Jessica Block
Prior to the spring of 2020, it was tough to find devout fans of instant coffee. It was the ugly stepsister, the weak link, the problem child of the coffee world. And even at the height of the pandemic, once Dalgona coffee took off and people were buying instant coffee left and right to mix with equal parts sugar and water and whip up into a foam (since there was really nothing else to do), the consensus was that the coffee quality largely wasn’t there. Pair that with the prevailing opinions people have about decaf coffee (useless, post-dinner only, a cruel practical joke for the morning crowd), and let’s just say, instant decaf coffee is a bit controversial.
Don’t you worry, though, we took one for the team and tried about a gagillion and three different instant decaf coffees so that you, our beloved readers, can have a passably decent nighttime dalgona, or a fun lil midnight biscotti and coffee moment. Heck, maybe you are just using this to flavor your chocolate cakes. Whatever your need, we’ve got you.
What is instant coffee?
Instant coffee is brewed coffee that then gets dried (sometimes freeze-dried) into crystals that immediately dissolve when you combine them with hot water. Instant coffee is the fastest way to get your coffee made in the morning, but the trade off is that it can sometimes be bitter, watery, or even taste like day-old coffee that has been sitting out.
What we looked for in the best instant decaf coffee
Really, the most coffee-like of the bunch are the ones that got our attention. We looked for:
- A nice balance of acidity, bitterness, and depth of flavor
- No “off” flavors, like day-old coffee or the second pull of a Nespresso pod (IYKYK—don’t try it)
- Tastes the most like a freshly brewed cuppa straight from a real machine
Did any instant decaf coffees actually live up to our sort of lofty expectations? Read on to find out—you might just be surprised.
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- O Organics Decaffeinated Instant Coffee
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This freeze-dried instant decaf coffee from O Organics (a house brand at Albertsons-owned grocery stores) was not very bitter or acidic. Overall, it’s a very mild cup of coffee. It has a touch of that old-coffee flavor to it, the most of any on this list, but believe us, it still tastes like coffee and I can’t say that about every brand of instant decaf we tried in our taste test. In a pinch, this is a totally acceptable thing to have in the pantry when you randomly have a guest who only drinks decaf.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Highground Organic Fair Trade Coffee Instant Decaf
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Highground’s instant decaf is very acidic and has just the faintest touch of that old-coffee taste, but not enough to be offensive. This is an otherwise very mundane, very serviceable cuppa uncaffeinated joe. I’d use this in baking, for cookie dipping, or maybe even with creamer by a warm fire.
Credit: Merc / Amazon
- Folgers Classic Decaf
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Folgers makes a very mild instant decaf coffee (the coffee gets more intense later in the list, don’t worry) with a slight bitterness and very minimal off or stale flavors. It does have a bit of a strange flavor profile, though; it reminded me of dried fruit, like prunes or dates—well, if those fruits were slightly bitter, not sweet, and also made of instant coffee. Does that sound crazy? Maybe, but I suppose this instant decaf is just crazy enough to work.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Nescafé Taster’s Choice Decaf House Blend
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If you like dark roast coffee, you should give this instant decaf a go. It’s so toasty it almost tastes burnt (almost but not quite). This stuff has a very strong coffee flavor, and if you are looking to make something “COFFEE flavored” in your baking—as opposed to regular ol’ “coffee flavored”—this might be your guy. Or if you are just more of a robust coffee fan, this might be the one for you. It has the teensiest hint of that old-coffee flavor on the finish, but if you are drinking this with literally anything else in it or with it, you probably won’t detect anything out of the ordinary.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Signature Select Decaffeinated Instant Coffee Crystals
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Signature Select’s decaf instant coffee is mild, but hear us out: This is where things on the list start getting good. It isn’t bitter, it is only lightly acidic, and has some really nice chocolatey, almost toasted marshmallowy undertones to it. This one is so pleasant I would even consider drinking it with just half-and-half, no sweetener. Yes, I mean that. About an instant coffee. I’ll even drink twice to prove I am okay. See? I am doing it right now.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Great Value 100% Arabica Decaf Colombian Instant Coffee
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Not only does this Great Value instant coffee have the longest name of the entire lineup of coffees we tried, it also has the quality to back it up. Walmart, it turns out, makes an instant decaf coffee so good that it actually tastes like good diner coffee. It is very acidic (which I don’t happen to mind), ever so slightly bitter, and has an excellent, complex chocolatey coffee flavor with a touch of umami. If someone were to serve this to me with no context, I’d probably first ask them why they are handing me a coffee (if there truly were no context), then I would taste it and assume it had been made in a regular ol’ drip coffee machine from solid quality beans. I cannot stress enough that this actually tastes good black. No cream, no sugar, no nothing (though I’m sure it would not be bad if you added those things). This is a perfectly respectable cup of decaffeinated Joeseph, and I think it really earns every single word of its title. Plus, the packaging has a toucan on it, and canonically, toucans are better than one.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
Best Mild
Most Acidic
Most Fruity
Most Toasty
Most Balanced
Best of the Best
Other decaf instant coffees we tried
Nescafé Clásico Decaf, Nescafé Gold Espresso Decaf
Jay Wilson
Justine Sterling
Navya Hari
