Little's French Vanilla Instant: The Style, Dose and Serve

Little's French Vanilla Instant Coffee: What French Vanilla Means

Open the jar and it smells of warm custard before any water goes in, which tells you exactly where the flavour lives. The vanilla is carried in the granule, so what you make is a vanilla-scented coffee that you sweeten, or not, yourself.

Published 26 Sep 2026 Curator-written, not crowdsourced

Little's French Vanilla Instant Coffee: What French Vanilla Means, in summary: French vanilla is a style, the custard-and-cream end of vanilla, not a place. Little's infuses it into freeze-dried coffee on a medium, low-bitterness base, so you can drink it black, with milk or over ice.

Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in September 2026.

Open the jar and it smells of warm custard before any water goes in, which tells you exactly where the flavour lives. The vanilla is carried in the granule, so what you make is a vanilla-scented coffee that you sweeten, or not, yourself.

French describes the vanilla, not the coffee

The word French on the jar points to a flavour style rather than an origin. It is the rich, custard like take on vanilla that recalls vanilla ice cream, as opposed to the thin, sharp note of a poor extract. Nothing about the coffee claims to be French. The name simply tells you which end of the vanilla spectrum to expect, and the aroma keeps that promise.

Little's published ingredient list for this jar is two items: freeze-dried coffee and French vanilla flavouring. Underneath sits a medium-roast coffee with its bitterness deliberately restrained, which is the right call. Vanilla is soft and rounded; a dark, charred coffee would argue with it, and a very light, acidic one would make it taste thin. Balanced in the middle, the two read as one drink.

Making a smooth mug

Put one rounded teaspoon, about 1.8g, into a dry mug for every 200ml, then add just a splash of hot water. Stir that into a smooth paste before topping up, because dry granules dropped into a full mug tend to clump. Pour at around 90 degrees, roughly half a minute after the kettle switches itself off; water at a rolling boil strips the vanilla out before anything else.

A 50g jar gives roughly 27 mugs at that dose, our own sum from the jar's weight rather than a number on the label, so expect fewer if you like it strong. The cup reads sweet because the nose takes vanilla as sweetness, not necessarily because of sugar, so taste it before adding any. It takes milk well, and on a warm afternoon it works poured over ice with cold milk.

The easiest flavoured jar to start with

Of the three Little's jars we stock, French Vanilla is the one we would hand to someone who has never tried a flavoured coffee. Creamy Caramel and Rich Hazelnut are the other two, both in the same 50g jar, but vanilla is the easiest introduction. It works best as a second jar beside a plain one, the coffee for an afternoon or a weekend rather than every weekday morning.

Little's is a family-run company in Devon. Henry and Leila Little started it more than 35 years ago after meeting flavoured-coffee roasters in California, and their son Will now runs it with his wife Caro. Every jar is made in-house at the family's factory in Willand, the company is a certified B Corporation, and Little's describes every flavour in its range as vegan-friendly.

The packs we stock

Little's French Vanilla Infused Instant Coffee, 50g (barcode 5034718081070)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Little's French Vanilla Infused Instant Coffee, 50g names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the French Vanilla jar on sale now; Little's may alter its recipe and allergen advice.

Ingredients, as published: Freeze-Dried Coffee, French Vanilla Flavouring.

Typical values per 100ml	Per 100ml
Energy	4 kcal
Fat	trace
of which saturates	trace
Carbohydrate	0.7g
of which sugars	0.1g
Protein	0.2g
Salt	trace

Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The French Vanilla jar you own has the final say.

What to eat with it

McVitie's Hobnobs Milk Chocolate Biscuits, 262g: Milk chocolate and vanilla are an old partnership, and the oaty crunch gives the soft coffee something to bite against.
Lotus Biscoff Caramelised Biscuits, 250g: Biscoff's caramelised crunch next to a custard-scented cup brings an ordinary afternoon close to dessert.
Border Lemon Drizzle Melts Organic Biscuits, 150g: Lemon brings a little sharpness that stops a vanilla afternoon feeling too soft.
McVitie's Original Hobnobs Biscuits - The Oaty One, 255g: A plain oat biscuit for when the vanilla should lead.

Elsewhere in the Little's range

The full range is on the Little's brand page.

FAQ

Is French vanilla coffee from France? No. French vanilla names a custard-like style of vanilla flavour; nothing on the jar claims a French origin.

Does Little's French Vanilla have sugar in it? The published ingredient list is freeze-dried coffee and French vanilla flavouring; the sweetness you notice is the vanilla aroma. The full nutrition panel is on the current French Vanilla jar.

How many mugs are in a 50g jar? Roughly 27 at one rounded teaspoon per 200ml; that is our calculation from the jar weight, not a label claim.

Can I make it iced? Yes. Dissolve the granules in a splash of hot water first, then pour over ice and cold milk.

Is it vegan? Little's describes every flavour as vegan-friendly, and the published list for this jar names none of the 14 major allergens.

Curator's note: If a friend insists they do not like flavoured coffee, this is the jar I would quietly make them a cup from. Black, no sugar, and let the smell do the persuading. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Little's French Vanilla Instant Coffee: What French Vanilla Means

Field	Detail
Brand	Little's
Packs we stock	50g
Category	Instant Coffee
Allergens (as published)	The published French Vanilla ingredients, Little's says, contain none of the 14 major allergens.
Caffeine	caffeinated
Style	Custard-and-cream vanilla
Serve	Black, with milk or over ice
Best for	A first flavoured coffee