I've become something of a snob when it comes to coffee. Although I know for many people it's vital fuel for the day and they need their X amount of cups to keep their energy up, for me coffee is a treat to savour that I probably only indulge in a handful of times a week.
And since I only have a few a week, the coffee that I drink is almost exclusively bought from local coffee shops, and made by people who are experts at what they do, with high quality beans in fancy machines.
But for many people, including my housemates, instant coffee is something of a necessity. So with coffee, as with any household essential, it's important to get the best value they can.
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To help them out with this I've bought the cheapest instant coffee available from four of London's biggest supermarkets to work out exactly where you can find the best value pick me up.
Lidl
Lidl's deluxe Colombian Instant Coffee, weighing in at 100g, will cost you an eyebrow raising £2.09, which seems steep for such a small amount. It's also the worst smelling, getting things off to a very bad start for the usually reliable budget supermarket.
It doesn't improve either, with a watery flavour despite two spoonfuls of coffee, and an intensely bitter flavour. With the most polished branding of all four jars, let this be a lesson not to trust any promises of luxury when it comes to instant coffee.
Overall: 3/10
Aldi
Aldi's Alcafe Rich Roast coffee wasn't the cheapest at £1.85, but definitely offers the most bang for your buck in terms of volume, weighing in at 200g for that still fairly low sum.
When it comes to flavour the Alcafe smells good and is only narrowly beaten by Iceland to top spot. The taste is what you'd generally expect from instant coffee, much richer than Lidl but not mind blowing and perhaps slightly less than the smell initially hinted at.
Overall: 6/10
Tesco
Tesco's Gold blend instant coffee comes in a 200g jar as well, but for a haughty price of £2.50, so unless this is far and away the best tasting coffee of the four then the UK's biggest supermarket is going to have a problem.
It ranks third on the smell test, and upon tasting it's clear this is a good indication of its ceiling. While a marked improvement on Lidl, and much less bitter, there's still a lack of flavour marking this coffee out as fairly average.
Overall: 5/10
Iceland
Iceland's best offer was the £1.50 Lyon's Rich Roast instant coffee, which comes in a 100g jar. This smaller size offers a bit less value for money in terms of overall volume, but there was plenty of room to claw this value back with a great flavour.
The coffee also smelled the best straight out the jar, suggesting the flavour would indeed be backing up that price. For instant coffee this was remarkably smooth without a hint of bitterness and actually enjoyable, rather than just a vehicle for caffeine. That said, it doesn't pack as much of a punch in terms of strength if that's what you like in your coffee.
Overall: 8/10
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