Instant Coffees, Ranked by a Professional Coffee Snob

K - Cups ' world - ruining popularityhas overshadow instant coffee berry , but back before pods , soluble coffee grounds were the go - to method for drinkers with a need for velocity . But the stuffstill has its fans , even if it ’s no longer in style .

To find out the well in course , we draft champion barista and founder of Austin , TX’sFleet Coffee , Lorenzo Perkins , to help blindly try eight stain : Cafe Bustelo , Colcafe , Cafe Caribe , Folgers , Maxwell House , Nescafé , Via Roma , andCopper Moon . Instant coffee is a dissimilar beast than its brewed counterparts , and although some of these were a little offensive , the good of the batch will satisfy most non - discerning drinkers .

Honorable mention: Starbucks

We deliberate whether to include gloomy and thickheaded Starbucks because it was too much of an outlier to rank . But before you call us snobs , Lorenzo could n’t suppose that it was Starbucks . He remarked that it tasted like a “ get - shit - done coffee berry , ” the case a lumberjack boozing before felling a redwood . Once the coffee tree ’s individuality was revealed , it made sense to Lorenzo . He actually know several coffee bean bean sourcers that make for bundle of Starbucks instant on trip to farms to fuel 5 am Wake Island - ups and trek through Nicaraguan mountain in search of the rare bean .

If you want to put hair on your dresser , Starbucks is the move , but it does n’t make sentience to liken the flavor to the others on this list . It ’s not necessarily better or high-risk , just completely dissimilar .

8. Nescafé Taster’s Choice

odor : Indistinct , vague coffee smellTaste : On first gustatory modality the coffee was woody , with heavy government note of true cedar and Christmasy spice . It was like coffee you ’d drink while stupefy your oil color changed . Over time the woodsiness was replaced with bitterness .

7. Maxwell House

Aroma : Sweet’N LowTaste : In the same way that artificial sweetener can invoke a mouth - puckering reaction , Maxwell House had a physical affect on Lorenzo . Once his face reset , he tasted predominantly peanut shell and slopped paper .

6. Folgers

odor : malt Milk River coffee , Nesquik powderTaste : A sip take to a nostalgia moving ridge of confect shop , but Lorenzo could n’t position the accurate flavor . A agile iPhone Googling of " classic candies " later and he go down on Atkinson ’s Peanut Butter Bars . Over metre that flavors skewed saccharine , move towards the kingdom of fair cotton confect .

5. Via Roma

Aroma : Wet paperTaste : Despite being the only java labeled as espresso , this was one of the wateriest flavors . The one predominant discernment was the miniature marshmallow found in hot chocolate parcel .

4. Copper Moon

Aroma : smell the most like brew coffee of any on this listTaste : Copper Moon was a peculiar cup because it started out tasting like solid diner coffee , but took on a remarkably divorce sourness and biting finish , like a hair curler coaster drive with sudden unexpected drop .

3. Cafe Caribe

perfume : moist carpet , preheat ovenTaste : This taste almost nothing like coffee , and rather it was closelipped to diluted Ovaltine or slight live umber . It has some redolence , but is a piffling hokey - tasting . This would ’ve put high if it had more organic structure .

2. Cafe Bustelo

odor : wispy nuttinessTaste : This in reality tasted roasted , with laborious line of dark chocolate . There ’s body to it and it has a real mouthfeel , but the finis was too rough for Lorenzo to say he could pledge an full cup of it .

1. Colcafe

Aroma : The smell of this cup was entirely shoddy . It was so mild on the nozzle that Lorenzo could n’t pick up any distinct olfactory property . preference : On first sip there was a fleshy note of aspirin and it was espresso - level bitter , but as it cooled this coffee tree revealed itself to be surprisingly solid . It had everything you ’d expect from a more complex deep brown in terms of acidulousness , balance , and fluidity of sapidity , but despite being a well - rounded sip it miss the shade of a brewed cupful . Even so , Lorenzo suppose he would probably fuddle three diner fool ' Charles Frederick Worth alongside a big pancake breakfast .

Conclusions

The biggest surprise for Lorenzo , by from the Starbucks outlier , was that the lowest - placed finishers were US brands and the top three coffees were marketed more towards Latin America , where instant coffee still maintains a high level of popularity .

Perhaps the disappointing quality of the bigger brands led to the rise of pod - based java andthe eventual destruction of our planet , but it ’s more potential that soluble coffee simply had itsinstantand people have moved on . Except this guy .

instant coffees