Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g
Pure Gold is the fixed point that British instant coffee gets measured against. When somebody says instant is good enough, this is usually the mug they are picturing, and the reason is not the roast but the repetition: a jar opened in March tastes like the one opened last October. That sounds like a small thing until a cheaper jar has caught you out. Warm and gently nutty, roasted sweetness rather than sugar, bitterness kept deliberately low, and a finish that clears the palate instead of sitting on it. That last part is what suits a working morning, when a mug gets drunk slowly over half an hour between other jobs and a heavier, longer coffee would go stale in the cup. What it will never do is reward attention. Sit down and concentrate on it and there is no second layer waiting underneath. Drinkers who start caring about coffee move past this jar for exactly that reason. Most of us are not drinking it for that. We are drinking it at ten past seven with a slice of toast.
Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, in brief.
Douwe Egberts Pure Gold is the smooth medium-roast jar at the centre of the Douwe Egberts instant range, low in bitterness with a clean, soft finish, picked into the teas.co.uk selection as the safe premium instant, the one you can put in front of anyone without asking how they take it.
A 190g jar, around 95 mugs at a rounded teaspoon each, which is close to three months for a one-a-day drinker. Takes milk without disappearing under it, and needs less sugar than most people expect.
Douwe Egberts Pure Gold is the jar that sits in more British kitchens than almost any other premium instant, and it has earned that position by being unremarkable in the best sense. It is smooth, medium in weight, low in bitterness and reliably the same from one jar to the next. Nobody buys Pure Gold to be surprised by it. They buy it because the mug they made this morning tastes like the mug they made a year ago.
Douwe Egberts is a Dutch coffee house with a long trading history, and its instant range in the UK is built around this jar. Pure Gold sits in the middle of that range, rounder than a supermarket own label but gentler than its darker sibling, Pure Indulgence. If you take your coffee with milk and one, or you are making a mug for someone whose taste you do not know, this is the safe jar and we mean that as a compliment. A 190g jar gives you roughly 95 mugs at a rounded teaspoon each, which is the best part of three months for a one-a-day drinker.
Curator notes: these tasting notes are ours, checked against the Pure Gold jar as it is sold today and Douwe Egberts' published description. Pure Gold is a 1 to 2 working day dispatch for us, as a rule. For storage, freshness and the right water temperature, see the questions and answers below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Douwe Egberts
Douwe Egberts began as a Dutch grocer's shop in the eighteenth century and grew into one of Europe's best-known coffee houses; it now sits inside the Jacobs Douwe Egberts group. In Britain the name arrived on the instant shelf rather than through cafes, which is why Pure Gold is recognised by sight in households that could not name a single coffee origin. The roast description and the brand's own strength number are printed on the current jar. Read those from the pack rather than from a listing, because ranges are reformulated and renumbered from time to time.
Packaging: Before the empty Pure Gold jar goes out, check the current UK label and your council: jar, lid and seal can take different routes.
Coffee, Waste And The Jar
One clear point in favour of the jar over everything else in the coffee aisle: dose. A mug of instant takes around two grams of coffee, where a cafetiere mug takes seven to nine and a capsule wraps five or six grams in packaging you bin every time. There are no wet grounds, no paper filter and no capsule to sort. That does not make instant better coffee than a fresh grind, and we are not going to claim it does. It does make it the lower-waste option for the mugs you make without thinking, which in most houses is the majority of them.
Getting The Most Out Of Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g
- Water temperature: 90 to 95°C. Never straight off the boil.
- Measure: Each 200ml mug of Pure Gold wants one rounded teaspoon, about 2g. A 190g jar works out at around 95 mugs at that rate.
- Stir: Paste first, then fill. Ten seconds of effort for a noticeably better cup.
- Milk: Takes it well, which is the point of this jar. Double the dose if half the mug is milk.
- Storage: Lid on tight, in a cupboard, and a dry spoon every time. Steam is what turns a jar into a solid block.
- Caffeine note: Ordinary caffeinated coffee. For the same drink in the evening, buy the Pure Decaf jar instead.
- Best with: Buttered toast, a shortbread finger, or a biscuit that needs something gentle beside it.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Douwe Egberts
Packaging: Your council's rules and the current UK label decide where the jar, lid and seal each go.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
The one mistake that ruins a good jar of instant coffeeis water poured the second the kettle reaches a rolling boil. Soluble coffee has already been brewed and dried; boiling water extracts nothing extra and simply scorches the aroma, which is where the flat, papery taste people associate with instant actually comes from. Let the kettle stand for thirty to sixty seconds. It costs you nothing and it is the single biggest improvement available to anyone drinking from a jar.
The Everyday Milk And One
The Big Mug Build
Made with this tea
The Everyday Mug, Done Properly
How to make The Everyday Mug, Done Properly with Douwe Egberts Pure Gold.
- 1 rounded teaspoon Pure Gold
- 200ml water, off the boil
- A splash of milk
- Sugar to taste, if you take it
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for 30 to 60 seconds before you pour.
- Spoon one rounded teaspoon of Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g into the mug with a splash of hot water.
- Stir to a paste, then fill to 200ml and add your milk.
- Try half your usual sugar the first time. This jar needs less than most.
What you'll end up with: The same mug you always make, minus the scorched edge and the gritty last mouthful. Two changes, thirty seconds, noticeably better.
Cafe-Style Milky Coffee
How to make Cafe-Style Milky Coffee with Douwe Egberts Pure Gold.
- 2 level teaspoons Pure Gold
- 100ml water, off the boil
- 180ml whole milk
- A dusting of cocoa, optional
- Double the dose to two level teaspoons, because milk dilutes flavour as well as colour.
- Dissolve in 100ml of hot water, paste first.
- Heat 180ml of milk to steaming, not boiling, and froth it with a hand whisk.
- Pour in, spoon the foam over and dust with cocoa if you want the full effect.
What you'll end up with: A large, milky mug where the coffee is still there in the last inch. Single-dosing a half-milk mug is why homemade milky coffee so often tastes of warm milk.
Iced Coffee Without the Dilution
How to make Iced Coffee Without the Dilution with Douwe Egberts Pure Gold.
- 2 teaspoons Pure Gold
- 80ml hot water
- 150ml cold milk or water
- A tall glass of ice
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons into 80ml of hot water, stirred until the liquid runs completely clear.
- Cool for five minutes, or melt a single ice cube into it.
- Pour over a tall glass packed with ice.
- Top with 150ml of cold milk or cold water and stir once.
What you'll end up with: Iced coffee that tastes of coffee. Hot coffee poured straight onto ice melts half of it before you get to the glass, which is the whole problem.
Whipped Coffee (Dalgona)
How to make Whipped Coffee (Dalgona) with Douwe Egberts Pure Gold.
- 1 tablespoon Pure Gold
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 200ml cold milk
- Ice
- Combine equal parts coffee, sugar and hot water, one tablespoon of each, in a bowl.
- Whisk hard for three to five minutes by hand, or one minute with electric beaters, until pale and holding soft peaks.
- Fill a tall glass with ice before pouring in 200ml of cold milk.
- Spoon the whipped coffee over the milk and stir it in as you go.
What you'll end up with: A thick coffee foam over cold milk. Ground coffee will not do this at all; it is the one drink only a jar can make.
Coffee Buttercream for a Walnut Cake
How to make Coffee Buttercream for a Walnut Cake with Douwe Egberts Pure Gold.
- 2 teaspoons Pure Gold
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 150g soft butter
- 300g icing sugar
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons of Pure Gold in 1 tablespoon of hot water, and allow it to go completely cold.
- Beat 150g of soft butter until pale, then work in 300g of icing sugar a third at a time.
- Add the cooled coffee a teaspoon at a time, beating between additions so it does not split.
- Taste and add more of the coffee mixture if you want it darker.
What you'll end up with: Proper coffee flavour without loosening the buttercream. Brewed coffee would add too much liquid; a strong instant concentrate adds none to speak of.
Coffee Marinade for a Sunday Joint
How to make Coffee Marinade for a Sunday Joint with Douwe Egberts Pure Gold.
- 3 teaspoons Pure Gold
- 150ml hot water
- 3 tablespoons soft brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Dissolve 3 teaspoons of coffee in 150ml of hot water with 3 tablespoons of soft brown sugar.
- Stir in the soy sauce and crushed garlic, then cool completely.
- Pour over brisket, pork shoulder or a tray of thick mushrooms and refrigerate overnight.
- Roast low and slow, basting with the marinade as it reduces.
What you'll end up with: A dark savoury depth that reads as roasted rather than as coffee. A medium jar is right here; a dark roast can turn bitter over a long cook.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Soluble coffee | 100% | The whole of the jar. Roasted coffee is brewed and then dried back to granules, so what you spoon out is coffee and nothing else. |
| Bean blend | See current pack | The arabica and robusta balance sets the weight and the bitterness of the cup. It is declared on the jar and we do not restate it here, because blends are reformulated from time to time. |
| Roast level | Medium | The smooth middle of the Pure range. Warm colour in the cup, gentle depth, and the low bitterness this jar is known for. |
| Added sugar, flavouring or milk powder | None | A plain coffee jar, not a latte or cappuccino mix. Sweetness and milk only arrive in the mug when you add them. |
Pack: Pure Gold comes as 190g of caffeinated soluble coffee in a single jar. Expect about 95 mugs from the jar, giving each a rounded 2g teaspoon. Look on the Pure Gold jar for its best before date.
Characterising components shown. Black, at 2g a mug, Pure Gold contributes only a negligible number of calories; the granules contain no sugar, fat or dairy, and what you add on top is for you to count.
Sourcing & blend. Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g comes from Douwe Egberts, the Dutch coffee house that grew out of an eighteenth-century grocer's shop and now sits inside the Jacobs Douwe Egberts group. Green coffee is bought to a fixed specification, roasted, brewed and dried to granules, then cup tested batch to batch, which is why this jar has a reputation for tasting the same every time. Country of origin for the beans, and any certification mark such as Rainforest Alliance, appear on the current UK pack; read the jar rather than a listing, because sourcing programmes and pack claims are updated more often than product pages are.
What is in Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g, and what is not:
- In: soluble coffee, granulated, medium roast, with nothing else in the jar.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: there is no sweetener and no flavouring in a plain instant jar of this kind.
- No dairy in the jar: it is plain coffee, not a latte or cappuccino sachet, so any milk comes from your fridge.
- Caffeinated: ordinary caffeinated coffee. For the same drink in the evening, the Pure Decaf jar is the one to buy.
Asked about this product
Ask the curator
Send a product question through the contact form; replies usually come within one working day.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g, please cite teas.co.uk.
What buyers say
No customer reviews of Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant Coffee, 190g yet.
Bought this from us? Log in to your account, then come back to this page to review it. Only verified buyers can review, and every review is checked before it appears; approved reviews earn 50 reward points.
More from Douwe Egberts
Other Coffee worth comparing
