Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g
Buyers split on this one more than on anything else in the Azera range. Most of the complaints come down to one thing, which is people expecting the standard Azera and meeting the dark one. Intense is pushed further into the roast, so it reads smoky and cocoa-heavy, dry at the finish, with the bitterness right at the front. If that sounds like a fault, the plain Azera Americano in our range is the tin you want. If it sounds like the point, this is the one that still tastes of coffee under a lot of milk, and it is built for a proper large mug rather than a small strong one, where the same dose turns tarry. Which is the honest reason it scores where it does: a good tin that a lot of people bought for the wrong reason.
Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, in brief.
Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans is the dark end of Nescafé's microground range: soluble coffee with finely ground roasted beans blended through it, roasted hard and built for a long americano-style mug, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the instant for people who find standard jars too polite.
At a rounded to heaped teaspoon of roughly 2.5g, the 140g tin is somewhere near fifty-five large mugs. It is dosed heavier and priced higher than a plain instant jar, and it gives back body, roasted aroma and enough strength to survive milk.
The finely ground beans are what separate Azera from a plain jar. Soluble coffee dissolves completely and gives you strength with almost no texture; real ground coffee puts back some of the body and the roasted aroma that drying strips out. Intense then pushes the roast darker than the standard Azera, which does two useful things: it deepens the aroma and it gives the cup enough backbone to survive a large mug and a generous splash of milk without thinning out. Made as intended, in 250ml rather than 150ml, it is one of the better arguments on the instant shelf.
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
The Story Behind Nescafé Azera
Nestlé launched Nescafé in 1938 with coffee you could store and make a cup at a time, and for most of the following century the standing criticism was the obvious one: dissolving a granule is not brewing. Azera is the answer to that criticism. Blending finely ground roasted coffee into the soluble base closes part of the gap without asking anyone to own a machine, and Intense is the version built for people whose complaint about instant was never the texture but the strength.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our Commitment To The Planet
- Nestlé publishes its own coffee sourcing programme and prints the relevant claims on current packs. We reprint none of them second hand; check the tin in front of you for the claims in force when you buy.
- A 140g tin is somewhere near fifty-five large mugs from one container and one lid. Set against the same number of aluminium capsules it is not a close comparison.
- A tin you finish is better than a clever pack you abandon. Azera is dosed heavier than ordinary instant, so buy it if you will drink it daily and keep a plain jar for guests who take it weak.
Making Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g At Home
- Water temperature: 90 to 95°C. Never straight off a rolling boil, and less so here than with a plain instant.
- Measure: One rounded to one heaped teaspoon, about 2.5g, per 250ml mug; two for a 300ml wake-up mug.
- Method: Paste first, then top up. Grit at the bottom of the mug usually means this step was skipped, though a little sediment is normal with ground coffee in the blend.
- Service: Long and black, or with milk. It holds up through milk better than any plain instant in the range.
- Iced version: Two heaped teaspoons in 80ml of hot water, sweeten while hot, then pour over ice and top with cold water or milk.
- Caffeine note: Standard caffeinated coffee and a strong one. The decaffeinated Azera is the same format for the evening if you want the taste without the caffeine.
- Best with: Buttered toast, a bacon sandwich, dark chocolate, or a morning that started badly.
- Storage: Lid on firmly, cool dry cupboard, dry spoon every time. The ground coffee in the blend fades faster in open air than plain granules do.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Nescafé
Nescafé invented mass-market instant coffee in 1938 and has been refining it ever since. The Azera range brings cafe-quality micro-ground instant coffee; Gold Blend is the premium freeze-dried; the Original is the everyday standard.
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
Two things ruin this tin, and both are easy to avoid. The first is a small cup: Azera is built americano style, so a normal dose in 150ml reads harsh and over-concentrated. The second is water at a rolling boil, which scalds the ground coffee in the blend and turns a dark roast into an ashy one. Rest the kettle, use a big mug, and this is a genuinely good cup of instant.
The Americano Serve
The Wake-Up Double
Made with this tea
The Morning Americano
How to make Azera Intense the way the tin is designed to be made.
- 1 rounded to heaped teaspoon Azera Americano Intense, about 2.5g
- 250ml water at 90 to 95°C
- A splash of milk, optional
- Rest the kettle for thirty seconds after it clicks. A dark roast scalded by boiling water turns ashy, not just bitter.
- Paste the Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g with a splash of the hot water and stir until smooth.
- Top up to 250ml in a large mug. A full dose in a small cup is the most common way to make this tin taste harsh.
- Taste before you add sugar. Coffee at scalding temperature always reads more bitter than it is.
What you'll end up with: A long, dark, properly strong mug with a little sediment at the bottom. The sediment is the ground coffee in the blend, not a fault.
The Wake-Up Double
How to build a double-strength mug of Azera Intense without making it undrinkable.
- 2 heaped teaspoons Azera Americano Intense
- 100ml hot water, then 200ml more
- Hot milk, if you want a flat white instead
- Dissolve 2 heaped teaspoons of Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g in 100ml of hot water and stir until completely smooth.
- Stretch to 300ml with more hot water for a long strong americano.
- Or top the concentrate with 200ml of hot milk instead for a flat white that still tastes of coffee.
- Add water, not less coffee, when it is too strong. Cutting the water is what makes it harsh.
What you'll end up with: The mug this tin is really for. Building the concentrate first is what keeps a double dose smooth rather than aggressive.
Iced Americano
How to make a cold Azera Intense that survives the ice.
- 2 heaped teaspoons Azera Americano Intense
- 80ml hot water, then 150ml cold
- Sugar to taste, optional
- Plenty of ice
- Dissolve 2 heaped teaspoons of Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g in 80ml of hot water.
- Sweeten while it is hot if you want it sweet. Sugar added to a cold glass sinks and stays there.
- Fill a tall glass with ice, right to the top, and pour the concentrate over.
- Top up with 150ml of cold water. Half-filling the glass with ice gives you a watery drink in five minutes.
What you'll end up with: A cold coffee with the strength intact. The dark roast is an advantage iced, because cold serving pulls back the bitterness and leaves the body.
Overnight Fridge Jug
How to have Azera Intense ready cold before you are awake.
- 5 heaped teaspoons Azera Americano Intense
- 200ml hot water
- 800ml cold water
- A sealable bottle or jug
- Dissolve 5 heaped teaspoons of Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g in 200ml of hot water and stir thoroughly.
- Top up to a litre with cold water and seal the bottle.
- Chill overnight. Any sediment settles, so pour gently and leave the last centimetre behind.
- Keep refrigerated and drink within two days, neat over ice or cut with milk.
What you'll end up with: Cold coffee waiting in the fridge with no kettle involved. There are no coffee oils in soluble granules to go stale, which is why this holds for days where a brewed jug would not.
Coffee Granita
How to turn Azera Intense into a forked ice for hot afternoons.
- 4 heaped teaspoons Azera Americano Intense
- 500ml hot water
- 60g caster sugar
- A shallow freezer-proof tray and a fork
- Dissolve 4 heaped teaspoons of Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g and the sugar in 500ml of hot water. Both must dissolve completely or the granita will freeze unevenly.
- Cool to room temperature, then pour into a shallow tray.
- Freeze for an hour, then drag a fork through it to break up the crystals. Repeat every 45 minutes for about four hours.
- Serve in cold glasses, on its own or with a spoonful of cream over the top.
What you'll end up with: Loose coffee crystals rather than a block. Forking it at intervals is the whole technique, and a dark roast gives the flavour needed to survive freezing.
Coffee And Cocoa Rub For Beef
How to use Azera Intense dry, as a savoury rub.
- 2 teaspoons Azera Americano Intense, crushed fine
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, salt and black pepper
- Crush 2 teaspoons of Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g to a fine powder in a pestle and mortar.
- Mix with the cocoa, sugar, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Rub over steak or pork and leave for twenty minutes before cooking.
- Cook over a good heat and rest the meat properly. Keep the sugar low: it catches quickly in a hot pan.
What you'll end up with: A dark savoury crust that reads of smoke and cocoa rather than of coffee. This is a job instant does better than brewed, because it adds flavour without adding liquid.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Soluble coffee | The majority of the blend | The base. It dissolves completely and sets the strength of the mug. |
| Finely ground roasted coffee | Not published | The reason to buy Azera. Real ground coffee returns body and roasted aroma that drying removes from plain soluble granules. Nestlé does not publish the split between the two. |
| Roast level | Intense, the dark end of the Azera range | Pushed further than the standard Azera: darker aroma, more bitterness, and enough backbone to hold its shape through milk. |
| Bean blend and origins | Not broken down on pack | |
| Added sugar, flavourings, bulking agents | None | Nothing is added to sweeten or stretch the coffee. |
| Dose | About 2.5g per 250ml mug | A rounded to heaped teaspoon. Built americano style, so the mug should be large and the dose generous. |
Pack: Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g; tin; standard caffeinated coffee, not decaffeinated, and dosed heavier per mug than ordinary instant. Roughly fifty-five large mugs at 2.5g each. Check the best before date printed on the pack.
Characterising components shown; the exact ratio of soluble to finely ground coffee is a manufacturer specification and is not published, so it is described rather than quantified. Nutritional values for black coffee made without milk or sugar are negligible; anything you add to the mug is what carries the calories.
Sourcing & blend. Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g is made by Nestlé, which launched the Nescafé brand in 1938. Azera is the range built to answer the standing criticism of instant coffee, that dissolving a granule is not brewing; blending finely ground roasted coffee into the soluble base narrows that gap without requiring a machine. Nestlé publishes its own coffee sourcing programme and prints the relevant claims on current packs; we do not reprint sourcing or certification claims second hand, so check the tin in front of you for the claims in force at the time you buy.
What's in Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g, and what isn't:
- In: soluble coffee with finely ground roasted coffee blended through it, and nothing else.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: no flavourings and no bulking agents either.
- Not decaffeinated: this is standard caffeinated coffee, dosed heavier per mug than a plain instant. The decaffeinated Azera is sold separately.
- Pack: metal tin with a plastic lid. Metal is widely collected in the UK; lids often go in a different stream, so follow the current pack and your local-authority guidance.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Azera Americano Intense Instant Coffee with Finely Ground Beans, 140g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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