It may be Nescafe but it's rather good (so shoot me!) (Nescafe Parisien)

Member Name: cmh4135

Product:	Nescafe Parisien
Date:	13/02/09 (256 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An authentic tasting coffee

Disadvantages: Not fair trade and produced by Nestle

With few exceptions an instant coffee is easy to spot - the aroma and taste cry out that the cup in your hand is not full of freshly roasted and brewed coffee. There are, however, a few exceptions and in my opinion Nescafe's Cafe Parisien is one such.

Marketed as a product that will provide a French Cafe experience this instant from the Nestle stable is really rather good. The Arabica and Robusta beans produce a wonderfully rich, smooth and rounded coffee which, although in my opinion is a step too far from a cup of authentic French coffee, does at least taste like a freshly brewed coffee.

On making the aroma is rich and full and from the first cup reminded me of a decent filter coffee from the likes of Rombouts or Dowe Egberts. There are woody notes to the aroma. The taste is similarly rounded with a single teaspoon of coffee being more than adequate to make a decent sized mug of coffee. The taste is not thin like many instants and the finish is satisfyingly long, just as a decent filter coffee would be. The finish is slightly dry - again not unexpected.

You can undoubtedly taste the Arabica beans and the Robusta add a depth that will be apparent to those who know about these things - to most they will just provide a wonderfully authentic taste.

The granules dissolve on contact with hot water and I've had no issues with grounds being left to stir in.

There are, of course, issues with the coffee. Being produced by giant Nestle is enough to ensure that for some people. My issue with the coffee in particular is that it's not a sustainable coffee produced in a fair trade way. Nestle do offer a fair trade coffee (Partner Blend) and so, if that is an issue for you (and Nestle itself is not) then maybe look there.

The coffee is priced as a premium instant so expect to pay around £3 for 100g jar. I do actually think this offers value for money as, compared to other instants (including some of the more popular Nescafe blends such as Gold) this is good coffee.

If you like Dowe Egberts "Pure Gold" blend or filter blends such as Taylors "Lazy Sunday" then this might just be worth a try for you. It's not got the strength of an Illy coffee but then what instant has?!

Recommended.

Summary: A rather good instant coffee with dubious roots!