Kenco Smooth Instant Coffee, 95g
Sugar behaves differently in a jar like this. In a dark, bitter coffee a spoonful balances something; here there is nothing to balance, so it does not round the cup off, it changes what the cup is. Worth knowing before you sweeten out of habit. Taken black or with a splash it is soft, pale and short, and that is the whole proposition. Said plainly because the word catches people out every week: smooth describes the flavour, not the caffeine. This is caffeinated coffee.
Kenco Smooth Instant Coffee, in brief.
Kenco Smooth Instant Coffee in the 95g jar is the mild half of the Smooth and Rich pair, in the small size. Low bitterness, a soft rounded middle and a short clean finish, built to be drunk black by people who find ordinary instant coffee too sharp.
One thing worth knowing: Smooth describes the flavour, not the caffeine. This is a normally caffeinated jar, and if you want decaffeinated you need a jar that says so on the front.
Rest the kettle rather than pouring on the boil, paste the granules first, and keep the milk to a splash.
Smooth describes the flavour, not the caffeine. This is a normally caffeinated coffee. A great many people pick up a jar labelled Smooth or Mild expecting something gentler in that sense, and there is nothing on the shelf edge to correct them. If you want decaffeinated, buy a jar that says decaffeinated on the front.
What Smooth actually means here is a deliberate reduction in the sharp edges. Bitterness and the dry grip at the back of a cup come from compounds that build as beans are roasted further, and a blend pitched at mildness keeps that development shorter. The consequence is a cup that is easy from the first sip and stays easy through the third, with the trade being that there is not a great deal of it in reserve. Taken black it is pleasant and undemanding. Given a generous pour of milk it will disappear, and the Rich jar beside it exists for exactly that reason.
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.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Kenco
Kenco is a long-established British coffee name, now part of the Jacobs Douwe Egberts house, and its instant range is organised around a single honest question rather than a wall of adjectives: do you want it smooth or do you want it rich. Two jars, one mild and one fuller, and nothing in between to muddle the decision. That is a more useful shelf structure than a dozen near-identical names, because the one thing most people can predict about their own taste is whether they find ordinary instant coffee too sharp.
The bean composition, the roast description, any certification marks and the nutrition panel are printed on the jar you receive. Soluble blends are reformulated from time to time, so read the label in front of you rather than a listing written earlier.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; jar, lid and seal can require different disposal routes.
Why A 95g Jar Rather Than The Big One
If two people are drinking it every day, the larger 190g jar is the one to have. But instant coffee does not spoil so much as go flat, and it goes flat faster once the jar is open. Granules are hygroscopic: every time the lid comes off they pull moisture out of the air, and moisture is what clumps a jar and dulls it long before the date on the label.
So the small jar has a real job. It suits a household with one occasional coffee drinker, a second jar kept at work, a caravan, a holiday let, or simply trying the Smooth side of the range before committing to a big one. Buy for the rate you actually drink it, because a jar going stale in a cupboard is not value.
Getting The Most Out Of Kenco Smooth, 95g
- Water temperature: 90 to 95°C. A mild jar leans on aroma, and boiling water is how you lose it.
- Stir: paste first, then fill, then milk. In that order every time.
- Milk: a splash rather than a flood. If your mug is half milk, the Rich jar is the better buy.
- Storage: lid on tight, cupboard rather than windowsill, dry spoon every time.
- Best with: plain biscuits, buttered toast, an afternoon break, or a mug for somebody who finds ordinary instant too sharp.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Kenco Smooth Instant Coffee, 95g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Kenco
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; jar, lid and seal 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
Soluble coffee has already been fully extracted once at the factory and then dried, so there is nothing left in the granule that needs boiling water to release it. Water at 100°C simply drives off the aromatics that survived the drying. On a mild jar that is a particularly expensive mistake, because mildness leaves aroma doing more of the work than usual; scald it and you are left with warm brown water.
The Mug It Is Built For
Black, Iced And Sweet
Made with this tea
The Undemanding Black Mug
The cup this jar was built for, and the one people who dislike instant coffee usually get on with.
- 1 rounded teaspoon Kenco Smooth
- 200ml water rested to 90 to 95 degrees
- A dry spoon
- Rest the boiled kettle thirty to sixty seconds.
- Paste the granules with a splash of the hot water.
- Fill the mug, and taste it before reaching for sugar.
What you'll end up with: A soft, rounded, low-bitterness mug with a short clean finish. Easy from the first sip to the last.
The Splash Of Milk Mug
Exactly how much milk a mild jar can take before the coffee stops being there.
- 1 rounded teaspoon Kenco Smooth
- 180ml water at 90 to 95 degrees
- A splash of milk, 25ml at most
- Paste the granules with hot water and fill the mug.
- Stir in sugar now if you take it, while the liquid is hot.
- Add a small splash of milk last.
What you'll end up with: A softened cup with the coffee still audible. Go past a splash on this jar and it disappears entirely.
The Two Spoon Milky Mug
If you want a milky mug from a mild jar, the answer is a bigger dose rather than more milk.
- 2 rounded teaspoons Kenco Smooth
- 150ml water at 90 to 95 degrees
- 150ml hot milk
- Paste two teaspoons with a splash of hot water.
- Fill with only 150ml of water so the brew stays concentrated.
- Top with hot milk and stir once.
What you'll end up with: A milky mug that still tastes of coffee. If this is how you drink it every day, the Rich jar does the job at one spoon.
Iced Smooth
A mild jar makes a mild iced coffee, which in hot weather is exactly the point.
- 2 teaspoons Kenco Smooth
- 60ml hot water
- A tall glass packed with ice
- 150ml cold milk
- Dissolve two teaspoons in 60ml of hot water completely.
- Cool for five minutes, or longer in the fridge.
- Pour over a packed glass of ice and top with cold milk.
What you'll end up with: A cold, gentle coffee with no undissolved grit at the bottom of the glass.
Coffee For Somebody Who Says They Hate Coffee
A deliberately gentle build, for the mug you make for a guest who normally refuses one.
- 1 level teaspoon Kenco Smooth
- 200ml water at 90 to 95 degrees
- 50ml hot milk
- Sugar to taste
- Use a level teaspoon rather than a rounded one.
- Paste and fill as usual, then add the hot milk.
- Offer sugar separately rather than putting it in.
What you'll end up with: A mild cup that tastes of coffee without any of the bitterness that puts people off it in the first place.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Soluble coffee | 95g, the whole of the jar | Everything you taste. Coffee brewed at the factory and then dried, so the granules are a concentrate you rehydrate in the mug rather than something coffee-flavoured. |
| Bean composition and origins | See current pack | Kenco states the blend and its description on the jar. We have not restated a ratio, a species split or an origin we cannot read off the label in your hand. |
| Roast and blend style | Smooth, per the brand's own range split | The mild half of the Smooth and Rich pair. Bitterness and dry grip build as beans are roasted further, and a blend pitched at mildness keeps that development shorter. Easy from the first sip, with little in reserve against milk. |
| Caffeine | Normally caffeinated | Smooth is a flavour description and not a caffeine one. This is not a decaffeinated coffee, and the front of the jar is the place to check if that matters to you. |
| Water (added by you) | The bulk of the finished cup | Around 1.8g of granules to a 200ml mug, at 90 to 95 degrees rather than straight off the boil. A mild jar leans on aroma, and boiling water is how that aroma is lost. |
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: Instant Coffee (90%), Roast and Ground Coffee (10%).
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Caffeinated, not decaffeinated. Best before date printed on the jar.
Black instant coffee carries almost no calories; anything added at the mug, milk or sugar, changes that entirely, and the nutrition panel on the jar is the figure to work from.
Sourcing & blend. Kenco is a long-established British coffee name, now part of the Jacobs Douwe Egberts house, and its instant range is built around a single honest question rather than a wall of adjectives: smooth or rich. Two jars, one mild and one fuller, and nothing in between to confuse the choice. That is a more useful shelf structure than a dozen near-identical names, because the thing most people can genuinely predict about their own taste is whether they find ordinary instant coffee too sharp. Smooth is the answer for the people who do. Bitterness and the dry grip at the back of a cup come from compounds that build as beans are roasted further, and a blend pitched at mildness keeps that development shorter, which is why this jar is easy from the first sip and stays easy through the third. The trade is that it holds very little back: taken black it is pleasant and undemanding, and given a generous pour of milk it simply disappears, which is precisely the job the Rich jar beside it exists to do. For the bean composition, the certification marks and the recycling route carried by the jar in your hand, read the current pack.
What is in Kenco Smooth Instant Coffee, 95g, and what is not:
- In: soluble coffee, and nothing else.
- Not decaffeinated: Smooth is a flavour word. This jar contains caffeine in the ordinary way.
- No sugar, sweetener or milk powder: this is a plain coffee jar, not a latte or cappuccino sachet.
- No dairy in the jar: made black it is a plant based drink; milk is something you add, and a splash suits this jar far better than a flood.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Kenco Smooth Instant Coffee, 95g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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