by Nigel Ong
You may associate IKEA with cheap, well-designed furniture, but it does much more than that. If you have not seen it yet, IKEA makes a wide range of food items, including coffee.
IKEA offers several coffee roasts under the Patar range, roasted Euro-style. We have looked at IKEA Patar Dark Roast and Espresso Roast, but what about its Medium Roast? Will it rival what we regularly drink here in the US? Let’s find out.
| Brewing | Taste Notes |
| French Press | – Light colored coffee, slight transparency- Mushroom-like and chocolatey flavor leaning towards milk chocolate. |
| Pour Over | – Tastes lighter than French press. Less earthy due to filter paper. Some fruity notes. |
| Espresso | – Fragrant with rich crema. Lighter colored crema, less intense, slightly sour, with light fruity notes. |
| With Sugar | – Adds shine and thickness. Tones down mushroom flavor, accentuates chocolate, makes it smoother with reduced acidity. |
| With Sweetener (Equal) | – Different sweetness from sugar. Initial black coffee flavor followed by lingering sweetness. Less natural taste. |
| With Milk | – Turns coffee brownish with a solid body and added texture.- Milk reduces bolder, earthy flavors and mushroom notes.- Subtle sweetness accentuating chocolate notes. |
| With Creamer (Coffee Mate) | – Richer, creamier, and thicker texture.- Slightly sweeter but less natural than milk. |
About IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast
The IKEA Patar is a range of coffee roasts from IKEA. There are three major coffee roasts:
- IKEA Patar Medium Roast: We will look at this roast in this review.
- IKEA Patar Dark Roast: Ideal for lovers of bold, rich flavors. This roast has a deep taste with strong aromatic notes.
- IKEA Patar Espresso Roast: Crafted specifically for espresso lovers. This roast boasts concentrated flavors and is a perfect match for those looking to craft barista-level espressos at home.
These roasts are made of 100% Arabica beans and are organic. You can get these IKEA roasts as either beans or ground coffee.
Your coffee beans are also free from pesticides or synthetic additives. These beans are also sourced from small Latin American farmers.
This means by choosing IKEA Patar, you are not just indulging in quality coffee but also supporting the livelihoods of small coffee planters, ensuring they receive a fair share of the proceeds, rather than large multinational corporations.
Measurements are a little off; they are first measured in grams, reflecting its Euro origin. Bags start as small as 8.8 oz (250 grams) and can be as large as 17.6 oz (500g).
In my hand, today is the IKEA Patar Medium Roast. You can tell it apart from other roasts by the color.
Dark roast has brown-colored packaging, while medium roast comes in a turquoise-like packaging color. The espresso roast is brown, with a picture of an espresso maker up front.
How Does IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast Taste?
First Impression
The coffee is packaged slightly differently than your usual coffee bag. The coffee is vacuum-packed to be as solid as a brick and then wrapped in paper-like packaging. I have to use a scissor to cut open the packaging.
One downside of this packaging style is keeping the coffee fresh after opening it. There is a foldable tab to help you reseal the coffee bag, which means you may want to have an airtight container ready for the coffee.
Once I cut open the coffee packaging, the aroma of the coffee hits my nose. I can immediately pick up some mushroomy, chocolatey smell, which reminds me of the Bali Kintamani Arabica coffee. It has a pleasant aroma indeed.
The coffee grounds look light brown in color, which, to me, actually made the coffee look like a light roast. The ground size is medium, which should be fine with many brewing styles, including drip coffee, French press, or pour-over.
For brewing, I will use three methods:
French Press: This brewing style makes a murky, full-flavored coffee with floating particles. This should allow me to sample the coffee in all its ‘glory.’ I expect full flavor and strong flavor with this coffee.
Pour Over With Filter Paper: This method produces a ‘cleaner’ version of the coffee without too much oil and particles floating about. This should help me to sample more of the subtle notes.
Espresso: Espresso can generally concentrate flavors well, especially at the crema. An espresso should help me better appreciate the flavors in this coffee.
French Press
I turned to my trusty Bodum Caffettiera French press to make my brew. My brewing style is based on the recommendations by Illy Coffee.
I added 15 grams of coffee and 180ml of hot water at around 185°F (about 85°C). After stirring the coffee ground, I gave the coffee 4 minutes of brewing time before plunging and pouring.
My coffee looks light in color, much like a light roast. There is also some slight transparency. As for the aroma, it has a mushroom-like and chocolatey smell. I would say the aroma is closer to milk instead of dark chocolate.
After I took the first sip, I found the coffee similar to its furniture – not too intense but rounded in flavor. There is little smoke or anything heavy in its flavor.
The overall flavor of mushroom and milk chocolate dominates the coffee, with a soft hint of earthiness and mild sweetness.
I would say this coffee is not intense and simple in flavor profile. You can happily sip it without trying too hard to enjoy it, much like driving a Toyota Camry – hop in and drive.
Pour Over With Filter Paper
I use these gear to make my pour-over coffee:
My pour-over brewing steps are taken from Starbucks. I kept to a 1:18 ratio to simplify the process and used hot, off-boiling water for my pourings.
The pour-over IKEA Patar Medium Roast tastes even lighter than the French press brew. The filter paper removed some coffee oils and particles, making the coffee even less earthy and strong.
At this point, I am unsure if I am enjoying the coffee. I think I prefer the French press version. However, I did detect some fruity notes in this cup. Perhaps removing the smoke slightly allows the fruity notes to come out.
Espresso
IKEA may not have intended to have the Patar Organic Medium Roast to be brewed as an espresso. There’s the Espresso Roast for that. However, espresso is a great way to sample coffee since it concentrates the flavor into a small cup.
I grabbed my Wacaco Minipresso GR and pulled an espresso shot out of the IKEA Pater Organic Medium Roast.
What I get in return is a fragrant cup of espresso with rich, velvety crema. It has a lighter color on the crema, probably because it is a medium roast with little color on the beans. The espresso here can rival what your Barista pulls from a coffee shop.
The espresso is light and slightly sour, espresso on the crema. The espresso has little smoke or intensity since it is a regular medium roast. Flavor-wise, I can detect a faint hint of fruity notes, with the mushroom-like note a major feature.
With Sugar
Now that I am done trying out the coffee black, it’s time to add flavorings. I started with a stick of brown, coarse sugar and poured it into my cup of IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast.
On the appearance, the sugar added a bit of shine to the coffee. It also made it a bit thicker, with better texture. Swish it in your mouth, and you’ll know what I mean. It does not change the overall lighter brown color of the coffee.
Taste-wise, the sugar helped to tone down a bit of the mushroom-like flavor and accentuated the chocolate note. I think it also made the coffee smoother to sip and cut into a bit of its acidity.
I can see many people enjoying this coffee sweetened with sugar, although I always prefer mine black.
With Sweetener
With sweeteners, I use Equal for all my coffee reviews. This is because it is one of the most popular artificial sweeteners. The active sweetener inside equal is Aspartame, which has different properties to sugar.
As a result, the sweetness I get from Equal is different from sugar. The sweetness seems to come a bit later, meaning when I sip the coffee, I get the initial flavor of black coffee before the sweetness comes in.
The sweet aftertaste stays longer in the mouth. Some drinkers may like this, seeing it as their coffee having a long finish. To me, it’s less natural.
With Milk
I prepared a bit of whole, UHT, fresh cow’s milk for this review. I added a single shot (about 30 ml or 1 oz) into my cup of coffee.
The milk turns the coffee brownish, and it loses its slight transparency. This gives it a more solid body. The coffee also developed a bit of texture, probably taking in the viscosity of milk.
Taste-wise, the milk takes away some of the bolder and earthy flavors of the coffee. It also cuts into the mushroom-like notes a bit, making the coffee less edgy in flavor.
There is also some subtle sweetness, thanks to the lactose in the milk. I think the subtle sweetness also accentuated the chocolate notes in the coffee slightly.
With Creamer
I then made another cup of IKEA Patar Medium Roast and added two sticks of Coffee Mate creamer.
Coffee Mate is a non-dairy creamer made of palm oil, which makes it popular with those who are lactose intolerant.
Like milk, the coffee now tastes richer, creamier, and thicker. However, I think milk adds more cream to the coffee. The texture of the coffee becomes thicker and more slippery, making the coffee glide around my tongue easily.
The whole cup of coffee is a little sweeter, although it tastes less natural than milk.
IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast vs Other IKEA Roasts
Aside from the IKEA Patar Medium Organic Roast, I also have some other coffee roasts from IKEA. I figure I’ll brew them all and sample them side by side:
After trying it all, the Medium Roast is the best tasting, at least to my palate.
I gravitate towards lighter, not too smoky coffee with hints of sweetness and chocolate notes, which automatically made me enjoy the Medium Roast most.
The Dark Roast may be too smokier for me to enjoy than the Medium Roast. To me, the Espresso Roast is, well, best kept for espresso brewing.
IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast vs Popular Medium Roasts
Aside from comparing the IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast with other IKEA coffees, I can also compare it against other popular medium roasts, especially those on our grocery shelves.
I pulled out these coffee and cupped them side by side with the IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast:
- McCafe Premium Roast
- Starbucks House Blend
- Folgers 1850 Pioneer Medium Roast
- Tim Hortons Original Blend
- Dunkin Original Blend
- Gevalia House Blend
After sipping all these coffees black, I would consider the IKEA Patar on the lower rank in the list. The reason is that it has a mushroom-like taste, which, to me, is a little edgy. I can see people rejecting this coffee because of the flavor.
The other roasts do not have these edgy flavors. They are actually much more comfortable to sip than the IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast.
IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast vs Regular Coffee
Finally, I picked up a cup of regular Americano from the most regular of places, a 7-Eleven.
The idea here is to compare the IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast roast with a regular cup of joe, especially those $1 coffees you can get from gas stations or convenience stores.
This may be a foregone conclusion, but I have to say the IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast is better. It has better flavor depth and a more pleasant finish. It gives me more satisfying sips, too.
The regular coffee tastes bland, with little flavor. The bitterness is also flat and may remind you of dirt. There’s also some watery taste, suggesting underbrewing to me.
Is IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast For You?
After extensively sampling the IKEA Patar Organic Medium Roast coffee, I would say this can be a regular cup of coffee with a bit of twist.
It may not be as comfortable to drink as Tim Hortons Original Blend, McCafe Premium Roast, or the Dunkin Original Blend. It has that mushroom-like note, and I don’t think everybody will like it.
However, if you find regular coffee roasts a bit boring, this twist in flavor may just be what you need. Pick up a bag and see how you’ll react to it.