Instant coffee has long had a reputation for convenience over quality. Just add water to tinned powder and there you have it: subpar caffeination. However, recent years have brought about an instant coffee renaissance.
Modern brands are revitalizing the instant coffee market with innovative ideas, from Chamberlain Coffee’s single-serve coffee bags to NoNormal’s tube of coffee paste. Even multinational brands are looking beyond the granule. Nescafé has an espresso concentrate, and Whole Foods offers steeped coffee in a variety of roasts.
Whether you’re on the road, traveling, or simply don’t have the desire to invest in an at-home coffee set up, instant coffee can be an alternative to the ever-rising cost of a stop at a cafe.
But how does any of it taste? We recruited 84 testers to try 24 kinds of instant coffee in a blind taste test and help us find the best ones.
This story is part of the Filter US, the Guardian’s new home for product testing and recommendations. Click here for more reviews.
All prices current at time of publication.
Why you should trust us
For this blind taste test, the Guardian partnered with us, the Drexel Food Lab, based at Drexel University in Philadelphia, to share our findings on instant coffee. Drexel Food Lab students and faculty mentors handle everything from new food product development to sensory analysis, which entails rating consumer goods on texture, taste and smell. As a lab full of avid coffee drinkers, we were excited to delve into fresh options for instant coffee.
How we tested
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After researching instant coffee brands based on their prominence, availability and consumer interest, we ordered 24 samples, which we paid for.
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We separated the samples into categories: steeped and coffee bags, freeze-dried and powder, concentrates, and miscellaneous (like coffee paste). After sampling them among ourselves, we recruited 84 taste testers from our lab, other Drexel departments, and even off the street, where we set up a coffee tasting station.
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We made sure to prepare each sample according to the package directions, served them all hot and black, and marked them only with a number, so testers saw no packaging or branding. We limited each tester to no more than five samples to avoid “palate fatigue,” which makes it difficult to distinguish between similar tastes after trying too many, and provided unsalted crackers and water available to help cleanse the palate.
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Testers filled out a survey for each sample, and at the end of each set, had to pick a favorite. We then compared the top instant coffees against each other to find the best of the best.
Products we tested
Café Bustelo Espresso Instant Coffee | NoNormal Outdoor Coffee Dark Roast | Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate | Mount Hagen Organic Fairtrade Instant Coffee | Waka Premium Instant Coffee Medium Roast | Stumptown Cold Brew Concentrate | Whole Foods Organic Steeped Coffee Dark Roast Coffee Bags | Café Grumpy Instant Coffee Heartbreaker Blend | Nescafé Espresso Concentrate Black | Illy Intenso Bold Roast | Purity Coffee Flow | Trader Joe’s 100% Colombian Instant Coffee | Death Wish Coffee Co Instant Dark Roast | Folgers Classic Roast Instant Coffee Crystals | Chamberlain Coffee Careless Cat Medium Roast Blend | Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast | Verve Coffee Roasters Streetlevel | Chamberlain Coffee Family Medium Roast Blend | Nescafé Gold Espresso Blonde | Verve Coffee Roasters Daybreaker | Chamberlain Coffee Social Dog Medium Roast Blend | 365 Instant Coffee Vienna Roast | Verve Coffee Roasters Aster | Chamberlain Coffee Early Bird Light Roast Blend
The best instant coffees in 2025
Best overall instant coffee: Illy Intenso Bold Roast
Illy Intenso Bold Roast is a powdered coffee advertised as a cold-processed dark roast. The large granules dissolve quickly in hot or cold water.
Why we love it
Illy had high ranks across the board, including texture, acidity, coffee flavor and bitterness. Comments included “bold, full-bodied”, “fruity” and “bitterness is JUST right”. While many other brands received complaints about their aftertaste, Illy’s was consistently ranked as pleasant or neutral. Illy ranked neck and neck with Café Bustelo in testing for an overall favorite, but ultimately testers stated they were more likely to purchase Illy over Café Bustelo.
As we found with most of the coffees we tested, though, testers wanted a stronger concentration. Illy doesn’t specify a ratio of water to coffee, so we used the same ratios we did for the other products in the category. We found that 2 teaspoons of granules in 4oz (118 milliliters) of water offers a darker espresso flavor, while 6oz of water better approximates drip coffee.
$13.49 at Walmart
$13.49 at Illy
$13.49 at Amazon
Best of the steeped coffee bag
Whole Foods Organic Steeped Coffee Dark Roast
Whole Foods Market’s single-serve steep bags offer two varieties: medium and dark roast.
What is steeped coffee?
Steeped coffee comes in single-serve filter bags, reminiscent of teabags. You brew them the same way: pour hot water over the filter bag and steep for about five minutes, or 12 hours if you’re making cold brew. You can also increase the steeping time for a more robust flavor.
Why we love it
Whole Foods Market Organic Dark Roast brewed up a win in the steeped coffee category, beating out Purity, and multiple roasts of Chamberlain Coffee’s variety pack single-served coffee bags, among others.
Consumers commented on the rich flavor and balanced acidity, praising its “depth” and “bold finish”. In fact, it was the only coffee we tested that 100% of the testers marked as having the perfect amount of acidity. A few noted that the mouthfeel was a bit thick and the aftertaste had mixed reviews; however, it still emerged as the favorite. Out of all the bags we tried, testers ranked this one the option they would most likely purchase.
The concentration was also notable: it was one of the few coffees that testers didn’t complain about when prepared according to the box. Notes of fudge and molasses came through, just as advertised.
$10.48 at Whole Foods Market
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Best powdered coffee: Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast
Starbucks sells a variety of instant coffees ranging from light to dark roasts, along with some choice flavor options.
What is powdered coffee?
Powdered coffee comes in two variants. Freeze-dried coffee is made by freezing coffee concentrate and then putting it through a vacuum chamber, which sucks out the moisture, leaving large, light, granules. Spray-dried coffee is made by misting coffee concentrate into hot air, leaving a dried powder.
Why we love it
Overall, the freeze-dried coffees were the least loved among the taste testers, who found their aroma and aftertastes off-putting, especially the avid coffee drinkers. The Starbucks medium roast, however, mitigates the aftertaste issue, with testers praising its “good aftertaste” and most testers delivering a neutral rating. It also came in with higher ratings on concentration, mouthfeel, and acidity. Its pleasant texture and “richer flavor” gave it an edge among the competitors. As one tester put it, Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast was the “best of the worst, but not too bad”.
$9.99 at Giant
$8.97 at Walmart
Best concentrate: NoNormal Outdoor Coffee
NoNormal Outdoor Coffee is a unique dark roast coffee paste that comes in a squeeze tube. The Swiss company advertises it as a convenient way to get your caffeine fix on outdoor adventures, since only a teaspoon is needed for a cup of coffee, and a toothpaste-sized tube holds about 20 servings.
What is coffee concentrate?
Coffee concentrate is typically condensed coffee that comes in smaller bottles of potent liquid, which you can add water or milk to dilute to a desired consistency. We included NoNormal’s coffee paste because it’s really the same concept.
Why we love it
NoNormal’s standout paste was the most distinctive product we tried. It has a smooth texture and “semi-sweet undertones” from the addition of beet sugar. While other coffee concentrates were criticized for being too sour, 83% of our taste testers praised NoNormal for having a good level of acidity and the most pleasant aftertaste.
We are excited to see what is next with this brand – a sugar-free paste option is currently listed for preorder. With easy-to-carry tube packaging, NoNormal was designed to be taken on the go and can be easily tossed in your suitcase. Who needs toothpaste when you can have NoNormal?
$14.99 at Amazon
$16.90 at NoNormal
The best of the rest
Best value: Café Bustelo Instant Coffee
Café Bustelo was the runner-up when tested against other traditional instant coffee powders, but we think it deserves the crown for best value. Even in its instant form, it delivers the bold flavor the company is known for. For under $8 a jar, the price is hard to beat. You don’t have to spend big to get a satisfying cup.
$7.92 at Walmart
$8.99 at Safeway
Staff favorite: Chamberlain Coffee The Family Medium Roast Blend
We ordered the variety pack from Chamberlain Coffee, which is certified organic, to see how its coffees compared against other premium brands. And our team loved them. The most-liked in the pack was the Family Medium Roast Blend, which also did well in our taste tests, thanks to its alluring acidic notes. Our main complaint? We could not purchase the Family Medium Roast Blend on the company’s website except as part of the variety pack, so we decided to exclude it from our final round of testing.
$20 at Chamberlain Coffee
Why people hate instant coffee
Among the least-liked instant coffee brands, we saw some common themes across the comments. Light concentration, bitter aftertaste, “chemical-like”, “muddy” and “weak coffee flavor” were frequent complaints. Sediment, sourness and “ash-tray” or “stale cigarette” flavors were also noted. These flavors could arise due to the beans used, storage or the type of processing. Steeped coffee had notably fewer critiques in this vein, probably because it is less processed than the powdered brands.
How to prepare instant coffee
One of the perks of at-home coffee brewing and instant coffee is the ability to adjust the concoction to your liking, but that freedom can also prompt questions. The sample preparation instructions varied during our testing: some brands provided specific measurements, water temperature, and steeping time, while others suggested a vague “1-2 teaspoons with hot water”. This kind of instruction can make creating the perfect cup tricky and result in a waste of product.
Our take: try a variety and taste them as we did – black and prepared per the package directions. You can then adjust the water ratio and find the perfect balance. Our associate director likes 2 teaspoons of Illy Intenso to 4oz of water, the perfect sludgy texture to start her day.
The Drexel Food Lab is a food product design and culinary innovation lab that applies culinary arts and science to improve the health of people, the planet and economies. It is a faculty-mentored, interdisciplinary food product design and culinary innovation research lab whose staff has written for various publications around the world.
The lab maintains a client list from startups through multinationals and is funded through philanthropic support, government and foundation research grants and contracts, and industry consulting projects. It is housed in the culinary arts and science program, but is open to any Drexel students who want to learn about food product development. The team brings unique and extensive experience to every project and engagement.
