Comparing Different Comté Cheese Varieties by M&T (Monts & Terroirs), Paris/Singapore - 6 Month Lactic, 18-month Roasted and Bronze Medal

Monts and Terroirs seems to be a boutique restaurant and shop specialising in French cheeses, especially Comté. Accordingly, they bring in a wide variety of Comté cheeses, which provided me a good opportunity to compare different varieties and experience the breadth of Comté flavours firsthand.

Comparing Different Comté Cheese Varieties by M&T (Monts & Terroirs), Paris/Singapore

I got 3 types of varying flavours and ages - a 6-month lactic Comté, an 18-month roasted Comté and a Bronze Medal Comté without age or flavour indicated.

By definition, all Comté cheeses are produced in the same Alpine region of Eastern France, bordering Switzerland. They also have production processes certified with a strict process called Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), including that they must all use cow's milk from a certain region of France for example. 

So it is interesting that there can still be quite a variety to these cheeses. Even a brief glance at the picture above shows clear colour differences. Incidentally, I had expected more aged cheeses to be darker in colour because milk is quite white, so it was interesting to see that the 18-month cheese seemed to be the palest out of the three.

Bronze Medal Comté

Bronze Medal Comté Cheese

I am starting with this because, although it won an award, strangely, this one had a taste that I felt was more common and balanced, so it is easier to use it as a reference point to the other two. 

Out of the three, this one was closest to a balanced firm cheese with strong creaminess. Perhaps the balance and "average"-ness of it was what won it popular appeal. And strangely, it actually reminded me of cheddar, with strong creamy cheddar-like hearty umami notes.

It did not have the sweetness or nuttiness of gruyere, or much noticeable acidity or sourness, nor much fruitiness or apparent seafood-like umami. Nothing particularly strong to me, but like a cheese that I could eat endlessly as a snack. (It should be qualified that these are compared to similar cheeses in the range.)

The strongest feature was the creaminess and milkiness, but overall I would say it was moderate and balanced, and perhaps that's what people love the most in cheeses, hence the award. Based on what I saw online, it seems to be a closer fit to the taste profile of a young Comté.

6-month Lactic Comté

6-months Lactic Comté Cheese

By contrast, this lactic Comté was immediately more acidic and seemed more savoury to me. It also felt like there were fragrant fruity notes. I'm not talking about extremely flavourful cheeses like vintage or mature salty cheddar, but the comparison is to the Bronze Medal one. 

If intense cheeses such as a vintage cheddar or Rockport are a 10 on a scale of 10, the Bronze Medal one would be around a 6, I would say that this lactic Comté might be a 5.

It is definitely more exciting and has more character than the Bronze Medal one, and was actually the boldest of the lot, if you prefer your cheeses with more character.

Strangely, my experience and description are at odds with M&T's description of the types of Comté on their website, which claims that Lactic is supposed to be more buttery, and considers it a separate taste from fruity varieties. (That description sounds more like the Bronze Medal that I tried.) While there was definitely a buttery aspect, I did not feel that it was the strongest characteristic of this cheese.

18-month Roasted Comté

18-months Roasted Comté Cheese

This one was actually the mildest of the three, very strangely. The mildness in taste does match expectations when one considers that it is the palest in colour, but usually people expect the most aged cheeses to be strongest in flavours. 

The taste was an extremely faint nuttiness, with a mild but balanced Comté body. You should probably eat this cheese first in order to appreciate it, before any other cheese except perhaps some mozzarellas or cottage cheeses. There was barely any characteristic type of aroma or fragrance to speak of. On the scale of 10 that I mentioned for intensity of taste, this would be like a 3.

The texture was also a bit firmer and slightly more on the rubbery side.

Once again, this experience is also at odds with what was on the website, where Roasted varieties are supposed to be "bold". Definitely a head-scratcher for me.

Overall reflections

I would say that the difference between the 6-month Lactic and 18-month Roasted bears similarities to the difference between a light roast coffee and a super dark over-roasted coffee. Like the Lactic Comté, a light roast coffee retains more acidity and often the fragrant complex fruity notes emerge better. But an overly roasted dark roast coffee, while still nutty, starts losing body and complexity of aroma, and tends to lose a lot of acidity and even bitterness, becoming more one-dimensional in taste.

Needless to say, my favourite overall was the Bronze Medal one, followed by the 6-months Lactic Comté Cheese. I wouldn't think of buying the 18-month Roasted one again honestly.

And given the different experience I had from the website description, plus the paleness of the 18-month one, I wonder if there was some mislabelling. For reference, I consumed them well within the expiry dates as well, so I don't think that was a factor. But I can also imagine that perhaps the longer ageing period processed away the stronger flavours, like how kopi luwak and over-roasted dark roast coffee are milder in flavour due to the extra processing.

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