L'Or Classique Instant Coffee: How to Make It Well

L'Or Classique Instant Coffee: The Everyday Jar

Instant coffee has already been brewed and dried, so boiling water gives it nothing except the chance to be scorched. Classique rewards care with the kettle more than any other habit, and it is the L'Or jar to start with if you drink it black or with only a little milk.

Published 26 Sep 2026 Curator-written, not crowdsourced

L'Or Classique Instant Coffee: The Everyday Jar, in summary: Classique is the balanced, medium-roast jar in L'Or's instant range: low bitterness, gentle toasted notes and a short, clean finish. Rest the kettle, use about 2g per 200ml mug and keep the spoon dry.

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

Instant coffee has already been brewed and dried, so boiling water gives it nothing except the chance to be scorched. Classique rewards care with the kettle more than any other habit, and it is the L'Or jar to start with if you drink it black or with only a little milk.

Where Classique sits in the L'Or range

L'Or, founded in France in 1992 and now one of JDE Peet's three global brands, is best known for its aluminium capsules, but it also makes a small range of soluble coffee. Classique is the balanced member of that family: a medium roast with colour and body but no burnt edge, low bitterness, and a finish that stops cleanly instead of hanging about. It is the jar for people who want instant to taste of coffee rather than of paper.

Intense, the jar above it, is darker and heavier, and like Artiste Vigoroso it blends finely ground roast coffee into the instant. Choose Classique for a black mug or one with a dash of milk. For a large, milky mug where the coffee still needs to be tasted, the Intense holds up better, because half a pint of milk buries Classique completely.

Kettle, spoon and mug

Give the kettle thirty seconds to a minute once it has boiled; the aim is water at roughly 90 to 95°C. Water straight off the boil drives the lightest aromas away as steam before they ever reach the cup, and pushes the flavour towards bitterness. That top note is the most fragile part of any instant, which is why a mug smells its best in the first moments after pouring and fades soon after.

One rounded teaspoon, about 2g, suits a 200ml mug. A large 300ml mug is better served by two level spoons than one heaped one, since a heaped spoon tends to leave undissolved grit at the bottom. At about 2g a mug, the 150g jar makes around seventy-five mugs by our own arithmetic. Adjust the dose to taste; with instant, the spoon is the only real strength control you have.

Keeping the jar good to the last spoon

The biggest threat to a jar of instant is water. One damp spoon is enough to start the granules clumping, and by the last third of the jar they can set into a solid block. Use a dry spoon every time, close the lid straight after, and keep the jar away from the steam of the kettle. Do that and the mug from the bottom of the jar tastes like the first one did.

Classique is at its best as the quick mug: the mid-morning coffee you want in under two minutes, with no grinder, no tamping and nothing to wash but the cup. It has a practical side beyond speed, too. Instant uses far less coffee per cup than a cafetière and leaves no spent grounds behind, and a rinsed, empty jar makes a handy store for loose tea.

The packs we stock

L'Or Classique Instant Coffee, 150g (barcode 8711000380710)

What to eat with it

Lu Le Petit Cookie with Chunky Rich Chocolate Chips, 184g: A chunky chocolate chip cookie gives a mild, medium-roast mug the sweetness it does not bring itself.
Maryland Minis Cookies - Choc Chip 6 Mini Bags, 118.8g: Six mini bags, one for each quick mid-morning mug, so a whole packet is never opened for one coffee.
Thomas Fudge's 6 Dark Chocolate Florentines: For the afternoon mug, dark chocolate florentines add the richness a gentle instant leaves out.

Elsewhere in the L'Or range

The full range is on the L'Or brand page.

FAQ

How does L'Or Classique compare with L'Or Intense? Classique is the lighter, rounder cup; Intense is darker and heavier and holds up better in a large milky mug.

Should I use boiling water for instant coffee? No. Let the kettle rest for thirty seconds to a minute so the water is around 90 to 95°C; boiling water scorches the aroma.

How much Classique should I use per mug? About 2g, a rounded teaspoon, for a 200ml mug, and two level teaspoons for a 300ml mug.

Why has my coffee gone hard in the jar? Moisture, usually from a wet spoon or steam. Keep the spoon dry and the lid shut and the granules stay loose.

Is Classique from the same brand as L'Or capsules? Yes. It is the same L'Or brand, part of JDE Peet's, the group that also owns Douwe Egberts and Kenco.

Curator's note: Rest the kettle, dry the spoon and keep the milk to a splash. Do those three things and this is a far better mug than the reputation of instant suggests. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: L'Or Classique Instant Coffee: The Everyday Jar

Field	Detail
Brand	L'Or
Packs we stock	150g
Category	Instant Coffee
Caffeine	caffeinated
Dose	About 2g per 200ml mug
Best with	A chocolate chip cookie mid-morning
Milk	A splash, not half a pint