Keeping Coffee Simple - Nescafe Original (Nescafe Original)

Member Name: mattygroves10

Product:	Nescafe Original
Date:	18/07/05 (240 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Coffee flavoured . Hot, wet, stimulating

Disadvantages: Some may find it too 'middling' - either too bitter or not bitter enough

Remember the 'old days?' When instant coffee was a powder that looked and tasted of watery sludge? How times have changed.

Now, better instant coffee comes in granular form...and you can get instant coffee in numerous flavours (hazelnut, cappuccino...), with different levels of 'richness' (dark and rich, or golden and mellow).

However, here in my office in the armpit of London, we get Nescafé Original granules. A well known, middle of the road coffee.

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What This Op is NOT
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You will not find here a complete history of coffee, or a detailed description of the growing and preparation of coffee beans. What I'm hoping YOU, the consumer, want to know is how the stuff tastes, what it looks like, and what it costs. After all, you either drink coffee, or you don't - and if you do, you want to know whether to buy this stuff.

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How Matty drinks coffee
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Well...I carefully raise the cup to my lips, if I'm wearing white, I spill some, take a sip, burn my lip if the coffee is fresh, and grimace if I've let it go cold on my desk...

OK, that's not what I meant. I am not a coffee aficionado. I don't drool over Kenyan coffee, and am baffled by the bean choices when I go into Starbucks or the like. As long is it's hot, tasty, and not too bitter, I'm a happy woman.

I am not a coffee addict - if I drank as much coffee as Ken does, I'd be a jittering wreck, spending more time peeing than drinking or working. I drink around three cups of coffee in the morning. And that's it.

What you DO need to know is how I take my coffee. Hot, ideally. I can drink it black or white, but always with sugar - one generous spoonful or two sugar cubes. So what does this tell you? It tells you that I need to cut the bitterness of coffee a bit. This should help you understand what I am looking for, and what I base my opinion on.

OK, now that's out of the way, let's talk about Nescafé Original Soluble Coffee.

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Appearance - Packaging (and price)
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You can buy this stuff in all sorts of sizes - from the dinky little jars that people who don't drink coffee keep in their cupboard to serve to friends who do, right up to the econo-size tins that offices and catering companies buy. The jar I have in front of me is 300g - selling at Sainsbury's for £4.73. Downstairs, we have a 200g size, selling at Asda for £2.98 (Asda's website doesn't list the 300g size - Sainsbury's do the 200g for £2.99.).

Now, I'm sure the vast majority of you have seen a Nescafé jar before...but for the sake of thoroughness...it's glass. It's got a vaguely hourglass shape, though the 'taper' is about three inches from the top of the jar. There is a label on both front and back. On the front, it has the Nescafé Original logo, along with a mug of 'steaming' coffee - the mug is red with a gold band, and the mug sits on a picture of coffee beans. The 'steam' has obviously been drawn in.

On the back, there's some geezer listening to headphones, with a very silly look on his face. My question - the point? Anyway, it also tells you that you are 'GETTING MORE from the BEAN for a great FULL FLAVOUR.' Yeah, whatever. It's got the barcode, the website (www.nescafe.co.uk, if you're interested), the size, the freephone number (0800 00 00 30 - please, let me know if you've ever phoned any of the numbers - and why!). It also tells me that Nestle are 'Good Food Good Life'. Marketing speak. Again, whatever.

Look, skip all that. You'll recognise the jar because it says Nescafé on it. Nuff said. Too much said, really.

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Appearance - The Contents
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Well...it looks like instant coffee granules. Granules are coarser than powder. The granules are dark - darker than those in Gold Blend. Ummmm...that's it really. That's what it looks like.

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Appearance - The Coffee
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Once you've made your coffee (around one spoon of coffee per mug...pour hot water - I'm told it shouldn't be boiling, but who waits...stir well. Add milk and sugar to taste. Duh.), the appearance will vary depending on how strong you've made it and whether you add milk (Duh again).

At the moment, I am drinking the coffee black (because the milk's gone off). It looks...very dark brown. I make my coffee fairly strong, so it's really quite dark - not translucent in the cup.

C'mon guys, it looks like COFFEE! Do you really want to know what the cup looks like. Good, because I'm not going to tell you.

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AT LAST - the taste
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Nescafé original has a fairly strong, bitter (but not, to me, unpleasantly so) taste. Keep in mind, though, I add sugar.

It is not as smooth or mellow as Nescafé Gold Blend (Nescafé's more expensive, more golden stable mate). It is a stronger flavour.

It has a slight bittery/coffee aftertaste (although I did use water that had just come off the boil). Again, I don't find the aftertaste unpleasant, and it can be lessened with the addition of milk and sugar.

Does it taste like freshly brewed coffee? Don't be silly. No, it doesn't. It tastes of a quality instant coffee.

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The Verdict
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Do I like it? Yeah. It's OK. Like I said, I'm not fussy. I am currently on (now luke-warm) cup number three, and am, admittedly, badly in need of a you-know-what. I'm a wee bit jittery - but I do make coffee strong, and as I'm not a ten cup a day drinker, I don't have a high caffeine tolerance.

Would I recommend it? If you like instant coffee, sure. I mean, I don't enthuse over coffee in the same way I do, over books, say. But it's coffee.

When made properly, it's wet, it's hot, it's a stimulant, and it tastes like decent coffee. If you prefer a stronger or milder coffee, well, there are varieties out there for you. This is a mid-strength, mid-bitterness, mid-range coffee.

So, if you like coffee...try it, if you haven't already. You never know!


That's all folks...I REALLY have to go now!



Cheers,
Kate

Summary: Not fairly traded (it's Nescafe, after all) but otherwise a decent instant.