Ueshima Coffee Company | House Blend

The packaging is cool, the pods are no-nonsense, the price is low: Too good to be true from the Land of the Rising Sun?

What do they say?

Our signature blend, refined Japanese flavour. Rich, balanced coffee.

The no-nonsense version, please?

To be honest, the copywriter has already done the job here. This is lovely, smooth coffee. For the purposes of this review, I've just sipped on a beautiful House Blend espresso after a hearty meal of rabbit stew (great recipe here on the Maltese Mouthful website, by the way) and it has gone down an absolute treat. I'm not going to kid you on, however. This is the second box of these pods I've had in the last couple of months and it certainly won't be the last.

Just one little fly in the ointment... Most people's minds probably wouldn't go to Japan when asked where to get great coffee, and mine is no different. So, when, out of curiosity, I looked at the packaging and discovered that this was 'roasted and packed in Europe with coffee from non-EU countries' I began to wonder just how Japanese this coffee is. But that's not the point, I suppose. I mean, I also drive a Toyota that was designed and built in Germany, so it's not the first time I'm 'bought Japanese' only to discover I hadn't really.. But, nevertheless, it does feel like I've been cheated of something here.

Moving beyond such a minor issue, it's far more important to take stock of this coffee's wonderfully smooth taste. Although I'm usually a fan of robusta-laden, punchy espressos with a syrupy texture, I have found myself coming back to this particular pod when I want something to follow a particularly superb meal, the aftertaste of which I'm not quite ready to give up yet. Much like Japanese jazz, this little beauty of a pod seems to borrow a little from others while having a little twist of its own. A refined and just plain cool coffee that can be enjoyed with or without sugar.

Should I buy it?

No question here. Especially when some of the UK supermarkets often have this discounted below £3 for 10 pods. While I wouldn't rely on this to get me going in the morning, it is most certainly a handy choice to have for when you need something laid-back and cool. It's basically like this guy in coffee form: https://youtu.be/z4PKzz81m5c

• Absolutely!

• Yeah, why not?

• Worth a punt, but don't put yourself out.

• Only if the alternative is dishwater. In fact, try the dishwater first, anyway.

What did Bruno McSwan-Neck, Editor-at-Large of The Coffee Courier say about it?

Bruno McSwan-Neck is currently vacationing in the Hamptons and far too busy to concern himself with coffee pods.