We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post at no additional cost to you.

Friends and coffee lovers I am glad you found me. I am one of you. I say with zero hesitation coffee is my favorite thing in life and it’s not because of the caffeine. Clearly- I am writing about decaffeinated coffee.

I go through the process of roasting my own green coffee beans, a special blend I make of decaf beans from Bali and regular beans from Ethiopia roasted to a dark perfection all for my morning cup ritual that tastes exquisite.

Fast forward to the later morning and afternoon when I want a cup, possibly with a little fun flavor added in and this is where decaf instant coffee fits my regime. Nescafe decaf coffee crystals seems to be an overwhelming favorite in this category and for good reason. It’s darn good. It’s also darn pricey if you’re making multiple cups a day or like me, you like it very strong and use more than a teaspoon for your cup.

What is instant coffee, anyway?

Is instant coffee some sort of faux not really coffee concoction? No. Not exactly. It’s real coffee that has had some science added to it.

Instant coffee is indeed real coffee, it’s just had the water taken out to make it a dried flavorful powder or crystals. There is no shame in this product. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s not as delicious as fresh brewed but it works for a quick cup and it’s handy to have around for recipes that need coffee or espresso powder. It’s nice for home iced coffee drinks too! And campers know how handy instant coffee is for a morning cup in the woods.

How is instant coffee made?

There are two different processes that result in the shelf stable dry coffee powder.

One is the freeze -drying method. The frozen coffee beverage (coffee ice cubes) is forced through chemical sublimation (think dry ice). The coffee ice cube vaporizes without ever going through that pesky process of becoming liquid again. What is left behind is the powder in the jar on your grocery shelf all labeled up and ready to purchase.

The second option is spraying the liquid coffee into a fine mist through very hot and dry air (think the Sahara desert in its hottest season). Before the droplets land, the moisture has been evaporated into the desert dry air and settles into a flavorful powder-like mist.

How does Lidl decaf instant coffee taste?

I notice Lidl has a private label brand and because I have been happy with most of their house brands I decided to try it. Heck for this price why not? Same size as the Nescafe product.

Friends, I am here to tell you this is a very good product. In fact I like it marginally better than Nescafe. Nescafe wins on packaging. That jar they have is just *chef’s kiss* so I transfer my Lidl coffee crystals in the Nescafe jar. It also feels perfect in the hand. The jar curves in the right place. Nice design job there Nescafe but it’s not worth up to 4x the price of Lidl.

My final verdict on this is a purple dot. I am not even taking points off for the jar. I have repurchased the Lidl original decaf instant coffee a dozen times and will continue to do so.