by Nigel Ong
When it comes to low-quality coffee, many seem to enjoy flicking their boogers on Folgers. Many also seem to enjoy using Folgers Classic Roast as the poster child for cheap coffee, saying it tastes like dirt.
I wonder if this is a genuine case of bad coffee or people jumping onto the bandwagon – it is easy to criticize Folgers Classic Roast when everyone else is doing the same. I decided to investigate this myself.
In this post, I will taste and review the Folgers Classic Roast. I will also compare it against the other instant coffee I have in my stash, and decide if it is as bad as everyone claims. Let’s go.
About The Folgers Classic Roast
Folgers has a long history and may be one of the longest-surviving American coffee companies. It started as the Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mills in 1850.
It underwent several ownership changes, including being part of Procter and Gamble (P&G). Today it is part of JM Smuckers, a food company known for its jams, peanut butter, and preserves.
Folgers offers many coffee roasts, such as Classic, Blonde Silk, House Blend, or Gourmet Supreme. The Gentle Smooth Blend is also designed to be easy on your stomach.
From these blends, Folgers spin them into multiple offerings. You can get these blends in whole beans, grounds, pods, and instant coffee.
In my hand is the Classic Roast, but as instant coffee. This is a medium roast coffee and contains 100% soluble coffee granules. This is often seen as the most basic Folgers’ coffee, and it seems to be the one people enjoy flicking boogers at.
Let’s review this and see how true the criticisms are against it.
How Does Folgers Classic Roast Taste?
On the first appearance, I do have to say I understand why people look down on Folgers’ Classic Roast. The whole jar is made of plastic, from the lid to the body. Even Nescafe Classic, Nestle’s most basic instant coffee, cares enough to use glass jars.
In hand, the Nescafe Classic would feel more premium than Folgers. If you are the type that judges quickly, you’ll immediately choose Nescafe Classic over Folgers.
When I pop open the lid, an aluminum, and paper-made lid protects the content inside. They come out easily when I tear them with the small handle at the edge. It also comes out as a single piece, which is nice.
Nestle can learn from Folgers and make their foil this way. Nescafe Classic and Gold’s foil does not have handles, and the foil breaks into small pieces, making it hard to remove.
The instant coffee granules look like miniature pebbles, with rounded and odd shapes similar to popcorn. Some parts look shiny, like crystals. This is not regularly seen in other instant coffees.
Aroma-wise, it is quite strong, which puts it ahead of other instant coffees I have reviewed. Perhaps only the Illy Clasico Instant Coffee smells better. It has a toast, cereal-like smell that I quite enjoy.
Black
The jar has brewing instructions, but they are not clear. It only says to add 1 rounded teaspoon per 6 fl oz (about 177ml) of hot water. I similarly made my cup, but keeping the water at 185°F (85C°)
On the first sip, the coffee feels a little tasteless. Perhaps it was too hot, so I let it cool and took a second sip.
The coffee also seems watery in taste; it doesn’t seem to have enough ‘punch’ of flavor. I added more coffee to solve this issue. Suppose the recommended dosage of coffee isn’t enough for my palate.
Here, I notice the coffee tastes a little bit of cereal and toast, which should make this a great cup of breakfast coffee.
As the coffee cools down, however, the earthy notes become heavier. I generally do not mind too much, but I can see how some coffee connoisseurs will start to call the coffee ‘tasting like dirt’ here.
Iced
Not sure if iced instant coffee is popular, but I thought I’ll give this a try with Folgers. I brewed about 90ml of hot coffee and slowly poured it into a glass of ice.
The coffee seems to become lighter in taste when I add in the ice. I am unsurprised since it tasted a bit watery even when hot. I decided to up the dosage by half and made another cup.
This time, the iced coffee tasted better. I tasted some mild bitterness and some earthiness. It is not satisfying enough for me and is a mile away in taste from your regular iced Americano from your barista.
With Sugar
Here’s a disclaimer, I dislike sugar in my coffee. However, I will try to be objective and balanced here and not let my preference cloud my judgment.
I brewed a fresh cup and again with an upped dosage of 1.5 rounded teaspoons instead of 1. I added a stick of brown sugar to the coffee and tried it out. It shines a bit more and seems to become a little more silkier.
The coffee tasted rather decent with sugar. However, the lack of taste and depth of the coffee sort of makes the coffee taste a little more sugary than I prefer.
I’m not talking about the sweet taste here, but the sugary, cane-juice-like taste in the coffee. It tasted a little odd to me, to be honest.
I am not a fan, although those who like light coffee may enjoy this.
With Sweetener
I made another cup of hot coffee, again with the upped dosage. This time, I dropped a single drop of Equal artificial sweetener (Aspartame) and started sipping.
Here, the same issue is plaguing the coffee. Since it does not have much depth in taste, the sweetness seems to be much more prominent in the coffee. At least Equal does not have the cane-juice-like taste, which makes the coffee more drinkable than the sugared version.
For both sugared or sweetened versions, you may need to load more coffee into your cup to make it taste better.
With Creamer
I decided to brew two cups of black coffee here. One with 1.5 rounded teaspoons of coffee, the other 2 rounded teaspoons. To both coffees, I added a single stick of Coffee Mate creamer.
The idea is to see if a heavier-tasting coffee may work better with the creamers. I was right. I much preferred the second cup, with two teaspoons of Folgers instead.
Creamer usually adds more creaminess to the coffee compared to milk. This means when the coffee does not taste strong, the cream overpowers the coffee. You get a cream-based drink, with coffee flavor, instead of coffee with cream. You get me here?
With double dosages, the coffee taste is stronger and more present. This makes it taste better. There is a balance between the bitterness of the coffee, the fat, and the slight sweetness of the creamer.
With Milk
Folgers’ brewing instructions suggested using milk when making their coffee, so I thought I’d do the same.
As usual, I brewed two cups of hot coffee. One with 1.5 rounded teaspoons of coffee, the other 2 rounded teaspoons. I added a single shot (1 fl oz, 30ml) of UHT, fresh cow’s milk to both coffees.
Again, I prefer the second cup because I can taste the bitterness from the coffee better.
The first cup (with 1.5 teaspoons of coffee) is not bad; it is better than the creamer version. Maybe because milk is not too creamy as creamer and has a more natural taste.
However, my palate tells me the second cup hits the spot well. I enjoyed the balance of bitterness, the slight cereal flavor, and the milk. The milk added some natural creaminess and sweetness to the coffee, but not too overpowering.
So far, this is my favorite way to enjoy Folgers’ Classic Roast Instant coffee, with double the recommended dosage.
Folgers Classic vs. Regular Instant Coffee
Since Folgers Classic Roast is seen as a regular instant coffee, I decided to pull out two I have in my stash and compare the taste. They are Nescafe Classic and Amazon’s Happy Belly Instant Roast.
I brewed three cups, with each using different instant coffee. For a fair comparison, I brewed each to the recommended amount of coffee.
After sipping each side by side, I would rank Folgers second, behind Nescafe Classic and Amazon’s Happy Belly Instant Roast.
Unless I up the dosage, I don’t think the Folgers instant coffee could compete against Nescafe Classic. It, however, tastes better than Amazon’s, with slightly more depth and flavor.
I decided not to compare the coffee with the premium instant coffee in my collection since I do not think it is a good comparison. Let’s compare apples to apples, not Kias to BMWs.
Folgers Classic vs. Regular Brewed Coffee
If you were to compare Folgers’ Classic Instant Coffee against your regular gas station coffee, I would think the gas station coffee wins.
First, your gas station or convenience store coffee is brewed from real coffee grounds, which should produce better-tasting coffee than instant coffee. They should also have more depth in taste, despite how flat they are.
I do have to admit the Folgers Classic Instant Coffee is one of the lower-end instant coffee I have tasted, in taste. This means it may not even compare against regular brewed coffee.
If you have a dollar or two for coffee, just grab something nice from your local McCafe, Starbucks, Dunkin, or convenience store. Leave the Folgers when you just want something to drink at home.
Who Should Enjoy Folgers’ Classic Roast?
This is one of the least tasty instant coffee I have tasted. It is not bad, but perhaps instant coffee is not for my palate. The taste is weak, and I need to increase the dosage to make it nicer.
However, it does not try to pretend to be a premium coffee. It uses plastic packaging and does not use fancy words like ‘reserve,’ ‘premium,’ etc. The price also tells you it is not aimed at connoisseurs.
I see this as the coffee you make, suck down, and then move on with your day. It is not a gourmet or premium coffee you want to savor slowly.
It is best for a busy day, where you just want quick coffee during rest. It is also cheap enough that you do not mind leaving it to turn cold if you do not finish it.However, if you care about quality and good instant coffee, Folgers Classic Roast Instant Coffee will greatly disappoint you. Consider Nescafe Gold, Starbucks Premium Instant Coffee, or my personal favorite, or the Illy Clasico Instant Coffee instead.