Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets
Caramel leads, the milk carries it, and the coffee sits behind as the bitter edge that stops the whole thing turning to treacle. It is the stickiest of the flavoured sachets and the one that divides people hardest: sweet enough to work in place of a pudding, too sweet for most to manage twice in a row. Nobody gets through four of these in a week. One on the afternoon a plain coffee will not do, or on the evening the milk has gone off, and a box lasts a satisfyingly long time on that basis.
Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, in brief.
Nescafe Caramel Latte is the sweet, milky caramel coffee sachet that needs nothing but a kettle, picked into the teas.co.uk curator selection as the treat version of the plain latte box rather than an everyday mug.
Coffee, milk powder and caramel are already blended and dosed, so there is no jar to measure and no milk to keep cold. It is sweetened in the sachet, which you cannot undo, and being a milk drink it is not dairy-free.
Nescafe Caramel Latte is a sweet milky coffee that needs nothing from your kitchen except a kettle and a mug. The coffee, the milk component and the caramel are all in the sachet in powder form, so there is no jar to measure from, no milk to keep cold and nothing to throw away half-used. Seven sachets in the box, one mug each, and the drink is finished about fifteen seconds after the water goes in.
That is the case for it, and it's a decent one. This is not a coffee-shop caramel latte and it is not pretending to be one. It sits in the gap between a mug of black instant, which is bleak without milk, and a barista drink you have to leave the house for. It belongs in a desk drawer, a hotel room, a caravan or the back of a cupboard for the evening the milk has gone off. Judged as that drink it does its job; judged as an espresso-based latte it never had a chance.
Curator notes: caramel, milkiness, coffee and sweetness are scored by us, from the seven sachet box as now sold and the way Nescafe describes it. Our usual dispatch time for the seven Caramel Latte sachets is 1 to 2 working days. The questions below cover stirring, taming the sweetness, iced caramel and desk or travel use.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Nescafe
Nescafe is Nestle's instant coffee brand and one of the best-known coffee names on any British shelf. The single-serve milk-drink sachet is a separate line from the jars: instead of instant granules on their own, each sachet carries the coffee, a milk component in powder form and the flavouring already blended and dosed, so a mug is a pour rather than a recipe.
Packaging: Seven empty sachets and a carton may not belong in the same bin; your council and the pack will say.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Count: seven single-serve sachets, one mug each, so seven caramel lattes from the box.
- Sweetened: the sugar is already in the sachet. You can always sweeten an unsweetened drink and you can never unsweeten a sweet one, so if you want to set the level yourself, buy an unsweetened sachet and add your own syrup.
- Milk included: powdered milk sits in each sachet with the coffee and caramel, so the box skips the fridge and slides flat into a bag. That same milk keeps it off any dairy free menu.
- What it is not: not a decaf, not a sugar-free drink and not a barista latte. It is a flavoured milky instant coffee built for a kettle.
Ideal Serving Conditions
Instant milk drinks have a poor reputation mostly because of how they are made. Two habits do most of the damage: water at a rolling boil, which gives milk powder a cooked, tinny edge, and too much water, which thins the milk until the drink tastes like sweet coffee-flavoured water.
The Proper Mug
- Measure: one sachet to 180 to 200ml. This is the single thing people get wrong. Filling a large 300ml mug from one sachet does not make a bigger latte, it makes a weaker one.
- Water: after the click, leave the kettle a minute so the water you pour is near 90 degrees Celsius. Boiling water is what makes powdered milk taste cooked.
- Pour: the caramel powder goes into a dry mug, and only then the water. Any wet patch in the mug sets the powder clumping before the water gets there.
- Stir: unlike a cappuccino sachet, this one wants stirring. A latte build is about a smooth, even body rather than a head of foam, and the caramel needs to be fully dissolved or it settles at the bottom and the last mouthful is syrup.
Making It Less Sweet
- Stretch it with milk, not water: a splash of hot milk dilutes the sweetness without thinning the body. Water does both.
- Add coffee, not sugar: half a teaspoon of plain instant granules stirred into the dry powder lifts the coffee back up to meet the caramel. This is the fix most people are actually after.
- Go long and cold: made over a full glass of ice the sweetness reads noticeably lower, because cold mutes sugar.
- Salt: the smallest pinch in the dry mug sharpens the caramel and pushes it towards salted caramel. A pinch means a pinch.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: roughly 90 degrees Celsius, rested rather than freshly boiled.
- Measure: one sachet per 180 to 200ml mug. Use a mug, not a large cup.
- Method: powder into a dry mug, water in, stir until completely smooth.
- Storage: keep the sachets sealed and dry in their box. Once split, a sachet in a damp cupboard hardens into a block.
- Travelling: the format's real advantage. No jar, no milk, no fridge, and seven flat sachets that fit in a bag.
- Best with: a biscuit and an afternoon break, or any time a black instant would be too bleak.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets, 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: Seven empty sachets and a carton may not belong in the same bin; your council and the pack will say.
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
Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets is a finished drink rather than a base, so the useful builds are the ones that correct it rather than decorate it. Five below cover the proper mug, a richer version made on milk, an iced one, a stronger coffee-forward fix and an affogato-style pudding.
Made with this tea
The Proper Caramel Latte Mug
How to make The Proper Caramel Latte Mug with Nescafe Caramel Latte.
- 1 sachet Nescafe Caramel Latte
- 180ml water at 90 degrees Celsius
- Boil the kettle and allow it a minute's cooling before the water meets the powder.
- Empty the sachet into a dry mug. Wet mugs turn the caramel powder lumpy before you have poured.
- Pour 180ml of water in steadily, keeping the mug small rather than generous.
- Stir until completely smooth, including the bottom of the mug where the caramel wants to settle.
What you'll end up with: A creamy, sweet caramel coffee with no grit and no syrupy last mouthful. If it tastes thin, you used too much water rather than too little powder.
Made on Hot Milk
How to make Made on Hot Milk with Nescafe Caramel Latte.
- 1 sachet Nescafe Caramel Latte
- 200ml whole milk
- The smallest pinch of salt
- Heat 200ml of milk until steaming but never boiling.
- Tip the sachet into a dry mug with the pinch of salt and add a splash of the hot milk, stirring to a smooth paste first.
- Pour the rest of the milk in and stir through.
- Taste before you do anything else. The salt sharpens the caramel and pushes it towards salted caramel.
What you'll end up with: Much richer than the water version and the best the sachet ever gets. This is the Sunday build rather than the desk one.
Iced Caramel Latte
How to make Iced Caramel Latte with Nescafe Caramel Latte.
- 1 sachet Nescafe Caramel Latte
- 60ml hot water
- A full glass of ice
- 100ml cold milk
- Dissolve the caramel sachet in 60ml of hot water, no more, and stir it until silky. Powder tipped straight into cold liquid stays lumpy.
- Cool the caramel base for a minute before it meets the ice.
- Fill a tall glass with ice, pour the base over and top with cold milk.
- Stir once from the bottom and drink while the ice is still whole.
What you'll end up with: The most drinkable version of this sachet in warm weather. Cold suppresses sweetness, so the sugar that reads as too much in a hot mug reads as about right here.
The Coffee-Forward Fix
How to make The Coffee-Forward Fix with Nescafe Caramel Latte.
- 1 sachet Nescafe Caramel Latte
- Plain instant coffee granules, half a teaspoon
- 180ml water at 90 degrees Celsius
- Combine the sachet and the half teaspoon of plain granules in a dry mug and mix them dry.
- Pour 180ml of water at around 90 degrees over the top.
- Stir thoroughly until there is nothing left at the bottom.
- Adjust next time. A full teaspoon turns it into a properly strong caramel coffee rather than a sweet milky one.
What you'll end up with: The fix most people are actually after when they say a caramel sachet is too sweet. The answer is more coffee rather than less sugar, because you cannot remove the sugar.
Caramel Affogato
How to make Caramel Affogato with Nescafe Caramel Latte.
- 1 sachet Nescafe Caramel Latte
- 70ml hot water
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- A biscuit to crumble over
- Dissolve the sachet in only 70ml of hot water, so you end up with a small, concentrated pour rather than a mug.
- Scoop the ice cream into two small glasses or cups.
- Pour the hot caramel coffee over the ice cream at the table.
- Crumble a biscuit over the top and eat straight away, while the edges are still melting.
What you'll end up with: A pudding for two out of one sachet, and the one build where the sweetness of the sachet is an asset rather than a compromise.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Typical values per 100g, as published | Per 100g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 412 kcal |
| Fat | 10.6g |
| of which saturates | 8.8g |
| Carbohydrate | 68.8g |
| of which sugars | 51.2g |
| Fibre | 2.4g |
| Protein | 8.8g |
| Salt | 1.5g |
Ingredients and allergens. Skimmed milk powder makes up 21% of this barcode's published recipe, and lactose is listed too. Nestle sometimes changes these sachets, so recheck the allergy advice whenever you buy a box.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: Sugar, skimmed MILK powder (21%), glucose syrup, coconut oil, coffee (7.5%) (instant coffee (7%), roast and ground coffee), lactose (MILK), natural flavourings, acidity regulators (sodium bicarbonate, citric acid), salt.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. Your box of seven is the one to believe if the two disagree.
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Milk component (powder) | the dominant part of the sachet | Body, softness and the creamy texture. That milk lets the box do without a fridge and, for the same reason, rules out dairy free. |
| Sugar | added in the sachet; amount not stated to us | The sweetness, and it is not optional. Already dosed before you open the box, which is why this reads as a treat rather than a coffee. |
| Format | 7 single-serve sachets | Each sachet: one mug, sealed till used, slim enough to carry. No jar and no measuring. |
Pack: Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets; seven mugs, one sachet each, made up with hot water only.
Characterising components shown.
Sourcing & blend. Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets is made by Nescafe, Nestle's instant coffee brand and one of the best-known coffee names on any British shelf. The single-serve milk-drink sachet is a separate line from the jars: the coffee, the milk component and the flavouring are blended and dosed in the factory so that a mug is a pour rather than a recipe. What is being sold here is convenience and consistency rather than roast character, and judged on that basis the format does its job. The trade-off is that every decision, including how sweet the drink is, has already been made for you.
What's in Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets, and what isn't:
- In: instant coffee, a milk component in powder form, sugar and caramel flavouring, in a single-serve sachet made up with hot water.
- Sweetened: the sugar is in the sachet. This is not a sugar-free or reduced-sugar drink, and it cannot be made into one.
- Not dairy-free: you cannot have this drink without its milk. Anyone vegan, dairy free or allergic to milk should choose something else.
- Packaging: check the box and your council's rules, because the carton and the sachet film rarely go in the same place.
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 Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets, please cite teas.co.uk.
What buyers say
No customer reviews of Nescafe Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 7 Sachets 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 Nescafé
Other Coffee worth comparing
