This One's For "jillmurphy" (Nescafe Gold Blend)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Nescafe Gold Blend
Date:	05/02/02 (216 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely taste. Good substitute for the "real" thing.

Disadvantages: It's still an instant, and although good, doesn't hold a candle to freshly made ground coffee.

~ ~ As most of you know, the “mad cabbie” is an ex-alcohol addict, but despite managing to kick the booze over 22 years ago, there are unfortunately still some addictions in my life. Tobacco and caffeine.
It’s my addiction to coffee that I’m going to talk about here, but not in any serious tone, as to be totally honest, it’s an addiction that I thoroughly enjoy, and which is hardly likely to destroy my life!

~ ~ My favourite coffee is a brand called “LavAzza”, (Italian expresso) which I make in my brilliant little Russell Hobbs Classic coffee maker. (see my ancient op, hint, hint!)
But there are certain times when I just can’t be bothered with all the rigmarole of brewing it fresh, and when what is called for is an “instant” fix. So I reach for the jar of “instant” coffee, and that jar is invariably Nescafe.
There are two types of Nescafe instant coffee that I enjoy.
The first is “Blend 57”, and the other is the one I’m going to write about here, “Gold Blend”.
I like both equally as well, and really don’t mind which I drink.
Mind you, if anyone should be able to make good instant coffee, then it has to be Nescafe from an American company called Nestle, who have been in the business of manufacturing coffee of the instant variety since way back in 1938.
World War Two both helped and hindered Nescafe’s commercial development here in the UK and Europe. It hindered it as during the war it’s entire stock of instant coffee was reserved exclusively for the use of the US Military. But, strangely enough, this also did much to promote their coffee throughout the European Continent, as Nescafe Instant was included in every “G.I. Joe’s” rations, and invariably found its way into European households through the flourishing black market.

~ ~ Gold Blend is now Nestle’s premier instant coffee, h
aving outsold their “Original” blend in recent years.
They pride themselves on the fact that they use only the very finest coffee beans, and that when you drink a cup of Nescafe, then ALL you are drinking is coffee, with no additives of any description.
Try as I might, I can’t discover (from the Internet or otherwise) exactly what “blend” of different types of coffee beans they use to produce Gold Blend. But I suspect that there is a fair amount of “Aribica” in there, as it certainly has more than a hint of the slightly bitter (but not unpleasant) taste that this bean produces. Mind you, if you had a commercially successful recipe for something or other, then I suppose it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to be advertising the precise ingredients anywhere for your competitors to get hold of and copy!

~ ~ There are two ways of producing “instant” coffee.
Once the coffee beans are roasted and ground into either a powder or granules, they are then either spray-dried (Nescafe Original; powdered) or freeze-dried. (Gold Blend; granules)
Nestle contend that the freeze drying process, which took them nine years to perfect, is the superior of the two methods, and allows more of the coffee’s natural aroma and flavour to be retained.
Again, this freeze-drying process is shrouded in secrecy, but I can only concur with them that the process certainly seems to work, as I far prefer Gold Blend to their “Original” Nescafe.
And when you consider that over 3,000 cups of Nescafe are drunk every SECOND around the world, you can see that there are big bucks involved in the manufacture and sale of instant coffee, so it is hardly surprising the recipes and processes are such closely guarded secrets.

~ ~ I’m not absolutely sure what my average daily intake of coffee would be, but hazarding a guess, I would say I usually have somewhere between 12 to 15 mugs.
If IR
17;m drinking Gold Blend instant, then I use two and a half teaspoons of coffee, three and a half teaspoons of sugar, and add milk.
I might add that this is WAY over the recommended daily intake of four to six cups of coffee a day, and as I also like it very strong, I probably take the equivalent of a couple of normal cups in each mug I brew. But a little of what you fancy does you good, and I certainly don’t feel any ill effects from it, and sleep like a baby every night.
If you are a heavy coffee drinker, and worry about the amount of caffeine you are ingesting, then you could always buy the “de-caffeinated” variety that Nestle also produce. I have a small jar of this in the kitchen press that came free on a special offer with their large 200 gram jar, but have to say that although it retains some of the flavour of the original Gold Blend, I certainly wouldn’t drink it on a regular basis, as it simply doesn’t “hit the spot” as far as I’m concerned.


~ ~ All that remains is to give you the cost.
You can buy Gold Blend practically anywhere from the supermarket to the local garage, and it comes in glass, screw top jars in two standard sizes, 100 gram and 200 gram.
In my local supermarket (Dunnes) it retails at €4.05 (£2.46 Sterling) for the 100 gram jar, and at €7.22 (£4.39 Sterling) for the larger 200 gram jar.
Keep your eyes open for special offers, which seem to run from time to time.
I got my small 22 gram jar of de-caffeinated Gold Blend this way. (you don’t think I’d actually buy it, do you?)
I’ve also seen offers where you get a free 22 gram (sometimes 50 gram) jar of their “Cap Colombie” coffee, and (very occasionally) a free 50 gram jar of Gold Blend itself.

~ ~ Since coffee has been drunk here in Europe ever since the Dutch first started to cultivate it on the island of Java in 1696, I don’t think coffee drinkin
g is a habit that is going to die out anytime soon.
And if it’s a good cup or mug of instant coffee that you like, then you could do much worse than try out this delicious instant coffee from Nestle.

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FOOTNOTE

In the 259 opinions I’ve written so far at dooyoo, (260 now) I was amazed to discover that this is my very first in the “Food and Drink” category. So this one is dedicated to my pal “jillmurphy”, my fellow Category Guide, who was so encouraging to me when I first started out here “way back when”, and who does the exact same thing today for newcomers to the site.

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