L'Or Intense Instant Coffee, 150g
Bitterness gets treated as a fault in instant coffee, and here it is the structure. Intense finishes dry and cocoa-edged, and that edge is what is still on your tongue in the last inch of a 300ml mug, long after a softer jar has given up. Anyone who wants a round, sweet-tasting cup will read exactly that quality as severity, and no amount of care at the kettle talks it round. It does not want over-dosing either. One rounded spoon does the work, so a dark jar lasts a dark-coffee drinker about as long as a mild one lasts everybody else. If it strikes you as sharp rather than deep, put a few grains of salt in with the dry granules before you reach for the sugar. It sounds daft. It works, because salt puts bitterness down where sugar only paints over it.
L'Or Intense Instant Coffee, in brief.
L'Or Intense Instant Coffee is the dark jar in the L'Or soluble range, a full-bodied instant with a dry, cocoa-edged finish, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the one that still tastes of coffee after you have added the milk you actually wanted.
A 150g jar, around 75 mugs at a rounded teaspoon each, sitting one step darker than the Classique jar in the same range. Built for milky mugs and for people who find medium instants thin. Water off the boil, never on it.
L'Or Intense Instant Coffee is the dark end of the L'Or soluble range, built for the mug that has to survive a large pour of milk and still taste of coffee. Where the Classique jar in the same line is balanced and short, Intense is heavier, deeper and longer on the finish. It is the jar to buy if your usual complaint about instant is that it tastes of nothing by the time you have made it the way you actually like it.
L'Or belongs to the Jacobs Douwe Egberts house, and the Intense jar is the one aimed at the espresso palate: the people who drink flat whites out and want something at home that does not feel like a downgrade. It will not turn your kitchen into a coffee shop, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What it will do is give you a strong, dark, dependable mug in ninety seconds, which is the honest job of a good instant.
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, most visible in the UK on the aluminium capsule shelf and sold alongside it as a small jarred soluble range. Intense is the darker of the two everyday jars. Bean origins, the roast description and any intensity rating are printed on the current jar, and that is the number to trust; blends of this kind are reformulated periodically and the pack in your hand is always more current than any product listing, ours included.
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
There is a plain environmental argument for keeping a jar in the cupboard, and it is about dose. A mug of instant uses around two grams of coffee; a cafetiere mug uses seven to nine, and a pod puts five or six grams inside a piece of packaging you throw away every single time. There are no spent grounds from a jar, no filter, no capsule and nothing to compost. None of that makes instant better coffee than a fresh grind. It does make it the lower-waste choice for the mugs you make on autopilot, which for most households is most of them.
Getting The Most Out Of L'Or Intense Instant Coffee, 150g
- Water temperature: 90 to 95°C. The darker the roast, the more boiling water hurts it.
- Measure: One rounded teaspoon, about 2g, per 200ml mug. A 150g jar gives you around 75 mugs at that rate.
- Stir: Paste first, then fill the mug. Ten seconds, and no dark grit at the bottom.
- Milk: This jar takes it. Double the dose if you are going half and half with milk.
- Storage: Lid tight, cupboard not worktop, dry spoon every time. Steam from the kettle is what welds a jar solid.
- Caffeine note: Ordinary caffeinated coffee. A dark roast does not mean more caffeine, whatever the label implies; strength of flavour and caffeine are two different things.
- Best with: A bacon sandwich, dark chocolate, or anything sweet enough to need a dry coffee against it.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference L'Or Intense 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
Dark roasts punish boiling water harder than light ones. The compounds that make Intensetaste rich are the same ones that turn harsh if you scald them, so the thirty second wait after the kettle clicks off matters more here than with any other jar in the range. Aim for water around 90 to 95°C. If you have ever decided a strong instant was too bitter to drink, there is a good chance it was the kettle, not the coffee.
The Strong Black Mug
The Home Flat White
Made with this tea
The Strong Black Mug
How to make The Strong Black Mug with L'Or Intense Instant Coffee.
- 1 rounded teaspoon L'Or Intense
- 200ml water, off the boil
- A pinch of salt, optional
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for 30 to 60 seconds. Dark roasts punish boiling water hardest.
- Spoon one rounded teaspoon of L'Or Intense Instant Coffee, 150g into the mug with a splash of the hot water.
- Stir to a smooth paste, then fill to 200ml.
- Add the smallest pinch of salt if you find dark coffee sharp. It sounds mad and it works.
What you'll end up with: A dark mug with a long cocoa finish and no undissolved grit. The paste step matters more with dark granules than pale ones.
The Home Flat White
How to make The Home Flat White with L'Or Intense Instant Coffee.
- 2 level teaspoons L'Or Intense
- 60ml water, off the boil
- 160ml whole or barista oat milk
- Dissolve 2 level teaspoons in only 60ml of hot water, stirring to a paste first, so the base is short and strong.
- Heat 160ml of milk to steaming but not boiling.
- Froth it with a hand whisk or frother until the volume rises by about a third.
- Pour the milk in, holding the foam back with a spoon, then spoon the foam over the top.
What you'll end up with: A milky cup where the coffee still leads. There is no crema without pressure, but the flavour balance is right, and this is the drink the Intense jar exists for.
Iced Latte That Is Not Watery
How to make Iced Latte That Is Not Watery with L'Or Intense Instant Coffee.
- 2 teaspoons L'Or Intense
- 80ml hot water
- 150ml cold milk
- A tall glass of ice
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons in 80ml of hot water and stir until completely clear.
- Cool the concentrate for five minutes, or melt one ice cube into it.
- Fill a tall glass with ice and 150ml of cold milk.
- Pour the cooled concentrate over the back of a spoon for the layered look.
What you'll end up with: Cold mutes flavour, so a dark roast is the right jar for iced drinks. Cooling the concentrate before it meets the ice is what stops it tasting of melted cubes.
Proper Mocha
How to make Proper Mocha with L'Or Intense Instant Coffee.
- 2 teaspoons L'Or Intense
- 20g dark chocolate, chopped
- 200ml hot milk
- Sugar to taste
- Melt 20g of chopped dark chocolate in the mug with a splash of hot milk, stirring until smooth.
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons of L'Or Intense Instant Coffee, 150g into the chocolate with another splash.
- Top with the rest of the hot milk, 200ml in total, and stir well.
- Sweeten only if the chocolate needs it; a 70 per cent bar usually does.
What you'll end up with: Real chocolate rather than powder, and a dark roast to cut it. The dry finish on this jar is exactly what stops a mocha tasting like pudding.
Tiramisu Soak
How to make Tiramisu Soak with L'Or Intense Instant Coffee.
- 4 teaspoons L'Or Intense
- 250ml hot water
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons marsala or brandy, optional
- Dissolve 4 teaspoons of L'Or Intense Instant Coffee, 150g in 250ml of hot water with 1 tablespoon of caster sugar.
- Cool completely, then stir in the marsala or brandy if you are using it.
- Dip sponge fingers for one second each, no longer, and layer with your mascarpone mixture.
- Chill for at least four hours before dusting with cocoa.
What you'll end up with: A soak you can make exactly the same strength every time, which brewed coffee will not give you. Strength control is the whole reason instant belongs in this recipe.
Coffee Rub for Beef or Mushrooms
How to make Coffee Rub for Beef or Mushrooms with L'Or Intense Instant Coffee.
- 2 teaspoons L'Or Intense
- 2 teaspoons soft brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon flaky salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Black pepper
- Crush 2 teaspoons of granules to a powder in a pestle and mortar, or in a bag with a rolling pin.
- Mix with the brown sugar, salt, smoked paprika and a good grind of black pepper.
- Rub over a steak, a brisket or thick-cut portobello mushrooms and leave for 20 minutes.
- Cook hot and fast. The sugar catches quickly, so watch it.
What you'll end up with: A dark, savoury crust. Granules dissolve into the meat juices where ground coffee stays gritty, which is the one job in the kitchen where instant is simply the better ingredient.
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 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. It is declared on the jar and we do not restate it here, because blends of this kind are reformulated from time to time. |
| Roast level | Dark | The intense end of the L'Or instant range. This is where the depth, the dry cocoa edge and the long finish come from. |
| Added sugar, flavouring or milk powder | None | 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 Intense 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 Intense 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 darker than the Classique jar in the same range, then brewed and dried to granules and cup tested batch to batch so the jar stays consistent. 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 Intense Instant Coffee, 150g, and what is not:
- In: soluble coffee, granulated, dark 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: this is not a latte or cappuccino sachet mix; milk is whatever you add.
- Caffeinated: ordinary caffeinated coffee. A darker roast is not a stronger caffeine dose, only a stronger flavour.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference L'Or Intense Instant Coffee, 150g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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