Instant Coffee – spill the beans.

Instant coffee from Woolworths and Pick n Pay.

Our taste test this week is instant coffee. It represents the bulk of coffee consumed – we all don’t grind our own.

The word coffee comes from the Arabic word Quawa (meaning wine of the bean). This became Kahve in Turkish, and the Dutch transported it to Europe as Koffie.

Our Taste Buddies assembled and sniffed and slurped their way through six of the big widely available brands.

The tasting was done blind, meaning that they had no idea which brand they were drinking. The coffees were drunk black, with no added sugar.

They were asked to score the coffees on aroma, taste and aftertaste. At the end of the day, the question was; Which one would you buy if you were to purchase instant coffee?

Coffee from Jacobs, Douwe Egberts and Nescafe.

The results were very clear and unambiguous.

The brands we tasted, and comments, were as follows.

Nescafe. 200g. R53.95. Good coffee and roasted bean nose with a bitter taste.

Douwe Egberts. 100g. R49.99.Freshly brewed ground bean aroma. Smooth mellow.

Woolworths Cafe Gold. 100g. R44.95. Weak aroma and a bitter, sour taste.

Pick n Pay.100g. R32.99.No noticeable nose and a bitter unpleasant taste.

Woolworths Rich Roast. 100g. R29.95. Roasted bean nose with weak taste.

Jacobs. 100g. R45.95. Bland nose and taste.

The number one choice, by a long shot, was Douwe Egberts. It was smooth and mellow with a strong rich taste delivery.