Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 100g
Bitterness here is deliberate, and anyone tasting it black and marking it down has misread the brief. Original is made to be drunk with milk and usually sugar, and a coffee going into that much dairy has to be loud enough to still be audible at the other end. Put a smoother, sweeter jar through the same treatment and it turns vague. This one still reads as coffee. The other thing it does, which is harder than it sounds and almost never credited, is land identically every single morning, in any kitchen, from the same level spoonful. That reliability is the product. Drink it black by all means, but judge it the way it is actually drunk. On that test nothing on the shelf has displaced it, and that is not nostalgia talking.
Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, in brief.
Nescafe Original is the everyday granule that most of Britain means by instant coffee, dark-leaning and carrying a deliberate bitter edge that still reads as coffee once milk and sugar are in, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the workhorse jar rather than the smooth one.
A 100g jar, the smallest size in the line, which suits a one or two mug a day household, a desk or a holiday let. At a rounded teaspoon per mug that is around 55 cups, worked out from the jar weight rather than a pack claim. Anyone drinking it every morning should buy the bigger jar.
Nescafe Original is the jar that most people in this country mean when they say instant coffee. It is the everyday granule rather than the freeze-dried tier above it, and everything about the cup follows from that: darker, drier and carrying a deliberate bitter edge that does not disappear when milk and sugar go in. That edge is not a flaw in the blend. It is the whole design. A coffee built to be drunk with milk has to be loud enough to still be there afterwards.
At 100g this is the smallest jar in the line, and it is a useful size for exactly two situations: a household that drinks one or two mugs a day and would rather the jar stayed fresh, and a cupboard, desk drawer or holiday let that needs a jar of coffee without committing to 300g of it. Anyone drinking Original every morning should buy the bigger jar.
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 The Jar
Nescafe has been making soluble coffee since 1938, and Original is the line that did the heavy lifting. It is not trying to taste like a cafetiere and it never has been. What it does is far harder than it looks: deliver an identical cup from an identical spoonful anywhere in the country, every single morning, for decades. Consistency at that scale is an achievement of blending and quality control rather than of romance, and it is the reason this jar is the quiet default in millions of kitchens.
Taste it black next to a premium instant and you will find the premium one smoother. Taste both with milk and two sugars, which is how Original is actually drunk, and the picture changes completely: the smoother jar goes soft and vague, and this one still reads as coffee. Knowing which cup you are building is the whole trick with instant coffee.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our Commitment To The Planet
- The jar that arrives is the current UK retail pack rather than a grey import on a different specification.
- An instant jar has no capsule, no filter paper and no spent puck. Of all the ways to make a mug of coffee at home, this leaves the least behind.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 100g, 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
There are only three variables in a mug of instant coffee: the dose, the water temperature and the order you put things in. Original is more forgiving than most on the first and least forgiving of all on the second, because a coffee that already carries a bitter edge has nowhere to hide if you scald it.
The Standard Mug
The Builders Mug
Made with this tea
The Paste Method Mug
How to make The Paste Method Mug with Nescafe Original.
- 1 rounded teaspoon (about 1.8g) Nescafe Original
- 200ml water at about 90 degrees
- A generous splash of milk
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for thirty seconds.
- Spoon the coffee into a dry mug, add a splash of the hot water and stir to a smooth paste.
- Fill to 200ml and stir once more.
- Add the milk last and to taste. This jar is designed around it.
What you'll end up with: An even mug with no floating lumps, and none of the harshness that comes from pouring water at a rolling boil.
The Builders Mug
How to make The Builders Mug with Nescafe Original.
- 2 rounded teaspoons Nescafe Original
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
- 250ml water at about 90 degrees
- 50ml cold milk
- Paste the coffee and the sugar together with a splash of hot water. Sugar in at the start, not sprinkled on top.
- Fill the mug to 250ml, leaving room for the milk.
- Pour the cold milk straight from the fridge, which drops it to drinking temperature in one go.
- Stir once and leave the spoon in if that is the house style.
What you'll end up with: A dark, sweet, milky mug that still tastes of coffee at the bottom. Strong means more coffee in more water, never two spoons in the same 200ml.
Iced White Coffee
How to make Iced White Coffee with Nescafe Original.
- 1 heaped teaspoon Nescafe Original
- 30ml hot water
- 150ml cold milk
- A tall glass packed with ice
- Dissolve the coffee in 30ml of hot water and stir to a smooth concentrate.
- Cool it for a minute so it does not melt the ice on contact.
- Pour over a glass packed to the top with ice and top with the cold milk.
- Stir from the bottom; the concentrate sinks.
What you'll end up with: An iced coffee that still tastes of coffee. Cold mutes flavour, so the firm edge in this jar is an advantage rather than a problem here.
Coffee Essence For Baking
How to make Coffee Essence For Baking with Nescafe Original.
- 3 rounded teaspoons Nescafe Original
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
- A small jar or cup to mix in
- Stir the coffee into the boiling water until you have a thick, syrupy essence with no grains left.
- Cool it completely before it goes anywhere near a batter or a buttercream.
- Use a tablespoon at a time and taste as you go; it is much stronger than brewed coffee.
What you'll end up with: Real coffee flavour with almost no added liquid, which is why a soluble coffee beats brewed coffee in a sponge or an icing.
Coffee And Walnut Traybake Soak
How to make Coffee And Walnut Traybake Soak with Nescafe Original.
- 2 rounded teaspoons Nescafe Original
- 100ml hot water
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- A warm traybake, straight from the oven
- Dissolve the coffee and sugar in the hot water.
- Prick the warm cake all over with a skewer.
- Spoon the syrup over slowly and let it soak in before adding more.
- Cool in the tin so the syrup stays where you put it.
What you'll end up with: A damp, properly coffee-flavoured traybake. The bitterness in this jar keeps a very sweet sponge from cloying.
The Camping Cup
How to make The Camping Cup with Nescafe Original.
- 1 rounded teaspoon Nescafe Original
- 250ml hot water from a camping stove or flask
- A dry spoon kept outside the jar
- Take the water off the heat before it boils hard, or let it stand a moment.
- Paste the coffee with a small splash first, even in an enamel mug.
- Fill to 250ml, which suits water that is running below 90 degrees anyway.
- Lid on if you have one; outdoors the aroma is gone in seconds.
What you'll end up with: Hot coffee anywhere there is hot water, with nothing to plug in and nothing to clean. The 100g jar is the right size to throw in a rucksack.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Soluble coffee granules | the whole jar | There is nothing else in it. The granule size is what makes it dissolve fast and evenly in a hurry. |
| Measure per mug | ~1.8g | One rounded teaspoon per 200ml, which is roughly 55 mugs from the 100g jar, worked out from the jar weight. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this barcode 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 barcode: soluble coffee.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 100g; soluble coffee granules in a jar. Best before the date printed on the pack, and best within a couple of months of opening.
The current UK pack carries the full ingredient, nutrition and allergen statement and is the version to trust at the point of purchase.
Sourcing & blend. Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 100g is made by Nescafe, the Nestle coffee brand that has been producing soluble coffee since 1938. Original is the everyday tier of that range and the jar the brand is best known for in the UK. The coffee is a blend rather than a single origin and the split is not published on the jar, so we leave it at that. The jar you receive is the current UK retail pack rather than an import on a different specification.
What is in Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 100g, and what is not:
- In: soluble coffee granules, and nothing else. No milk powder, no sugar, no flavouring, no chicory.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: this is a black coffee, not a flavoured or sweetened mix. Any sweetness has to come from the sugar bowl.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 100g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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