Nona Cael
They changed the coffee and didn't tell anyone. In my house that's grounds for divorce.
Beans went near fifty-year highs this year, arabica at $15.40 a kilo, robusta at $8.73, prices not seen since 1977. So the big brands quietly rewrote the labels. Moccona's instant went from 100 per cent arabica to 100 per cent coffee beans. Vittoria dropped the arabica claim on some lines. Coles' organic freeze-dried doubled from $4 to $8 per 100 grams and the label now just says instant coffee. Old and new jars sit on the same shelf. Beans have since come down about 35 per cent. The labels haven't gone back.
Heather Smyth, a sensory scientist at the University of Queensland, says consumers should feel ripped off. Robusta is more bitter, and you taste it most in a black coffee. And here's the thing: the rules don't make them list the bean unless they make a claim about it. So they stopped making the claim.
My mother knew her roaster by name. So this month, buy from one. Ask what's in the blend. And at home, a little cardamom in the moka pot hides a lot of robusta. Don't tell the brands I said that.
Source: ABC News, 2026-10-09
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