Tesco Skinny Latte Sachets

This is the last of the three Tesco sachets we've tried. It's on a par with the Macchiato, and it'sdifficult to tell which is the worse. Very dry and plain. Bitter powdered coffee is the main flavour. It leaves a nasty taste of instant coffee bitterness in the mouth.

Try all three side by side puts them in context. The main difference is the sweetness. The sweetest is the Cappuccino (which has over 22% sugar - it doesn't say exactly how much, 21% milk powder, and 13% instant coffee). There's not a lot between the Macchiato and the Skinny. Trying them again and again, I think I'm edging in favour of the Skinny as being the least offensive. It carries more milk powder, and while the Macchiato contains more milk sugar, that's all it carries, while the Skinny uses both sugar and milk sugar. That extra milk and direct sugar, is probably what gives it a bit more body and smoothness. Both have 11% coffee powder.

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Creamy instant coffees

Tesco Latte Macchiato Sachets

The subtleties of the various milky coffee drinks is fairly lost on me (and I think most people). The Wikipedia article goes to pains to point out that latte macciato is very different to caffè latte but doesn't go on to explain that it is similar to flat white, and is not hugely different to a cappuccino. What they all are is espresso and milk. If I drink a coffee made with Brazilian beans that will taste very different to one made with African beans, yet they are both coffee. And adding milk or cream or sugar, and how much, is individual choice and preference, but not a completely fucking different style of coffee. It's the coffee beans and how they are treated that defines your coffee, not the layers of milk and coffee or the pretty patterns of foam on top. Get real people!

Of course when it comes to instant coffees, none of this nonsense applies anyway. It's all the same fucking thing. It's instant coffee powder and instant milk powder in a sachet.

This Tesco Latte Macchiato is quite dry with a powdery coffee/chocolate flavour. It's not hugely different to the Cappuccino, and neither are much fun. If we're to have these instant creamy coffees, let them be fun - let them be creamy and reasonably sweet. After all, if we wanted a proper coffee we'd make one.


Date: Nov 2018    Score: 3

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Tesco tea and coffee

Creamy instant coffees

Tesco Cappuccino Sachets

Tesco have introduced a new range of instant creamy coffees in attractive packets. I have a bunch of them, and this is the first I have tried. The sachets are foil, and are a little hard to tear as there appears to be no pre-prepared slot. I was about to get out the scissors when I did manage it, but it didn't tear easily or cleanly, and I can see the potential for things to go wrong, and for milk and coffee powder to end up all over the place!

The drink is pleasantly coffee flavoured. Not too sweet, and not too creamy. Quite likeable, though not as much fun as some of the highly flavoured ones that Nescafe do.



Date: Nov 2018    Score: 4

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Tesco tea and coffee

Frothy coffee