Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g
Barista blend is Grind's own phrase rather than a standard anyone issues, so the only fair test is whether the mug earns it. Mostly it does. The roast is rounded at both ends, with no sour top note and no drying tail on the second cup, and that missing tail separates a good soluble coffee from a poor one far more reliably than aroma ever does. What it will not do is match ground coffee for smell, and no instant does; that gap belongs to the format rather than to the blend. It is a small pack bought by the cup rather than by the week, for the mornings when setting up a cafetiere feels like more effort than the morning deserves. This is the caffeinated one.
Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, in brief.
Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee is the London roaster's soluble coffee in a 90g pack: a medium-roast house blend built to be drunk black without apology, low in bitterness and rounded rather than sharp. Smooth here describes the roast and the acidity, not the strength.
A kettle and a spoon is the whole equipment list, and the dose is the only strength dial you need.
Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee is a 90g pack of soluble coffee from the London coffee company that grew out of a Shoreditch cafe, and it is aimed at the person who wrote instant off years ago. Craft instant is a positioning phrase rather than a legal category, so it is worth being plain about what it claims: a soluble coffee built to be drunk black without apology, in a small premium pack rather than a household jar.
The word doing the real work on the front is smooth. In a coffee range, smooth describes the roast and the acidity rather than the strength, and it is the opposite end of the shelf from the dark, dry, bitter-forward instants that made people give up on the format. A barista blend is a house blend by another name: built to sit under milk as well as it drinks black, which is a harder brief than it sounds and the reason most cafe blends land in the middle rather than at either extreme.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Common questions are answered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
Instant has one advantage no other format can match, and it is worth saying out loud because it gets lost in the snobbery. You control the dose directly, by eye, with a spoon, one cup at a time. A cafetiere commits you to a pot. A machine commits you to whatever the pod or the group head was built for. A spoon commits you to nothing, which makes instant the most flexible coffee in the house and the only one where making it stronger is genuinely free.
What soluble coffee actually is
Every instant coffee starts as brewed coffee. Roasted beans are ground, extracted with hot water at industrial scale, and then the water is taken back out to leave a solid that dissolves again in your mug. The whole argument about instant quality sits in that last step, because how the water is removed decides how much aroma survives it.
There are two routes. Spray drying blows the concentrate through hot air and is fast and cheap, which is why it dominates the value shelf and why value instant smells of very little. Freeze drying takes the concentrate down below freezing and pulls the ice off as vapour under vacuum, which is gentler and keeps far more of the volatile aromatics, and it is why freeze-dried granules look like broken glass rather than round powder. Some brands also blend finely milled roasted coffee back into the granules for aroma.
What all of this means in practice is simple. Soluble coffee has already been brewed once, so nothing you do can extract more from it. Your only variables are how much you use, how hot the water is and what you put in afterwards. That is a much shorter list than any other coffee format, and it is why instant is either very easy or very disappointing with nothing in between.
How Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g compares
- Against a 190g supermarket jar: this is a smaller pack and it does not pretend otherwise. You are buying it for the cup rather than for the week.
- Against ground coffee in a cafetiere: a cafetiere gives you more body and more aroma, and takes a grinder, a kettle, four minutes and a wash-up. This takes a spoon. For one cup at a desk the instant is the honest answer, and for a slow Saturday pot it is not.
- Against a pod machine: pods make a better black coffee, and they need the machine, the descaling and the shelf space. Instant needs a kettle. If you are buying for a second kitchen, a caravan or an office drawer, this is the format that actually gets used.
Getting the best out of it
There is very little to get wrong here, but the two things that matter are both things people do without thinking: they pour water straight off a rolling boil, and they under-dose because a heaped spoon feels greedy.
The standard mug
Dose: A rounded 2g measure in a 200ml mug is the house starting point and gives roughly 45 mugs from this pack.
Water: Let the kettle stand for thirty seconds or so after it clicks off. Water straight off the boil scalds soluble coffee and flattens the aroma.
Order: Granules first, a splash of hot water to dissolve them properly, then the rest. It sounds fussy and it genuinely makes a smoother mug.
Milk: Add it after the coffee has dissolved, not before. Cold milk poured onto dry granules leaves you stirring lumps out.
The stronger cup
More granules, not less water: A heaped measure gives you a genuinely stronger cup. Shrinking the mug just gives you less coffee.
For milk drinks: Go up to a heaped measure before the milk goes in, or the milk will bury a smooth blend entirely.
Iced: Dissolve in a small amount of hot water first, then pour over a full glass of ice. Granules do not dissolve properly in cold water and you will taste the difference.
Practical notes on the pack
- Pack: 90g, which is a small premium pack rather than a household jar. At a 2g measure that is roughly 45 mugs.
- Storage: Cool, dry, dark and closed. Soluble coffee is hygroscopic, which is a long way of saying it pulls moisture out of the air and clumps.
- Dry spoon only: The single fastest way to ruin a pack of instant is a wet teaspoon. Damp granules cake and lose aroma quickly.
- No machine needed: A kettle and a mug. That is the whole equipment list, which is the point of the format.
Ingredients, allergens and storage
What is in it: Soluble coffee. The full declared ingredient list, the allergen statement and the nutrition panel are printed on the pack you receive, and that is the reference we point to rather than restating a formulation we cannot check.
Ingredients and dietary suitability: The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Certifications: any certification marks the blend carries are printed on the front of the pack in your hand.
Caffeine and sensitivity: Coffee is a stimulant. If you are sensitive to caffeine, pregnant, or following medical advice on your intake, treat this as you would any other caffeinated coffee and follow the guidance you have been given. A decaffeinated version of this same blend exists if you want the cup without the caffeine.
Keep out of reach of small children: and keep the pack closed between uses, both for the coffee's sake and for the obvious reason.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Grind
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
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
Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g has already been brewed once, so the builds below are about dose, water and what goes in afterwards rather than about extraction. Five serves, from the plain black mug to an iced build and a baking use that gets more out of a spoonful than any drink does.
Made with this tea
The Proper Black Mug
The cup this blend was built for, made the way that actually works.
- A rounded 2g measure of granules
- 200ml water, just off the boil
- A warmed mug
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for about thirty seconds.
- Put the granules in the mug first, on their own.
- Add a splash of the hot water and stir to a smooth paste.
- Fill the mug and stir once more. Drink it while the aroma is still there.
What you'll end up with: A clean, rounded black coffee with no grit and no scalded edge, which is most of what people mean when they say good instant.
The Flat White Style Mug
What a barista blend is actually for: a milk drink that still tastes of coffee.
- A heaped measure of granules
- 50ml hot water
- 150ml hot milk, or an oat drink
- Dissolve the heaped measure in 50ml of hot water and stir it smooth.
- Heat the milk until steaming but not boiling.
- Froth it with a hand whisk or a jar and a lid if you want texture.
- Pour the milk into the concentrate rather than the other way round.
What you'll end up with: A milk coffee where the coffee still shows through, which a level spoon will not give you.
The Iced Coffee That Is Not Gritty
The one rule that separates a good iced instant from a bad one.
- A heaped measure of granules
- 60ml hot water
- A glass filled to the top with ice
- Cold milk, optional
- Dissolve the granules in the hot water completely. Never stir them into cold.
- Fill a tall glass right to the top with ice, more than looks sensible.
- Pour the hot concentrate straight over the ice.
- Top with cold milk or water and stir once.
What you'll end up with: A cold coffee that is properly dissolved and properly cold, rather than a lukewarm one full of specks.
The Whipped Coffee
Three ingredients, a whisk, and the one trick instant can do that ground coffee cannot.
- 2 heaped measures of granules
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- Cold milk to fill
- Whisk the granules, sugar and hot water in a bowl, hard.
- Keep going until it turns pale and holds soft peaks, three or four minutes by hand.
- Fill a glass with cold milk and ice.
- Spoon the whipped coffee on top and let it sink as you drink.
What you'll end up with: A thick coffee foam over cold milk. It only works with soluble coffee, which is worth knowing.
Coffee For Baking
Concentrated coffee flavour with almost no extra liquid, which is the whole problem with using brewed coffee in a cake.
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of granules
- 1 tablespoon boiling water
- Your cake, ganache or tiramisu soak
- Dissolve the granules in one tablespoon of boiling water.
- Stir until completely smooth with no specks left.
- Add it to the batter, the ganache or the soaking syrup.
- Taste before adding more. Coffee deepens chocolate long before it tastes of coffee.
What you'll end up with: Real coffee depth in a bake without the extra liquid that wrecks a sponge.
Brewing the perfect cup
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Soluble coffee | The whole pack | Coffee that has been brewed, concentrated and dried back to a solid. Everything you taste comes from the bean selection, the roast and how gently the water was removed. |
| Roast level | Medium | Medium rather than dark is what keeps the cup rounded instead of dry, and it is why this one takes milk without turning thin or sour. |
| Water (added by you) | The bulk of the finished mug | About 200ml a mug at just off the boil. Temperature is one of only three variables you control with a soluble coffee, and the easiest one to get wrong. |
| Full declared ingredients | Printed on the pack | The pack you receive carries the complete ingredient list, the allergen declaration and the nutrition panel. We have not restated a formulation we cannot check against your pack. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredients, as published for this product: Arabica Instant Coffee, Arabica Ground Coffee (15%).
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g; GTIN 5060574956818; 90g of soluble coffee, roughly 45 mugs at a rounded 2g measure in a 200ml cup. Caffeinated. Best before date printed on the pack.
The 45-mug figure is our own calculation at a stated 2g dose, not a claim printed on the pack, and a heaped spoon will get you nearer 30. Nutrition figures for black soluble coffee are negligible before anything is added; milk, sugar and syrup are what change the panel, and the numbers on your pack are the ones to use.
Sourcing & blend. Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g comes from a London coffee business that grew out of a cafe rather than out of a grocery brand, and the blend name gives away the brief: a barista blend is a house blend, built to work black and to survive milk, which is a harder specification than a coffee aimed at only one of those. Grind does not publish an origin split for this blend in a form we can verify, so the blend statement on the current UK pack is the reference rather than anything we could tell you here. What we can say about the format is general and useful: all soluble coffee is brewed at scale and then dried, and the drying route decides how much aroma survives, which is the single biggest difference between an instant that smells of coffee and one that smells of nothing. For the certifications carried by the pack in your hand, read the current pack rather than a description written earlier.
What is in Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g, and what is not:
- In: soluble coffee, as a medium-roast blend aimed at drinking black or with milk.
- No added flavouring: this is a plain coffee, not a flavoured or sweetened one, so nothing has been added to steer the cup.
- No artificial sweetener, no sugar added by us: anything sweet in the mug is something you put there.
- Certification note: we make no organic, Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance claim for this blend. Any marks it carries are printed on the front of the pack.
- Storage note: keep it closed and use a dry spoon. Soluble coffee takes moisture out of the air and clumps, and a damp pack goes stale quickly.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Grind Smooth Barista Blend Craft Instant Coffee, 90g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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