I’ll be honest, if you say Nescafe I just think of “Gold Blend” and horrible freeze-dried coffee. It isn’t for me, but on occasions it’s all there is, and well, beggars can’t be choosers, right?
Following on from the surprisingly excellent canned Costa coffee’s, I’ve been paying more attention to chiller sections in shops to see if there are any other hidden gems.
One random trip to a local Spar shop saw me finding both the Nescafe Nitro Americano and Latte. Both there for a pound each, how could I resist?
Nitro coffee?
So, before I give a run-down on the drinks themselves, it’s probably worth a quick mention of the “Nitro” element.
Nitro cold-brew isn’t necessarily new, and nitrogen itself has been used for years in other drinks (dark ales in particular).
The idea is that instead of infusing the drink with carbon dioxide, it gets infused with nitrogen, giving it smaller bubbles and aims to provide a smoother finish. Resulting in what is expected to be a thicker/fuller mouthfeel.
Think about how thick and smooth a pint of Guinness is. That’s in part due to the nitro brewing process.
Plus, let’s be fair “nitro” sounds bloody cool, doesn’t it?
Nitro Americano
Always my main focus, an Americano. Long, black coffee. The holy grail for me to work towards. Striking balance between the espresso shot and the amount of water you put in.
Nescafe are known for instant coffee, good or bad, it’s instant. Tied in with the fact that the brand being used here is the “Azera” moniker. My hopes here were pretty low.
Stick “Nitro” in front of it all you like, I’m expecting cold instant coffee.
Well, that’s perhaps a little unfair?
……………………..
Actually, no. That’s pretty much what I got. Surprisingly well balanced in terms of sweetness. Not filled with sugar, but you can definitely detect the sweetener in there, and it’s just a little too much for me.
Beyond that, though. I expected perhaps something smooth and with that fuller mouthfeel that nitro brewing promises. It was absolutely smooth, and that was great, it went down a treat.
Unfortunately, it tastes a touch too watery and thin. Pretty much what I’d expect from a cold instant coffee. It seems the nitro process didn’t really deliver which is a real shame. I kind of wanted to be surprised by this one.
It isn’t awful, and perfectly drinkable for a quick, cold caffeine hit. But when the market is filling out with better results, I’d honestly struggle to recommend this as a good cold-brew Americano.
Latte instead?
Hopes dashed on the Americano, I wasn’t holding out for much in the Latte department.
But there were a couple of things that surprised me. Often used as a mechanism to deliver a very sugary drink, there was a really nice balance here with sweetness. Very impressed!
Again, smooth, but alas, still a little too watery and even with the added milk, I didn’t get much in terms of mouth feel. Just a bit too thin for me.
When you have a coffee, hot or cold, it wants to feel a little luxurious, doesn’t it? Not like diluted coffee cordial.
On the plus side, it wasn’t very “heavy” like a lot of the milk-based coffee’s can be, and that meant I didn’t feel too full afterwards.
There’s honestly not a lot more to be said here.
When I found the canned Costa to be such a pleasant surprise, my thoughts on canned-coffee in any way have changed. Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Nescafe haven’t delivered here.
All being well, these drinks will be refined and improved-upon over the coming months and they might be worth trying again in the future?
Not awful by any stretch, but you could do much better for the same price, so I’d suggest you steer clear for now.
I do wonder sometimes if there are better replacements for my normal coffee hit than these canned drinks. There are actually quite a few alternatives teas to choose from.