I don't drink a lot of coffee, when I do have a cup it is sugared and milked up to the extent that it is virtually unrecognisable as coffee. However in this adulterated state I do quiet fancy a cup now and then, my daughter is the only other person in the house that drinks coffee and has to have a cup with her breakfast. When I bought Nescafe fine blend more for myself as it is a 'smooth mild' brew I expected complaints and sneering from my fussy offspring but not a bit of it. I now have to buy this as our regular coffee it seems that she is not as robust in her coffee tastes as she had me believe.

Anyway, at the time of writing this can be bought for £1.99 for 100g at Tesco, and is readily available elsewhere too. I assume it can be bought in other sizes however for some reason I have yet to see them online (including Nescafe's own website) or in store so my assumption could well be wrong.

Nescafe say of this variety of their coffee "we use a carefully balanced blend of Arabica and Robusta beans and lightly roast it to make a smooth and gentle coffee". I'm not a coffee connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination so I don't know my Arabica from my Civit poo coffee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak) but as grannies have been saying from time immemorial, 'I know what I like' and I do like this.

When you burst through the inner seal unlike with some varieties a strong coffee scent does not immediately assail your nostrils, though it is apparent if you take a sniff. For me this is a good thing as it seems to imply that it really will be gentle with me.

The coffee itself is a powder and not granules. This makes it very easy to dissolve and I can imagine that this might make it handy for use in cooking too.

I think I must have a peculiar metabolism as caffeine seems to have very little to no effect on me. I could drink a few shots of espresso and fall asleep with no problem whatsoever... unfortunately because there are times when I could do with a shot of something to keep me awake. Therefor I can't really judge whether this is a good wake me up coffee or not but my daughter seems to find it refreshing in this capacity. The flavour is 'clean' somehow, distinct and has no 'muddiness' which I sometimes find with cheap instant coffee.

This isn't my favourite coffee but it's pretty close if you really don't like strong coffee then this is almost idiot proof, as it is quite difficult to make a cup that is too bitter or overpowering. Even though there is no bitterness with this coffee there is in my opinion plenty of flavour with enough depth and complexity so that you don't feel short changed in the taste department.

I have been buying Tesco's own brand coffee which was bearable but not terribly popular; although the Fine Blend is a little more expensive In the long run it has balanced out financially. As I wouldn't be embarrassed to offer this to visitors so don't feel the need to have several different brands and types of coffee available, and we get to drink a coffee that we actually like too.

This coffee is probably not for a coffee connoisseur or someone who likes a deep rich flavour, but for those of us who like the convenience of instant, and enjoy a milder flavour then this does a lovely job. All in all it lives up to its claim of being mild and smooth and at a reasonable price too.