Moccona, Nescafe or Bushells? Good Food’s instant coffee taste test
From tasting “like smoking 10 cigarettes” to “better than most cafe batch brews”, we rank the specialty and supermarket caffeine hits to avoid and the ones to put in your mug.
As global bean shortages and inflation continue to push coffee prices to record highs, it might be time to give the instant stuff another go.
Yeah, yeah, “it’s yucky,” I know. My first mug of murky black instant nightmare fuel was enough to turn me off coffee for years. But the finely ground freeze-dried beans are the most affordable option on the market, with some companies selling them for as low as 5¢ per cup. And what if there was one which genuinely tasted good?
That’s what this Good Food taste test aims to find out, with the help of three certified coffee experts: Paul Lee from Sydney CBD cafe and roastery Diggy Doos, Rowena Rangwan Chansiri from Ickle Coffee Roasters in Kingsgrove and veteran coffee roaster Takumi Sakamoto from Headlands cafe in Summer Hill.
Together, we took on 11 instant coffees in a blind taste test, evaluating them (without milk) for aroma and taste and delivering a score out of 10. We’re looking for a clean, balanced flavour with a bit of richness and the kind of warm, toasty smell capable of enticing you out of bed.
I wanted to give instant a fighting chance, so I scoured the supermarkets for premium options, ordering four from Australian specialty coffee roasters: Stitch Coffee, Barrel One, Veneziano and Axil. (Shout out to Axil, which did not arrive in time but was – spoiler – delicious.)
It isn’t easy for specialty roasters to make instant coffee. Rangwan Chansiri looked into it once and found she would need almost six times the amount of coffee beans to create a single serve of instant. Sakamoto didn’t understand the appeal.
“Specialty roasters use more expensive beans, so it would cost way too much,” he says. “It’s like champagne producers trying to compete with a goon bag.” (This is most likely why specialty roasters such as St Ali, Beat Coffee and Moonshine have stopped producing their own brands of instant coffee.)
But Stitch Coffee founder Nawar Adra says there’s an incentive to stick with it. If consumers begin buying specialty instant, he says, they’ll not only be supporting environmentally and socially sustainable coffee farming, but they’ll also start driving prices down.
“The only way for us to achieve the economy of scale is to keep investing until [there’s enough demand for big batches], then it will become a great product to offer,” Adra says.
This leads us to another big question: if it is possible to find a damn good cup of instant coffee, will it still come cheap? Read on to discover our ranking of the best instant coffee options in ascending order.
The Good Food instant coffee taste test
11. Clipper Everyday Organic Coffee
Price: $21.68 for 100g
This coffee was dark, oily, and smelled like that empty Maccas bag you forgot to take out of your car during the heatwave last week. “It has this weird plastic smell, and tastes like ash,” says Lee.
Score: 1.6/10
10. Nescafe Gold Original
Price: $14.50 per 100g
“Wow,” says Rangwan Chansiri. “That tastes like smoking 10 cigarettes.” Sakamoto elaborates: “It’s got a flat, harsh, bitter flavour, the kind that leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth for hours.” Hard pass.
Score: 1.75/10
9. Lavazza Pronstissimo! Espresso
Price: $13.68 per 100g
A light and largely inoffensive option, let down by a peculiar stale aroma. “It smells a bit like cardboard,” Rangwan Chansiri says. “It’s a musty, hollow smell,” says Sakamoto. “Like stale hay,” says Lee. Whatever it is, it’s enough to overpower the thin, nutty brew.
Score: 3.6/10
8. Alcafe Gold (Aldi)
Price: $3.90 per 100g
This budget option doesn’t pull any punches, with a deep earthy aroma and harsh leathery flavour. “There’s nothing sweet or fruity about it,” says Lee. “It has an unpleasant, tobacco-like finish.”
Score: 3.7/10
7. Caffe Aurora Italian-style Freeze-dried Coffee
Price: $7 per 100g
There’s a nostalgic appeal to Caffe Aurora. It has that recognisable “coffee” smell and a flavour that transports you back to bleary mornings at the hotel buffet. “Or maybe the airport,” says Rangwan Chansiri. But the thick brew leaves a rough, bitter finish, says Lee.
Score: 4.1/10
6. Moccona Instant Coffee Indulgence
Price: $14.50 per 100g
Don’t discount Moccona - it had one judge fooled. “I think this could be specialty coffee, but maybe poorly executed,” says Sakamoto, who appreciated the mild, buttery, sweet flavours throughout. “The flavour is flat but clean.”
Score: 4.75/10
5. Bushells Coffee Classic
Price: $5 per 100g (117 cups)
If you like your coffee sweet, malty and less than 5c per serve, Bushells is your best choice. “It’s like chocolate milk, like Milo,” says Rangwan Chansiri. Maybe if Milo were heavily watered down and left you with a bitter aftertaste. Still, not bad.
Score: 5.8/10
4. Stitch Specialty Instant Coffee Granules
Price: $40 per 60g
Rangwan Chansiri picks it straight off the bat: “This is specialty coffee, probably Colombian.” It has an intense, complex flavour with a clean finish, but not everyone’s a fan. “I’m not sure if I like it; it reminds me of celery,” says Lee.
Score: 6/10
3. Barrel One Instant Batch
Price: $35 for 40g
“It tastes like it was very lightly, carefully roasted,” says Lee. The flavour is mild but crisp and complex, with a balance of chocolate, citrus, and “ooh, a bit of spice!” says Rangwan Chansiri. “But in a good way!”
Score: 6.3/10
2. Best value: Illy Instant Intenso
Price: $12 for 250g
The only supermarket option to be ranked as high as specialty coffee, Illy (purchased from IGA) presents the best bang for your buck. The golden brew has a rich, chocolatey flavour, which fades into a lingering, lightly astringent finish. “It has so much body,” says Rangwan Chansiri.
Score: 6.6/10
1. Winner: Veneziano Specialty Instant Ethiopia
Price: $40 for 60g
“Wow, what?” The aroma hits first – so bright, floral and fruity that the judges are shocked by the difference. Immediately, they (correctly) guess the beans are Ethiopian. “This is better than most of the batch brews you get at a cafe,” says Sakamoto.
Score: 8.2/10
Bianca Hrovat – Bianca is Good Food’s Sydney eating out and restaurant editor.