This is so aggressively bitter, it’s violent. Lavazza Prontissimo Intenso, 95g, $11 ($11.58 per 100g), available from major supermarkets Whether it’s black or with milk, it’s easy to drink, and easiness is what instant coffee is about. Ultimately, it’s like having a quiet people-pleaser for a friend – they’re not going to light up a social event but they’re never going to offend anyone either. It picked up points for having a bit of sweetness and for being one of the few coffees to have any acidity. Tai said it tasted like what you’d get from a big-chain coffee shop but less bitter. One judge guessed the aroma may be robusta beans but Nature’s Cuppa is one of the few brands we tasted to use arabica. I thought it was earthy-smelling, like a wheat field. The first thing I said about this coffee was: “How can this smell so good and so bad?” None of the other judges replied because they were busy trying to figure out how a coffee can smell savoury, sweet and stale at the same time, like “beef jerky”, according to Lin. Nature’s Cuppa Organic Coffee, 100g, $12, available from Woolworths As supermarket instant coffee is generally made with low-quality, heavily roasted robusta beans (robusta contains more caffeine and tastes earthier than arabica, the Australian cafe-standard beans), we came into this taste test expecting bitter, earthy and generally offensive coffees. I was joined by Junji Tai (Brighter Coffee cafe), Adryll Lin (Condesa Co Lab coffee importer), Carolin Jung (Solstice cafe), Benjamin Johnson (The New Paradigm Coffee roaster) and Juwa Chu (Diggy Doos Coffee cafe), all knowledgable Sydney-based coffee professionals. But while I was probably the only reviewer who spent the rest of the day incapacitated by a hurricane of emotions and heartbeats, I wasn’t the only one who was confused by what we tasted. Unlike the five coffee professionals who joined me, I don’t have the caffeine tolerance or battle-hardened wisdom to make a judgment with one sip – I finished most cups. Nothing has made me feel more unhinged and confused than drinking 11 different instant coffees in an hour.
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