Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g
This is the jar most people are picturing when they say instant coffee. Original is the bolder, more bitter granule in the Nescafé range, and that bitterness is not an accident: it is what lets a mug survive a lot of milk and two sugars and still taste of coffee at the bottom. Drink it black and it is a harder cup than Gold Blend, drier and shorter, with an edge that some people call harsh and others have been drinking happily since they were nineteen. Where it earns its shelf space is the builder's mug, made in fifteen seconds without anyone thinking about it, and it is none the worse for that. It is the coffee that gets drunk rather than discussed, and there is no shame at all in stocking it.
Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, in brief.
Nescafe Original Instant Coffee in the 300g jar is the household size of Britain's default coffee granule: a bold, dark-leaning soluble coffee that makes the same mug every time in about fifteen seconds, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the everyday jar the rest of the coffee shelf is judged against.
Nescafe's own guide is one teaspoon (1.8g) per 200ml mug, about 166 mugs to the jar, which makes it the sensible buy for a house where more than one person drinks coffee.
The 300g jar exists for houses where more than one person drinks coffee. At the pack's guide of one teaspoon (1.8g) per 200ml mug it makes about 166 mugs, a good deal better per mug than buying the small jar twice as often. That is the whole argument for the large format, and it is worth saying plainly rather than dressing it up: you are buying the same coffee, more cheaply, in a jar that takes up slightly more cupboard space.
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, water temperature guidance and iced coffee builds are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Nescafé
Nestlé launched Nescafé in 1938, and the product it launched solved a genuine problem: coffee that could be stored, shipped and made a cup at a time without a brewer. Nearly ninety years later the brand is the default instant in a very large number of British kitchens, and Original is the jar that sits at the centre of the range, below the freeze-dried Gold Blend tier and above nothing in particular. We stock it because a curated shelf that carries only the expensive things is not a shelf, it is a display.
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 sourcing claims on current packs. We reprint none of them second hand; check the jar in front of you for the claims in force when you buy.
- A 300g jar replaces roughly 166 single-serve capsules, with one lid, one jar and no aluminium to sort. On waste alone the big jar is the best thing on the coffee aisle.
- Glass jars are among the most reliably recycled items in UK kerbside collections. Rinse it, take the lid off, and check whether your council wants the lid separately.
Making Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g At Home
- Water temperature: 90 to 95°C. Never straight off a rolling boil.
- Measure: One teaspoon (1.8g) per 200ml mug, as the pack advises; two for a large mug with milk.
- Method: Paste first with a splash of water, then top up. It is a two-second habit that fixes the most common complaint about instant.
- Service: Black, or with milk and sugar to taste. It takes milk better than most instants because of its strength.
- Iced version: Make it four times as strong in a small amount of hot water, sweeten while hot, then top up with cold milk or water over ice.
- Caffeine note: Standard caffeinated coffee, not a decaf. A decaffeinated version of the same jar is available if you want the taste later in the day.
- Best with: Buttered toast, digestives, bacon sandwiches, and any situation where the coffee has to be ready before you are awake.
- Storage: Lid on tight, cool dry cupboard, dry spoon every time. Wet teaspoons are what turn the last third of a jar into a solid block.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g, 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
Instant coffee has one real enemy and it is boiling water poured straight onto the granules. Water at a full rolling boil scalds soluble coffee and pushes the bitterness forward, which is most of the reason instant has the reputation it has. Take the kettle off the boil for half a minute and the same jar makes a noticeably better cup, at no cost and no extra effort.
The Everyday Mug
The Iced Coffee Jug
Made with this tea
The Everyday Mug, Done Properly
How to make a mug of Nescafe Original that is worth drinking.
- 1 rounded teaspoon Nescafe Original, about 2g
- 200ml water at 90 to 95°C
- Milk to taste
- Sugar, only if you want it
- Boil the kettle, then let it stand for about thirty seconds. Water at a full rolling boil scalds soluble coffee and pushes the bitterness forward.
- Paste one rounded teaspoon of Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g with a splash of the hot water and stir it smooth before you top up.
- Top up to 200ml and stir once more.
- Finish with milk, then taste before adding any sugar.
What you'll end up with: The same jar, a better mug. The thirty-second wait and the paste step cost nothing and fix the two things people complain about most.
A Litre Of Iced Coffee For The Fridge
How to batch iced coffee with Nescafe Original.
- 4 rounded teaspoons Nescafe Original
- 200ml hot water
- 800ml cold milk or water
- Sugar to taste, optional
- Plenty of ice, to serve
- Dissolve 4 rounded teaspoons of Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g in 200ml of hot water and stir until completely smooth.
- Sweeten now if you want it sweet. Sugar added to a cold jug sinks and stays there.
- Top up to a litre with cold milk or water, cover, and chill for at least an hour.
- Serve over plenty of ice. It keeps for two days in a sealed bottle.
What you'll end up with: Cold coffee that holds. Soluble granules have no oils to go stale, which is exactly why instant outlasts a brewed iced coffee in the fridge.
Whipped Coffee Topping
How to whip Nescafe Original into a foam for the top of a cold glass of milk.
- 2 tablespoons Nescafe Original
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons just-boiled water
- 400ml cold milk
- Ice
- Combine equal parts Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g, caster sugar and hot water in a bowl.
- Whisk hard, by hand or with an electric whisk, for three to five minutes until it turns pale and holds soft peaks.
- Fill two glasses with ice and cold milk.
- Spoon the foam on top and stir it down as you drink.
What you'll end up with: A thick coffee foam over cold milk. It only works with soluble coffee, so this is one thing a jar of instant does that no brewed coffee can.
Proper Mocha In A Mug
How to build a mocha with Nescafe Original and real cocoa.
- 2 rounded teaspoons Nescafe Original
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 200ml hot milk
- Mix the Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g, cocoa and sugar together dry in the mug. Mixing them dry is what stops the cocoa from lumping.
- Add a tablespoon of hot water and work it into a smooth paste.
- Pour in 200ml of hot milk, stirring as you go.
- Taste and adjust. Two teaspoons of coffee is deliberate; one disappears completely under the cocoa.
What you'll end up with: A mocha that tastes of coffee as well as chocolate. Original's bitter edge is an advantage here, because it stops the drink collapsing into sweetness.
Coffee And Walnut Cake Soak
How to use Nescafe Original in baking, where it beats brewed coffee.
- 2 teaspoons Nescafe Original
- 1 tablespoon just-boiled water
- Your usual buttercream and sponge
- Walnut halves, to finish
- Dissolve 2 teaspoons of Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g in 1 tablespoon of just-boiled water and let it cool.
- Beat half of it into the buttercream and fold the other half into the sponge batter.
- Bake and assemble as usual, then press walnut halves into the top.
- Keep the concentrate strong. Brewed coffee adds too much liquid to a batter and dilutes the flavour it is meant to add.
What you'll end up with: Concentrated coffee flavour with almost no added liquid. This is the job soluble coffee is genuinely best at, and a household jar makes it cheap to do often.
Coffee For A Crowd
How to make eight mugs of Nescafe Original at once without a machine.
- 8 rounded teaspoons Nescafe Original
- 1.6 litres water at 90 to 95°C
- A large teapot or an insulated jug
- Milk and sugar on the side
- Warm the pot or jug with hot water and tip it out, so the coffee does not lose ten degrees the moment it goes in.
- Paste 8 rounded teaspoons of Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g with a little hot water in the bottom of the pot.
- Pour in 1.6 litres of water rested off the boil and stir well.
- Serve within about twenty minutes, with milk and sugar on the side rather than in the pot.
What you'll end up with: Eight mugs made once, everybody served together, and no queue at the kettle. Leaving the milk out of the pot means people can take it as they want it.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Soluble coffee granules | 100% | The whole of the product. Roasted coffee brewed, concentrated and dried into granules that dissolve on contact with hot water. |
| Bean blend | Not broken down on pack | What the blend delivers is a bold, dark-leaning cup rather than a mellow one. |
| Added sugar, flavourings, bulking agents | None | Nothing is added to carry or stretch the coffee. Anything sweet in the mug is what you put there. |
| Dose | About 2g per 200ml mug | One rounded teaspoon. Two for a large mug with a lot of milk, which is where most of the variation between households comes from. |
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, 300g; glass jar with a plastic lid; standard caffeinated coffee, not decaffeinated. Roughly 150 mugs at a rounded teaspoon each. Check the best before date printed on the jar.
Characterising components shown; soluble coffee is a single ingredient product, so the table describes the specification of that ingredient rather than a recipe. Nutritional values for black coffee made without milk or sugar are negligible; the milk and sugar are what carry the calories in a typical British mug.
Sourcing & blend. Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g is made by Nestlé, which launched the Nescafé brand in 1938 with a product built to solve a real problem: coffee that could be stored and made one cup at a time without a brewer. Original is the standard granule at the centre of the range, below the freeze-dried Gold Blend tier. 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 jar in front of you for the claims in force at the time you buy.
What's in Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, 300g, and what isn't:
- In: soluble coffee granules, and nothing else.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: no flavourings and no bulking agents either.
- Not decaffeinated: this is standard caffeinated coffee. A decaffeinated version of the same jar is sold separately.
- Pack: glass jar with a plastic lid. Glass 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 Original Instant Coffee, 300g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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