The Best Instant Coffee?

Grind

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My question: "Grind is pretty good instant coffee, but it is by no means the most expensive. Could you recommend an instant coffee of even better quality for a black Americano than Grind is? Perhaps I can order it over the internet if it's not in Waitrose."

[GPT-5.6 makes some recommendations].

My response: "None of these apparently do micro-ground coffee as part of the product, which you said was very important for giving the oils and the deeper taste."

GPT-5-6 concedes:

You are right. I conflated two different kinds of “better”.

Speciality freeze-dried instant such as Colonna or Common can offer cleaner, more distinctive fruit and floral flavours—but may be lighter-bodied.

Freeze-dried plus microground coffee gives more suspended coffee solids, roasted aroma and mouthfeel. It is more likely to produce the deeper black-Americano character you want.

I also overstated the oil point slightly. Microground particles retain some coffee lipids and aromatic material, but they do not simply release large quantities of oil into the water. Their principal effect is greater body, texture and roast flavour.

Grind unusually combines speciality-grade Arabica, slow freeze-drying and 15% microground coffee. By comparison, Illy contains 3% microground and Lavazza Prontissimo Intenso about 10%; Starbucks VIA also contains microground coffee but does not appear to disclose the percentage. None is convincingly superior to Grind overall.

So I should revise my recommendation: for a rich black Americano, Grind may already be the best readily obtainable true instant coffee. Colonna might be more refined and interesting, but it is not necessarily better for your particular taste and could seem thinner. I would stay with Grind unless you want to experiment in a different, lighter speciality-coffee direction.

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