L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g
Most of the complaining about this jar comes from people who met L'Or as a capsule first. The brand made its British name on pressure and a sealed dose, and a spoonful of soluble coffee was never going to answer back the way a shot does. Taken as what it actually is, it does rather well: medium roast, gentle toasted nuttiness, very little bitterness, and a dry finish that stops instead of hanging about. It is calibrated for a 200ml mug and a splash of milk, and half a pint of milk will bury the coffee completely. Where it earns its keep is the eleven o'clock mug, wanted in ninety seconds with nothing to grind, tamp or wash up afterwards. One practical thing: a wet spoon is what turns the bottom third of a jar into a solid block, so keep it dry and the mug on day seventy tastes like the mug on day one.
L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, in brief.
L'Or Classique Instant Coffee is the balanced jar in the L'Or soluble range, a medium-roast instant with low bitterness and a clean, short finish, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the sensible step up from a supermarket own-label jar for anyone who drinks instant every day rather than occasionally.
A 150g jar, around 75 mugs at a rounded teaspoon each, sitting one step lighter than the Intense jar in the same range. Good black, good with a splash of milk, less happy buried under a flood of it.
L'Or is part of the Jacobs Douwe Egberts house, and the Classique jar is the everyday member of the family rather than the showpiece. What it does well is consistency. A spoon from the first day of the jar tastes like a spoon from the last day of the jar, which is the entire point of a soluble coffee and the thing cheaper jars most often get wrong. We list it as the sensible upgrade from a supermarket own-label instant for anyone who drinks two or three mugs a day and has decided the cheap jar is not good enough any more.
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. Storage notes, freshness windows and water temperature guidance are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind L'Or
L'Or is a Jacobs Douwe Egberts coffee brand, best known in the UK for its aluminium capsules and for a small soluble range sold in jars. The Classique jar is the balanced end of that soluble range. Bean origins, roast description and any intensity number are printed on the current jar, so read the label in front of you rather than taking a number from a listing; blends of this kind are reformulated from time to time and the pack is always the authority.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the jar, the lid and the seal can require different disposal routes.
Coffee, Waste And The Jar
Soluble coffee has one genuine environmental advantage over ground coffee, and it is worth being plain about it: you use far less coffee per cup, roughly two grams against seven to nine for a filter or cafetiere, and there are no spent grounds to throw away. That is not a reason to give up your grinder, but it is a fair point in favour of keeping a decent jar in the cupboard for the mugs that do not deserve the full ritual. The jar itself is reusable long after the coffee is gone, and a rinsed empty makes a perfectly good storage jar for loose tea.
Getting The Most Out Of L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g
- Water temperature: 90 to 95°C. Boiling water is the enemy of soluble coffee.
- Measure: One rounded teaspoon, about 2g, per 200ml mug. At that rate a 150g jar gives you around 75 mugs.
- Stir: Paste first, then fill. Ten seconds of effort, noticeably better cup.
- Milk: A splash rather than a flood. If you want a milky mug, the Intense jar in the same range is built for it.
- Storage: Lid on tight, cupboard rather than windowsill, and a dry spoon every time. Damp is what turns a good jar into a solid brick.
- Caffeine note: This is caffeinated coffee. If you want the same format late in the evening, buy a decaffeinated jar instead.
- Best with: Buttered toast, a plain digestive, or on its own at eleven o'clock when a cafetiere is too much trouble.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind L'Or
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the 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
The single most common mistake with any instant coffeeis pouring water straight off a rolling boil onto the granules. Soluble coffee is already fully extracted and then dried; it does not need boiling water to release anything, and 100°C water scorches the aromatics and pushes the cup towards a bitter, slightly cardboard finish. Let the kettle stand for thirty to sixty seconds first. It is a small change and it is the difference between an acceptable mug and a good one.
The Everyday Black Mug
The Iced Long Black
Made with this tea
The Everyday Black Mug
How to make The Everyday Black Mug with L'Or Classique Instant Coffee.
- 1 rounded teaspoon L'Or Classique
- 200ml water, off the boil
- A splash of milk, optional
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for 30 to 60 seconds, so the water lands around 90 to 95°C.
- Spoon one rounded teaspoon of L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g into the mug and add a small splash of the hot water.
- Stir to a smooth paste, then fill the mug to 200ml.
- Add a splash of milk if you take it, and no more than a splash.
What you'll end up with: A clean medium-roast mug with no gritty last mouthful. The paste step is the whole trick.
The Proper White Coffee
How to make The Proper White Coffee with L'Or Classique Instant Coffee.
- 2 level teaspoons L'Or Classique
- 120ml water, off the boil
- 120ml whole or oat milk
- Double the dose to two level teaspoons, because milk dilutes flavour as well as colour.
- Dissolve in 120ml of water off the boil, stirring to a paste first.
- Warm 120ml of milk to steaming but not boiling, and pour it in.
- Whisk the milk with a hand frother first if you want a cafe-style head on it.
What you'll end up with: A milky mug where the coffee still reads. Single-dosing a half-milk mug is why white instant coffee so often tastes of nothing.
Iced Long Black
How to make Iced Long Black with L'Or Classique Instant Coffee.
- 2 teaspoons L'Or Classique
- 80ml hot water
- A tall glass of ice
- A strip of orange peel, optional
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons in 80ml of hot water and stir until completely clear.
- Cool the concentrate for five minutes, or drop in one ice cube and let it melt out.
- Pour over a tall glass packed with ice and top with cold water.
- Twist a strip of orange peel over the glass if you have one; it lifts a medium roast noticeably.
What you'll end up with: Iced coffee that tastes of coffee rather than melted ice, because the concentrate is cooled before it meets the cubes.
Whipped Coffee (Dalgona)
How to make Whipped Coffee (Dalgona) with L'Or Classique Instant Coffee.
- 1 tablespoon L'Or Classique
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 200ml cold milk
- Ice
- Combine equal parts coffee, sugar and hot water in a bowl, one tablespoon of each.
- Whisk hard for three to five minutes by hand, or one minute with electric beaters, until it turns pale and holds soft peaks.
- Fill a tall glass with ice and 200ml of cold milk.
- Spoon the whipped coffee on top and stir it down as you drink.
What you'll end up with: A thick coffee foam over cold milk. This only works with soluble coffee; ground coffee will not whip, which is the one thing instant can do that nothing else can.
Coffee and Walnut Loaf
How to make Coffee and Walnut Loaf with L'Or Classique Instant Coffee.
- 3 teaspoons L'Or Classique
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 175g soft butter
- 175g soft brown sugar
- 175g self raising flour
- 3 large eggs
- 75g chopped walnuts
- Dissolve 3 teaspoons of L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g in 2 tablespoons of hot water and leave it to cool. This is your coffee essence.
- Beat 175g of soft butter with 175g of soft brown sugar until pale, then beat in 3 large eggs one at a time.
- Fold in 175g of self raising flour, 75g of chopped walnuts and the cooled coffee.
- Bake in a lined 2lb loaf tin at 180°C for 45 to 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
What you'll end up with: Instant is the right tool here, not a compromise. Brewed coffee adds water and weakens the crumb; a concentrated essence adds flavour without it. Keeps 4 days in a tin.
Affogato in Ninety Seconds
How to make Affogato in Ninety Seconds with L'Or Classique Instant Coffee.
- 2 teaspoons L'Or Classique
- 50ml hot water
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons in just 50ml of hot water, so it is short and strong.
- Scoop two balls of vanilla ice cream into a small bowl or glass.
- Pour the hot coffee over the top and eat it straight away.
What you'll end up with: The easiest pudding in the house. A medium roast suits it better than a dark one, which can turn bitter against the vanilla.
Fridge Jug for the Week
How to make Fridge Jug for the Week with L'Or Classique Instant Coffee.
- 8 teaspoons L'Or Classique
- 1 litre cold water
- Sugar syrup to taste, optional
- Ice to serve
- Stir 8 teaspoons into a 1 litre jug of cold water. It takes a minute of stirring rather than a few seconds, but it does dissolve cold.
- Chill for at least two hours so it loses the raw edge.
- Pour over ice, and top with milk if you want it white.
- Keep the jug covered in the fridge and use within three days.
What you'll end up with: Not a true cold brew, which needs grounds and twelve hours, but a cold coffee jug that takes five minutes and lives in the fridge door.
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 is what 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 balanced end of the L'Or instant range. Colour and body in the cup without the scorched edge of a dark roast. |
| Added sugar, flavouring or milk powder | None | This is a plain coffee jar, not a latte or cappuccino mix. Anything sweet or milky in the mug is what you put there. |
Pack: L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g; caffeinated soluble coffee in a jar. Around 75 mugs at a rounded 2g teaspoon each. Best before date is printed on the pack.
Characterising components shown. A black mug built from a 2g dose contributes a negligible amount of energy, and there is no sugar, fat or dairy in the jar; anything you add to the mug is yours to count.
Sourcing & blend. L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g is produced under the L'Or name, a coffee brand of the Jacobs Douwe Egberts house. Green coffee is bought to a fixed specification, roasted, brewed and dried to granules, and the blend is cup tested batch to batch so the jar you open in March tastes like the jar you opened in January. 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 L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g, and what is not:
- In: soluble coffee, granulated, 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: this is not a latte or cappuccino sachet mix; milk is whatever you add.
- Caffeinated: ordinary caffeinated coffee, not a decaffeinated product. For an evening jar, buy a decaf instead.
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 L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g, please cite teas.co.uk.
What buyers say
No customer reviews of L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g 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 L'Or
Other Coffee worth comparing
