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tl;dr: Mount Hagen instant coffee (in the 3.53oz container) is so far the best instant coffee I've tried, followed by Illy. Nothing else comes close.

In a shocking conclusion to this taste test series, I actually use decaf Mount Hagen almost daily to supplement teas (to give them a richer, deeper flavor). Also, I did a taste test against a local diner, and it was significantly less bitter and more flavorful than their coffee.

Rules and Background

• Each coffee is made with 1 teaspoon of crystals and 6oz (3/4 cup) of boiled water.
• I use a spoon to sip from to get an initial flavor profile, and taste each coffee multiple times.
• All coffees are bought on Amazon unless otherwise noted, and are listed with the net weight, cost, and estimated number of servings.
• Coffees are not sold in single-use packets, and cost significantly less than a dollar per serving. This is for daily use, not coffee snobs who travel.

For a much better overview of instant coffees, check out James Hoffman's video: Supermarket Instant Coffee - Which One Tastes Best? - YouTube

To my understanding, there are two main methods of preservation; Spray-Dried and Freeze-Dried.^[1]

• Spray-drying sprays a liquid concentrate of coffee into a hot and dry container where the liquid almost instantly evaporates and you're left with a crystallized powder.
• Freeze-drying puts a liquid concentrate of coffee in a vacuum (to lower the boiling point of water) and then drops the temperature well below freezing, creating little chips of coffee concentrate.

Wirecutter Update

I found this article from Wirecutter about the best instant coffees of 2024, but it mostly didn't make the cut because of the absurd cost per serving ($2-4 per serving for most of their choices).

However, I did find another coffee I want to try, the Mount Hagen 3.53oz instant coffee container (a very reasonable $0.20-0.30 per serving), and I just ordered it to try soon. However, the article also had these gem descriptions of some of the coffee I tried.

Thoughts on storage

The request from Illy to consume my coffee within 30 days of opening has given me pause for thought. I live in a fairly humid place, and have lived in dry places with swamp coolers, and recognize that many of the containers are decidedly not airtight.

Therefore, I think the best thing is to store opened coffee in airtight containers and use "rechargeable" silica desiccant^[2] to keep the coffee crystals dry and fresh. Allrecipes^[3] says that using a non-absorbent, opaque container like ceramic or metal is the optimal choice, and there are a ton of options you can buy for cheap if you don't have something to hand.

Tasting Results - Batch 1

• After tasting the first batch, I realized that I used tablespoons to measure the crystal dose and not teaspoons; oops!
  • I retested with 1tsp and added another line to each discussing my thoughts at 1tsp vs 1tbs

1. Folgers Classic - 8oz, $6.49, about 120 servings
   1. Spray-dried
   2. Distinctly unpleasant to drink; I did a spit take with my first sip
   3. Kind of a weird, froggy^[4] taste, unlike any other coffee I've had
   4. Does not taste like coffee, and while I think I need to keep drinking it to identify the flavors more, I do not want to.
   5. Like a weird, humid, musty swamp drink
   6. 1tsp; still very bad, no hesitation pouring it down the sink.
2. Nescafe Clasico - 10.5 oz, $9.98, about 150 servings
   1. Spray-dried
   2. Drinkable, some remnants of the mustiness from the Folger's but much more subdued
   3. Recognizable as coffee, but still not great
   4. Very little acidity, no bitterness, just kind of a warm beverage with slight mugginess reminiscent of the Folgers
   5. Not super pleasant, but is adjacent to/slightly worse than average diner coffee
      1. Much better than bad diner coffees I've had which taste like cigarettes.
   6. 1tsp: much more drinkable, more pleasant
3. Illy - 3.3 oz, $12.00, about 30 to 60 servings
   1. Freeze-dried
      1. Illy does not have an advertised number of servings on the tin; however, it suggests finishing the container within 30 days. Therefore, I think they are planning on you consuming 30 cups of it, which is roughly two teaspoons of concentrate per 6 oz of water (and lines up with their instructions to "add 1 to 2 tsp to 6 oz of water").
   2. Definitely the best of the bunch
   3. Tastes like coffee with a mild acidity that brightens the drink
   4. It's relatively pleasant, with none of the frogginess of the earlier drinks
   5. I could easily forget this is instant coffee and believe it was brewed
   6. In practice, I might try adding a second tablespoon to make it stronger.
   7. 1tsp: a bit watery for my coffee palette. I wanted more coffee flavor at 1tbs, not less, but it's so drinkable at this level I don't even care. Would be happy to serve to anyone except coffee snobs.

Tasting Results - Batch 2

• For the second batch, I decided to use weight instead of teaspoons; I divided the total weight of the contents by the advertised number of doses, and used that as the target weight per serving.
  • I treated the Illy like it was 60 servings to keep the proportions the same, even though I think 30 servings is the the intended consumption rate.

1. Illy
   1. Freeze-dried
   2. Tasted again here to use as a baseline, and because it is also freeze-dried
   3. Similar to my notes from before; no funkiness, wish it was a little stronger.
2. Nescafe Tasters Choice - House Blend; 7oz, $10, about 105 servings
   1. Purchased from Foodmaxx
   2. Freeze-dried
   3. Pretty close to the Illy; a little of that Funkines, but pretty lowkey otherwise.
   4. I would pretty readily drink this at a friends house or on the go.
   5. Lacks some of the acidity of the Illy, and the funkiness detracts, but still very good.
3. Nescafe Tasters Choice - French Roast; 7oz, $10, about 105 servings
   1. Purchased from Foodmaxx
   2. Freeze-dried
   3. Not super pleasant- over extracted and bitter with unpleasant flavors
   4. More funkiness than the house blend; I'm glad it was made with only a teaspoon of concentrate and not a tablespoon.
   5. Better than Folgers, but worse than the TC House Blend. Same price as the House Blend, so I would go with that instead.

Mount Hagen Test

• I used 0.11oz (about 2 tsp) of instant coffee and 6.1 oz of water, because both said "1-2 tsp for taste", and so I wanted to play to both of their strengths.
  • Even though Mount Hagen says about 50 servings and did not have the same "30-day" warning that Illy had, I would assume something similar.

1. Illy
   1. Freeze-dried
   2. Having put some distance between this and the other tests, I don't really like it, which really puts into perspective how bad the other instants were for me to gush over how good this was.
   3. It's also been a few days, so maybe the issue is that it's gone a little stale? I kind of doubt it, but I'm not sure.
2. Mount Hagen 3.53oz Organic Freeze Dried Instant Coffee; 3.53oz, $15, about 50 servings
   1. Freeze-dried
      1. Also, 3.53oz comes out to 100 grams, so that's why the weight is weirdly specific.
   2. It's good; not too bitter, very drinkable, a little of that instant coffee flavor that I don't think you will be able to avoid.
   3. Less of the funkiness than the Illy, which is great considering they're in the same price-bracket
   4. Hands down the best instant coffee I've had so far, and honestly it's decent coffee.
   5. I don't have that residual, vague, indefinable hesitance to consuming more. No pit on my stomach. It's good and I'll have it with the rest of my breakfast.