I do like my coffee and normally for me it has to be ground coffee, but when I was pregnant the smell just turned my stomach and now as I am breastfeeding I am trying to keep my caffeine intake down so I am allowing myself one cup of instant a day. One of the best instant coffees I have tried is the Douwe Egberts Pure Gold. They market this coffee as a premium medium strength instant coffee.

I personally buy the refill pack as I find this keeps my recycling down now that I have one large jar for the coffee. The refill pack is foil sealed and opens easily to tip into any container.

The coffee in its freeze dried form does smell very appealing and whilst it is certainly not as nutty and aromatic as a ground coffee you certainly do get a mellow nutty scent from the coffee that gives a good impression of quality. I use one teaspoon for a standard size mug and add just boiled water. The granules do dissolve very well but I find that you do need to give it a stir as sometimes a few patches of semi melted granules can appear on the top of the coffee which not only looks unsightly but gives a bitter taste in the mouth when they are swallowed whole. I drink my coffee with milk and add this once the coffee is dissolved in the hot water. I find if I add it prior to the hot water then I am more likely to get un-dissolved granules on the surface.

When adding the hot water a warm aromatic aroma is released very quickly and whilst it isn't as rich as my normal ground coffee it is certainly more fuller than Nescafe and does conjure up memories of cold winters nights with warm milky coffee for me.

Taste wise it is a mellow coffee there is no major caffeine fuelled hit when you drink this. Instead there are smooth and soft tones from the coffee that fulfil my need for a cup of coffee but without the huge caffeine kick that ground coffee gives. Most importantly for me there is not acidic after taste that I find I get with cheaper instant coffees. This is something I hate as it takes away from the pleasure of a nice mellow cup of coffee.

I personally would recommend this as a great instant coffee that is the closet I have found so far to replicating a nice ground coffee. It is a mellow blend rather than a rich deep one and gives a warm soft cup of coffee. It is not the cheapest coffee at around £4.50 for a 190 gram from Tesco's it is a full 5 stars from me.