rated coffee pick really proves it. The veritable consumer watchdog tested dozens of blends from popular supermarket coffee brands, and scored each one based on a blind taste test. With little variation, the top scoring coffees are all from names associated with the newer wave of coffee shops, like Counter Culture and Blue Bottle. And unfortunately, the lowest-rated brand by Consumer Reports is one of the biggest names in coffee history: Maxwell House.

Maxwell House was founded back in 1892, and was the best-selling coffee brand in America for most of the next century, all the way up to the '80s. Its slogan "Good to the last drop," is probably one of the most famous in advertising — but Consumer Reports begs to differ on this claim. In its testing, the publication says it looks for smooth-tasting coffee with balanced bitterness, interesting and complex tasting notes, and no off-flavors. Its summary of Maxwell House's House Blend is, well, not that. Instead the brand's java is described as over-roasted, highly bitter, astringent, and "with a burnt, ashy aftertaste and an unpleasant grainy flavor." Coffee can have a lot of different flavor notes, but we're pretty sure ash shouldn't be one of them. It was bad enough that Maxwell House was one of only two brands to land in the poorest category of coffee scores, with its other mass-market competitor, Folgers, at least being deemed average.

There was only one other coffee blend that came anywhere near Maxwell House's low score, and that was — sorry, Costco lovers — the Kirkland Signature House Blend. As the only other poorly scored coffee, it was also described as harsh, bitter, and strongly burnt. It seems like some coffee roasters are toasting their beans way too long to try and cover for subpar quality, but Consumer Reports isn't being fooled.

Other old-school coffee brands didn't fare much better. Folgers may have been deemed average, but it was still one of the 10 worst grocery store coffee brands evaluated by Consumer Reports. Café Bustelo was also part of that group, ranking as the third-worst coffee tested. Second-wave coffee brands didn't fare much better, with Starbucks' Pike Place Roast being ranked as the fifth-worst, and Caribou Coffee's Caribou Blend falling around Folgers.

If you are looking for a lower-cost coffee to make at home that scores pretty well, Consumer Reports thinks Tim Hortons or Dunkin' offer better blends. The Canadian powerhouse Tim Hortons was actually one of the cheapest blends tested, and came in third place overall; it was also one of only six brands that landed in the truly excellent range. Dunkin' didn't rank quite that high, but still scored well and landed in the top 10. While there are probably still a lot of dedicated Maxwell House drinkers out there, fans of its House Blend may want to consider switching brands to upgrade what's in their cup without spending extra money.