Instant Coffee Isn’t Bland—Here Are Our Favorites

Best Overall

Intelligentsia Instant Coffee House Blend

$12 at Intelligentsia.com

Luckily for any coffee-lover, Intelligentsia Coffee took its popular House Blend and made an instant version that's packaged in single-serve packets, and it received the highest rating out of the various instant coffees we tested. The taste immediately stands out compared to other brands and contains brighter notes than what's usually found in instant coffee. It blends sweet elements like brown sugar and caramel with fruity ones like apple and pear. Despite the many tasting notes, it's extremely easy to drink. Plus, none of the flavors are artificial.

One of the few downsides is the price. Per serving, it's close to buying a cup of drip coffee from a café. The boxes don't come with many servings—just five coffee sachets per purchase—which means you might need to buy a couple of boxes to get through the week. If you place a premium on taste and quality, though, Intelligentsia's Instant House Blend is the best out there. The single-serve packets are also easy to travel with and eliminate the hassle of having to measure scoops.

Roast: Medium | Size: Five-count box | Packaging Options: Single-serve packets | Available In: Instant, whole bean, and ground

Best Value

Mount Hagen Instant Coffee

$24 at Amazon $16 at Walmart $12 at Thrive Market

We have tested Mount Hagen Instant Coffee multiple times over the years and it remains one of the best options that you can find in a wide variety of grocery stores. It's a medium roast that emphasizes smoothness. The flavor will be familiar to those who frequently drink instant, but it's an enhanced version of that well-known taste. There's minimal bitterness and enough body and aroma to make it feel like regular coffee.

Like most instant coffee, Mount Hagen is handy to bring camping. It's sold in jars, pouches, and boxes of single-serve sticks. It's pricier than the budget brands that people associate with instant coffee but less expensive than offerings from boutique roasters. Since it's carried by many grocery stores and online retailers, you may have coupons or rewards that make the reasonable price even cheaper. Mount Hagen Instant Coffee is also Certified Organic and Fair Trade Certified.

Roast: Medium | Size: 3.53 ounces | Packaging Options: Glass jar, single-serve sticks, and pouches | Available In: Instant

Best Organic

Four Sigmatic Think With Lion's Mane and Chaga

$14 at Amazon $15 at Thrive Market $12 at IHerb

Mushroom coffee has grown in popularity in recent years. Some people choose it because it's organic and has a lower caffeine content. Others simply prefer the taste, which is noticeably different than coffee made purely from beans.

Four Sigmatic, a top producer of mushroom coffee, has three types of instant coffee, and the "Think" variety is our favorite. It's a medium roast blended from arabica coffee beans as well as lion's mane and chaga mushrooms. The flavor is rich and nutty with a hint of sweetness, which makes it a great option for those who are trying mushroom coffee for the first time. Even people who don't like mushrooms in food might like this coffee because, well, it doesn't taste like mushrooms. The aroma is different than regular coffee, however. It's a little more vegetal than the typical roasted smell you associate with a fresh brew.

Roast: Medium | Size: 10-count box or 2.56-ounce jar | Packaging Options: Single-serve packets | Available In: Instant, ground, and pods

Best High-End

Cometeer Medium/Dark Box

View on Cometeer.com

Instant coffee is usually made by brewing hot coffee and dehydrating it. Instead, Cometeer brews coffee 10 times stronger than normal and immediately flash-freezes it for maximum flavor. It's not traditional instant coffee, yet it only takes seconds to prepare. The brand works with several well-known roasters like Birch, Counter Culture, and Red Bay to provide an array of flavors and café quality.

We have tested Cometeer capsules more than once and are consistently impressed by the taste and how easy it is to make. To brew, simply rinse a capsule under warm water for a few seconds, empty the frozen coffee puck into your mug, and pour 8 ounces of hot water on top. Making iced coffee requires a little foresight, as it’s recommended to let the capsules thaw for a couple of days beforehand; however, we adequately melted the pucks under warm water and stirred them with ice water until they completely dissolved.

Options range from light, medium, and dark roasts to decaf and single origin. While the price shouldn't be compared to that of other instant coffees on this list, as Cometeer is a much different product, the boxes can be a little costly. That said, it's worth it for coffee that's just as fast as instant but tastes even better.

Roasts: Available in light, medium, and dark | Size: 32-count box | Packaging Options: Recyclable coffee capsules | Available In: Frozen only

Best Dark Roast

Starbucks VIA Instant French Roast Dark Roast Coffee

$47 at Amazon $9 at Vitacost

Depending on your taste buds, Starbucks is either famous or infamous for its distinctly strong coffee. That signature robustness is exactly what makes Starbucks VIA Instant French Roast popular, too. While it isn't our favorite instant coffee that we tested, it surpasses all other dark roasts. It's bold, smoky, slightly bitter, and the flavors stay on your tongue for a long time. It's similar to the whole bean version of Starbucks French roast. We found the flavor more overpowering than nuanced, so it wouldn't be our go-to choice for every single cup of the day. Starbucks devotees and serious dark-roast lovers will thoroughly enjoy it, though. As a bonus, the instant coffee is surprisingly cheap, even though Starbucks’ in-store prices are on the higher end. We also like that it's available in a variety of sizes.

Roast: Dark | Size: 8 or 50-count box | Packaging Options: Single-serve sticks | Available In: Instant, whole bean, ground, K-Cup

Best for Iced Coffee

Jot Ultra Coffee

$25 at Amazon View on Jot.co

Jot is a liquid coffee concentrate that packs a ton of flavor into every drop. It's designed to mix with hot or cold water for a lightning-fast cup of joe. Regular instant coffee is easy to make, and this is even easier.

We've tested the majority of Jot's flavors over the years and think they're all worthwhile depending on preference, but the Original option is a safe place to start. It has a balanced flavor that pairs well with milk but is strong enough to drink plain. We detected more sweetness in it than most of the other instant coffees we tested, which further lends itself to iced coffee form. Expectedly, it's more expensive per serving than instant coffee in the grocery store, but the price is reasonable and saves money compared to going to the coffee shop once or twice a day.

Roast: Medium-dark | Size: 6.76 ounces7-count box | Packaging Options: Jars | Available In: Liquid concentrate

Best Decaf

Mount Hagen Organic Freeze Dried Instant Decaf Coffee

$13 at Amazon $12 at Thrive Market $12 at Thrive Market

Many have faced the conundrum of wanting late-night coffee while also wanting, at some point, to sleep. The answer is decaf. That’s where Mount Hagen comes in with its freeze-dried instant decaf coffee.

If you’ve ever sipped a cup of decaf and found the taste to be weak and watery, you’re not crazy. The decaffeination process can drain coffee beans of certain chemicals that provide the rich flavors and aromas you love. As a result, decaf coffee, like instant, is often maligned. But this product shows that, even together, both decaf and instant coffee can be strong and tasty. It isn't the wildest flavor we've ever had, but it's made without chemicals, resulting in a pure and smooth coffee. Like Mount Hagen’s other products, this coffee is organic, Fair Trade Certified, and reasonably priced.

Roast: Medium | Size: 3.53 ounces | Packaging Options: Glass jar, single-serve sticks, and Doypack bag | Available In: Instant only

Best Latte

Laird Superfood Mocha Instant Latte

$25 at Amazon View on Lairdsuperfood.com

This latte mix from Laird Superfood is a great option for people who want all the convenience of instant coffee with more body and sweetness in their cup. Each mix is dairy-free and made with a blend of adaptogens and coconut milk powder. The brand offers multiple varieties of these mixes, including a matcha latte option and one with reduced sugar. We recommend starting with the Mocha Instant Latte variety. It smells more like hot cocoa than coffee (in a good way) but tastes like a blend of the two, especially because it's so creamy. The chocolaty flavor takes precedence over the mushroom and coconut.

We also appreciate how well the powder blends, even when we used a spoon instead of a handheld frother. No sludge in the last sip was a pleasant way to finish each cup and left us wanting more. The Mocha Instant Latte is sold in two sizes: 8 or 16 ounces, which respectively yield around 8 and 16 servings. It's pricier than standard grocery-store instant coffee, but it can be considered two items (milk + coffee) for the price of one, and if you're willing to spend a little more the flavor is worth it.

Roast: Medium | Size: 8 or 16 ounces | Packaging Options: Pouch | Available In: Instant only

Best Fair Trade

Café Altura Organic Freeze Dried Instant Coffee

$22 at Amazon $11 at IHerb View on Vitacost

This instant coffee from Café Altura cuts out the bitterness and has a smooth, slightly nutty taste. We gave it a high score for all-around flavor, dissolvability, and value for money. On top of that, the brand has a Fair Trade certification, too. To receive this certification, companies must meet several requirements, all of which guarantee that no unfair labor practices occur during the coffee-making process. Café Altura's coffee is also organic and GMO-free.

This instant coffee is made by freeze-drying the grounds, which is generally tastier than the spray-drying method. Take a spoonful of coffee out of the 3.5-ounce jar, just mix it with hot water, and enjoy. We wish it came in single-serve packets, but one jar isn't too large to travel with if you wanted.

Roast: Medium | Size: 3.53-ounces | Packaging Options: Glass jar | Available In: Instant only

Best with Creamer

BUBS Naturals Instant Coffee + Halo Creamer

$15 at Amazon View on Bubsnaturals.com

If you're tired of acerbic instant coffee with the body of, well, hot water, then BUBS Naturals has a solution. The brand packs this coffee with an MCT-oil-based creamer to create a rich, smooth cup of joe. We tried the coffee ourselves and found it more enjoyable first thing in the morning than most other instant brands. It also makes an excellent travel companion for people who take their coffee with milk and sugar but don't have those ingredients on the go, like when camping.

The creamer can be slightly clumpy when mixing, so it takes some extra stirring to fully dissolve. We found that an electric handheld frother was more effective than a spoon. BUBS Naturals sells its Instant Coffee + Halo Creamer in boxes that contain seven single-serve sticks each.

Roast: Medium | Size: 7-count box | Packaging Options: Single-serve packets | Available In: Instant only