Mellow Bird's Coffee (100g)

Product Information

And wow, what a difference. While the various grades, granules, arabica beans, robusta beans, mellow and rich roasts all had distinct characters, there were stark differences between the individual coffees themselves. The best were balanced and satisfying, the worst plain rough, often with a distinctly burnt taste. The dried granules have a brighter smell than some but the coffee is murky in colour and very weak in flavour. The imaginary caller. After taking a mouthful of the poisonous-like coffee, pull out your mobile and start talking: “Ohh… right… that sounds serious… I’m on my way!” Drop the coffee and dash out the front door to the imaginary emergency! With some trepidation I brewed up 23 different instant coffees as directed on the jars, which was universally 1 tsp (sometimes 1-2 tsp) to a cup or mug of just off-boiling water. I used 200ml of 95C, and set to sipping. Brews to a reddish colour and a very rich, Italian-style flavour with a slightly treacly intensity. Has a great length, if you like that flavour.

According to Little, the reason that most instant coffee doesn’t taste as refined and complex as freshly ground is about more than the process – it’s the quality of beans too. Brutal response. Spit or spew it out on the floor! Screw-up your face and yell out “ That’s disgusting!” then storm out the house.

MY ACCOUNT

More acidity than the competing Sainsbury’s own-brand version, and no bitterness. It’s quite bland (as you’d expect), but with a roundness and a little malty length. If this is your style, it’s a good buy.

So far, so simple: freeze-dried coffee is more expensive but probably tastes better. But to find out more, I talked to Will Little of Little’s Coffee, who make high-end instant coffee – the flavoured ones are available in Sainsbury’s, but for the unflavoured single origin instant coffees you’ll need to head to Ocado or direct at wearelittles.com. At around a fiver per 100g it is way out of the thrifty zone, but I know at least one restaurant critic who swears by it.For reasons of hygiene and safety, personal grooming products, cosmetics or items of intimate clothing cannot be returned. The granules smell of boiled-over milk (that’s the caramel note); the coffee brews dark, but the slight bitterness is balanced out by milk. Not much length of flavour though. A posh-looking jar but the coffee tastes sadly singed and dusty. Classic parents’ evening coffee – complete with a whiff of school caretaker’s cupboard.

You need 3-4kg of green coffee beans to make 1kg instant coffee. But the price of 1kg instant coffee isn’t as much as 3-4kg coffee beans”. No surprise then, says Little, that “the manufacturers who dominate instant coffee aren’t using the same quality of coffee that you’d put in your cafetière”. Some nice acidity and a rich fruitiness; the end is a very dark Italian-style flavour. You wouldn’t mistake this for freshly ground coffee but it’s not bad. TV ads will air on Channel 4 on university campuses via the student-targeted Freewire TV service before potentially being rolled out nationwide.

WHY BUY FROM US

Powder rather than granules, and delivers some bitter grip but very little else. Wouldn’t recommend.