Kenco Iced Hot Salted Caramel Latte: Which Box, and How to Ice It

Salted caramel is the drink here and the coffee plays a supporting part: instant coffee is 5.6 percent of the powder, well behind sugar, glucose syrup and skimmed milk powder. Treat it as a sweet milky drink that also happens to work over ice, and it does that job well.

What the powder is made of

The published ingredient list opens with sugar, glucose syrup and skimmed milk powder at 17 percent, then maltodextrin and palm kernel oil, with instant coffee at 5.6 percent and salt further down. That order explains the drink: sugar leads, cream follows and the roast arrives a long way after. Salt keeps the caramel from tasting flat and one-dimensional rather than turning the mug savoury.

It also makes the box a milk drink rather than a coffee. The sachet contains milk, so anyone with a dairy allergy should leave it alone, and there is clearly less coffee in a mug of it than in one made from a jar, so it is not the one to reach for when you want a proper morning coffee. Judged as a caramel drink, the flavour has a cooked, browned-sugar quality rather than a syrupy one, and it stops before it tastes like a sweet shop.

Making it iced, and making it hot

The Iced Hot range exists because most milky sachets fail in cold liquid: the powder needs help to disperse and leaves a gritty glass. The method is printed on the sachet, and the principle is to dissolve the powder in a small amount of liquid first, then add the cold milk and a generous glassful of ice. Finish with a brisk stir rather than a slow one all the way through, since any foam comes from air beaten into the milk powder.

For a hot mug, pour water just off the boil rather than at a rolling boil, which can leave a cooked note over the caramel. Put the powder in an empty mug, loosen it into a paste with a little hot water, then top up. If it tastes too sweet, use more liquid rather than half a sachet; halving the powder thins the milk along with the sugar and leaves the mug watery.

Eight sachets or twenty?

We sell this flavour in two boxes, eight sachets and twenty, the larger weighing 406g in all, a little over 20g a sachet. Strong flavours wear thin sooner than a plain cup, so if you have not had it before, begin with the eight. The twenty makes sense once you know it has become a regular in your house, or for a shared kitchen where a box will not hang about.

If caramel turns out not to be your flavour, the Iced Hot Vanilla Latte, the other Iced Hot box we stock, is made to be taken the same two ways. And if salted caramel every day feels like a lot, a plainer latte with a caramel biscuit on the side lets you decide how sweet the break should be.

The packs we stock

• Kenco Iced Hot Salted Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 8 Sachets (barcode 8711000493434)
• Kenco Iced Hot Salted Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 20 Sachets (barcode 8711000618424)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Kenco Iced Hot Salted Caramel Latte Instant Coffee, 20 Sachets (barcode 8711000618424) says it contains milk. Should Kenco change the Salted Caramel Latte recipe, the allergen wording on your box is what applies.

Ingredients, as published: Sugar, glucose syrup, skimmed milk powder (17%), maltodextrin, palm kernel oil, instant coffee (5.6%), salt, flavourings (contains milk), modified starch, anticaking agent (E551), milk proteins, stabilizer (E340), thickener (E415), emulsifier (E481).

Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. Your box of sachets has the last word.

What to eat with it

• Border Dark Chocolate Ginger Organic Biscuits, 150g: ginger heat and dark chocolate cut straight through a sweet caramel drink, hot or iced.
• Thomas Fudge's 6 Dark Chocolate Florentines: a thin florentine backed with dark chocolate, whose bitter edge gives the sweet caramel something to push against.
• Lu Le Petit Cookie with Chunky Rich Chocolate Chips, 184g: chunky chocolate chips alongside a caramel latte for a proper afternoon treat.

Elsewhere in the Kenco range

• Kenco Classic Latte Instant Coffee, 20 Sachets
• Kenco Decaf Instant Coffee, 190g
• Kenco Gold Indulgence Instant Coffee, 190g
• Kenco Iced Hot Vanilla Latte Instant Coffee, 8 Sachets
• Kenco Latte Instant Coffee Sachets, 8 Sachets 130.4g
• Kenco Millicano Cadbury Mocha Instant Coffee, 250g

The full range is on the Kenco brand page.

FAQ

Can you really make it iced? Yes, the range is designed for it. Dissolve the powder in a little liquid first, then add cold milk and plenty of ice.

How much coffee is in the salted caramel sachet? Instant coffee is 5.6 percent of the powder, so the caramel and milk lead and the coffee stays in the background.

What if it tastes too sweet? Use more liquid rather than less powder, so the milk and sugar dilute together and the balance holds.

Is there dairy in the salted caramel sachet? Yes. The published list includes skimmed milk powder and milk proteins, so it is not suitable for anyone avoiding dairy.

Should I buy eight or twenty? Eight to find out if you like it; twenty once you know it will be drunk.

Curator's note: Over ice, with something dark and gingery on the plate, is how this one earns its place in our cupboard. The sharpness of the biscuit is what stops the caramel running away with things. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Kenco Iced Hot Salted Caramel Latte: Which Box, and How to Ice It

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• Tea vs Coffee: Taste, Caffeine and Switching
• Caffeine in Tea
• Tea vs Coffee
• Tea for Coffee Drinkers: Where to Start
• Chai vs Coffee
• Best Instant Coffee UK

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