The best instant coffee?

[GameOfJones]

I drink my coffee black and have never been a huge fan of instant coffee. I normally grind my own beans and use a french press. I feel like you can really notice the difference in quality when there's no milk in the drink.

However, I have high cholesterol and am trying to reduce it through diet and lifestyle changes in the first instance before I get my levels re-tested.

My doctor suggested I swap to instant coffee as there is some research to suggest that oils in freshly ground coffee, especially in a french press can raise blood cholesterol. Well, I'm absolutely gutted 🤣. But I'm trying to do everything I can until I can see if it's had any impact.

So in the interest of experimenting I'm going to buy a few different jars of instant coffee and do a taste test. Which brands do you like? We have pretty much every major supermarket within a 30 minute trip so I'm happy to be recommended anything!

Another vote for Azera.

James Hoffmann (YouTube coffee expert) did a taste test on supermarket instant coffee and found Little's Columbian the winner.

Though if you want to look into a paper filtered coffee, I'd look at the Clever Dripper. It's an immersion brew (similar to French press) then filtered through paper.

Azera always feels like it has coffee grounds in to me so it might be unfiltered too and full of oils.

Honestly I’d cut out literally everything else before ditching the nice coffee. How many cups do you have a day? Surely it can’t have that much of an impact.

Clipper coffee, I love it and always get compliments when I make drinks for friends

Kenco millicano. Also like the Taylor's coffee bags, but they're expensive!

Azera has a powdery taste to me, I have instant for work sometimes and like Percol espresso powder, a colleague has Clipper and that's nice too

I'm sobbing with envy at you all drinking this and that coffee, ground, filtered, instant, French press the works. I cannot drink coffee anymore due to it setting off Atrial Fibrillation in me big time.

Sob, sob, sob. I haven't found a decaf that didn't taste like shit either. So I am resigned to sob, sob, Barley Cup + vanilla syrup. It's ok, I'm getting used to it now. But the smell of coffee makes me so sad. Tea doesn't set the Afib off for some reason, but I was never a great tea drinker.

SOB sonofabitcccch. (Sunday night blues too) 🙄

It does appear that there's some research about coffee straight from beans raising cholesterol. Although interestingly a PP has flagged it is not an issue if the coffee is filtered through paper.

I'm doing plenty of other things to help too. Less saturated fat, more fibre, omega 3 and sage supplements etc etc. Whether any of this has an affect remains to be seen!

Oh no, I'm sorry....that really is rubbish!

This is my favourite too. Love love love strong coffee😁

Sainsburys do a very good decaffeinated coffee with a blue lid.

Nescafé dark roastery 8. Used to love blend 37 til they discontinued it and this is the only one that comes close.

Kenco

For the non-believers@Citygirl17 has it nailed, totally.

talkingcrowcoffeeroasters.com/blogs/informed/coffee-diterpenes-and-your-health#

I drink black coffee and had tried most of them! I'd all but given up finding a decent instant until I discovered this. Absolute game changer! It's not cheap, but quite often on offer in my local Morrisons. You can buy it from most supermarkets.

OP we have a variety of coffee making implements/machines to make any type of coffee drinks you can imagine.
but I'm a very impatient person and go through tons of coffee during working hours (I'm working from home full time).
My working hours coffee is instant 90% of the time.
I prefer a strong taste, no milk, no sugar.
No instant coffee will ever taste as good as fresh coffee. But I'm ok with that.

I used to really, really like the standard Dowe Egberts. Upped that to their strongest jar version which stained my teeth (stains luckily went away). So I went back to the regular version but didn't like it anymore plus the price got really high I thought.
So I, methodically, tried all instant coffee I could find in all supermarkets. All of them, from Aldi to M&S, over a period of about 4 months wasting a lot of money. Branded and supermarkets own labels. I chose the options that indicated a stronger taste. I didn't try Nescafe because it's rubbish anyway. Azera tastes like muddy water to me. I didn't like any varieties labelled as Columbian/ Costa Rican etc with names and prices that implied better or stronger flavour.
After all that, my most favourite is Lidl Gold Instant coffee, the one with the gold and black label. Fantastic price too. Start there and if it's not to your taste, experiment away.

Also, it depends how much coffee do you actually drink. If not a lot, you probably don't need to worry too much about switching to instant coffee.

I must admit I thoroughly enjoy a proper coffee when I make it. Usually savoury it on Sunday morning as a ritual. And randomly I might have it during the week when I'm not in a rush.

Lavazza in a silver tin, the rest all taste thin for some reason.

Cafe Direct - Machu Picchu - the tastiest instant coffee. The decaf is tasty too.

When I smoked it was Nescafé regular all the way, 5 to 10 cups a day. It's 10 months since I gave up, and now I can't stand the stuff. My taste buds have regenerated, I suppose. What I mainly like is Glengettie tea (never drank tea before!) but the first hot drink in the morning is Tesco Finest Intenso Microground Coffee. I have a Bialetti stove top coffee pot and that comes out at weekends with Colombian ground.

PS Carte Noire tastes like shite, as does Nescafé Gold Blend. I used to like Nescafé Blend 37 (used to have a green lid) but haven't seen it for years.

When I have to drink instant coffee, it's Nescafe Azera Americano or Taylors coffee bags.

Kenco Gold Indulgence is really nice. I used to love Nescafé Gold Blend but they 'improved' ruined it and it has taken me years to find a decent replacement. Plus, I did hate it was a Nestle product so I am glad to get away from it.

Lavazza Prontissimo Intenso Instant Coffee
is my favourite instant but it is 10% finely ground coffee so maybe not what you’re looking for. Nescafé Roastery is also very good and only 3% ground coffee. The decaf version of Roastery is the best instant decaf imho. I wait till these are on offer and buy then.

Clipper Organic.

I think if you use an old fashioned drip machine with filter papers the papers filter out the oil. Otherwise Costa instant isn't too bad

This is one of our favourites!