Consumer Reports May issue ranked Caribou caffeinated coffee and Eight O'Clock 100 percent Columbia decaf coffee as the best whole bean Columbian coffees.

Editor's Insight: Everyone in the coffee business will take issue with anyone else's quality ranking. It would be impossible for the coffee industry to sign off on any single rating source. That said, retailers, including vending and coffee service operators, cannot ignore Consumer Reports. As much as consumer product manufacturers take issue with this magazine's rankings, few question CR's credibility with consumers.

Last year, McDonald's scored a big PR victory when Consumer Reports ranked its coffee number one in a nationwide coffee taste test.

Coffee service operators who carry the brands in this ranking, most of which are available in coffee service fractional packs, will find it worth their efforts to promote these results to their customers.