Crap-perccino (Nescafe Cappuccino)

Member Name: TheChocolateLady

Product:	Nescafe Cappuccino
Date:	22/08/05 (246 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Um... none!

Disadvantages: Um... might be convenient.

Hi, my name is Davida and I truly am a coffee addict. This is to tell you about the product that almost cured me of my addiction. Nescafe Cappuccino.

My boss is a truly lovely guy who likes to bring me presents when he travels abroad. Mostly, its chocolates, but once when he was in Italy, he came back with a box of Nescafe Cappuccino packets. Wasn't that nice of him? Well, I thought so at the time, but he has since learned his lesson.

Now you should understand that I buy Nescafe products almost exclusively. Here in Israel, they market the American freeze dried coffee "Taster's Choice", which is probably the best instant coffee available anywhere. Also, my boss often gets from his friend in Paris bottles of their "Special Filtre" coffee - which is a heartier freeze dried blend of coffee than the regular Gold Blend you see on your shelves. So I was expecting not to just like this product, but to actually adore it! Ah, poor, disappointed me.

Nescafe Cappuccino comes in 12.5gram packets that have a lovely picture of a steaming cup of frothy cappuccino in front of a brown and gold drawing of a gondola on the waters in front of an Italian skyline. Above this are the words "Nescafe Cappuccino" written in white on the background of a brown and red cafe awning. Quite attractive.

When you open the packet you are immediately hit by a very milky scent. This is totally unpleasant, and much akin to the smell of baby spit-up. Almost all of the coffee scent is masked by this stench.

The instructions on my packet were in German, French and Italian, so I assumed that they were telling me to empty the contents into a coffee cup that holds 1.5dl, add fresly boiled water, and the mixture will disolve with little stiring to give you a frothy cup of coffee. To this they tell you to add sugar or sweeteners to taste. They also seem to suggest that you could sprinkle cocoa powder or cinnamon on top as well.

I don't use sugar or sweeteners in my coffee, and I don't usually have cocoa powder or cinnamon at work. Maybe if I had, the taste would have been improved.

However, I think not. This concoction does have a lovely caramel coloured froth when you mix it up, but I also noticed that some of the granuals of coffee stayed in the froth and didn't disolve well. This froth was suspended above a slightly milky looking coffee that had the definate cloudy look which is common when using powdered milk or creamers. I also noticed, when I pushed the froth away that I could see specks of the milk that also hadn't disolved well into the coffee.

The smell of the coffee was almost exactly like that scent that hit me when I opened the packet - baby sick over slight coffee. This was nothing like the fragrant scents I'd come to know at even the worst of coffee shops I've visited.

But the test is, of course in the taste, right? OK, so I held my nose and took a sip. I'm sure it will not be to anyone's surprise if I tell you that this tasted totally foul. The coffee had a very heavy, sour woody flavour to it with no body or richness to it. The whitener tasted much like what you would expect unscented deodorant to taste like - very artificial and metallic. The foam had a murky consistancy that reminded me of the scum that you have to scrub off your bathtub after your kids have finished their bath - especially when they've just finished having a mud fight.

All in all, I have to say that this is one product I will joyfully avoid for the rest of my life.

(PS: The best part of this experience was watching it go down the kitchen sink drain!)

*****
My quick search found that you can get these in the UK for about £1.77. Of course, if you enjoy it as much as I did, you'll find this a very poor value for your money since its a waste of a full £1.77.

Nescafe products are produced by Nestle's and they have a web page http://www.nestle.com/in_your_life/index.html but the Nescafe web page is at http://www.nescafe.co.uk/.
*****

Summary: An instant cappuccino that isn't worth the water you pour into