My first instant-coffee taste test had some very expensive disappointments

I love coffee, but instant coffee wasn’t part of my life in Canada. My usual cup involves grinding whole beans and making a pour-over through a V60 filter, always with milk. I don’t claim to know much about tasting notes. I just know whether I want another sip.

For my first instant-coffee comparison, I bought eleven jars or tins and one rather different bonus bottle. I expected very little, then found some cups I liked and some I couldn’t stand. The cheap Tesco jar did surprisingly well. The pink tin that caught my eye did not.

Watch the instant-coffee taste test on YouTube.

What went into each cup

I used one actual teaspoon of instant coffee in each cup, with similar amounts of water in mugs of roughly similar size. One enormous mug only got filled to the level of a normal one. I also added milk, because I wouldn’t normally choose black coffee.

Some cups tasted watery, and I wondered whether I’d prefer more than a teaspoon. Keeping the quantity the same let me compare them, but it didn’t mean I had found the best way to make every brand. This was a taste test based on my own reactions, with plenty of trips back to the kettle.

The ordinary jars I liked

Nescafe Gold was the first cup, and it was much better than I’d expected. It tasted a little weak compared with my usual coffee, but it tasted like coffee. Nothing especially memorable, perhaps, yet perfectly nice if I wanted a cup immediately.

Douwe Egberts Pure Gold tasted different, with an aftertaste I noticed without finding it terrible. I still preferred the Nescafe. Kenco Gold later joined them among my top three, although I thought it was expensive. What I liked about these cups became clearer as the tasting went on. They had more of the roasted flavour I associate with my morning pour-over.

L’OR Classique was reasonable and fairly similar to those first cups, without being especially exciting. Its instructions allowed one or two teaspoons, so I wondered whether a little more would suit me. It was fine as I made it.

Packaging couldn’t rescue Grind

Grind Smooth Barista Blend looked different from the other coffees on the shelf. I liked the packaging, and its mention of iced coffee appealed because I am very much an iced-coffee person. My 90g tin cost £4.50 with my Nectar card, reduced from £6.50, so it was an expensive little contestant.

Then I tasted it and immediately disliked the flavour. It seemed nuttier to me, while the label mentioned milk chocolate, caramel and almond. I briefly wondered whether it was growing on me. No. I thought it might work better iced with vanilla syrup, but I hadn’t tried that and couldn’t give it a better result on that basis.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Costa Rica coffee gave me a similarly unwelcome first taste. Its caramel and chocolate descriptions didn’t persuade my taste buds, and I placed it only slightly above Grind. Co-op Fairtrade Gold Roast also disappointed me. I found it bitter, without the creaminess or richness I wanted.

My least favourite was Aldi’s Barissimo Gold Roast. It had an immediate taste and a lingering aftertaste I disliked, possibly bitterness, though I struggled to describe it. The lower price wasn’t enough to make me want it.

Tesco was the cheap surprise

Tesco Gold Rich and Smooth cost me £2.65 for 200g. The label was plain, the jar was cheap and I thought it might be awful. It was actually pretty good.

I still preferred Douwe Egberts, and Tesco lacked the stronger roast flavour I liked in the better cups. But I enjoyed it more than Costa’s smooth medium roast, which tasted like coffee-flavoured water and landed in the middle of my preferences.

M&S Gold Medium Roast fell just below Costa. I noticed a nutty, caramelly flavour again, rather than the classic roasted taste I wanted. I didn’t hate it as much as the bottom few, but it wasn’t for me.

The bonus bottle was a different drink

Camp was chicory and coffee essence, so it didn’t belong in the same comparison as the jars of instant coffee. I made it with half the quantity I’d been using for the others because I couldn’t find cup instructions on the bottle.

It was very sweet and didn’t taste like coffee to me. I didn’t like it, although it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. After all those cups, the straightforward Nescafe, Douwe Egberts and Kenco flavours were still the ones I preferred. Apparently I didn’t need the fancy pink tin after all.