by Nigel Ong
Aside from serving great cups of coffee in its stores, Starbucks also has a range of coffee products you can make at home. These include coffee roasts, Kcups, and instant coffee.
For instant coffee, you can choose from Starbucks Via or the Premium Instant. Instant coffee may conjure an image of bad-tasting coffee, but will the Starbucks Premium Instant be an improvement?
I will test and review the Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast in this post. I’ll also sample the coffee with popular flavorings before comparing its taste against other instant coffees.
About Starbucks Premium Instant
Starbucks has two major instant coffee ranges in its product lineup: the Starbucks Via and the Premium Instant. There’s another, but it is sold more outside of the US.
Released in 2009, Starbucks Via is an instant version of its popular roasts. For example, you can get Starbucks Via instant coffee for Pike Place Roast, Veranda Roast, or Italian Roast. Starbucks Vias is generally black coffee.
Then, you have the Premium Instant. Starbucks collaborated with Nestle to develop the product lineup and released Premium Instant in 2020.
Premium Instant has three types of instant coffee – Blonde, Medium, and Dark Roast. They are made from a blend of 98% instant coffee and 2% finely ground coffee beans.
What I have today is the Medium Roast. The packaging may differ slightly from the ones you see on your grocery shelves, as the one I have here is for the Asia Pacific market.
The can does not mention where it sources the beans from or the type of beans used. However, Starbucks’ website claims that it uses 100% Arabica beans, which are from Latin America.
How Does Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast Taste?
| Style | Taste |
| Black | Not much aromaMild earthy bitternessSome bittersweet, cocoa-like note |
| With Sugar | Silkier, and more pleasant to sip.Stronger cocoa note |
| With Sweetener | Similar to sugarLonger, sweeter finish |
| With Milk | Coffee becomes silkier and thicker.Loses bitterness Creamier, with slight sweetness. |
| With Creamer | Coffee becomes silkier and thicker.Loses bitterness.Even creamier than milkLess natural, mild sweetness |
| Iced | Stronger bitternessStrong earthy noteLoses the bittersweet flavor |
First Impression
The coffee can does look very premium, with aluminum cans and intricate print designs. I then opened the aluminum cap and saw a thin layer of foil, keeping the instant coffee fresh inside.
The foil has a tab you can pull to open, like those you see on soda cans. This makes it easier to open compared to, say, Nescafe Gold.
The content is also not the same as other instant coffee. Instead of granules, you get fine powder instead. The fineness of the powder reminds me of Turkish coffee grinds.
The color is on the darker brown side. At this point, I thought I’d compare the color of the coffee powder with the Starbucks Premium Instant Dark Roast I have. The medium roast is lighter in color, indicating a lighter roast.
There is not much aroma with the instant coffee. However, I picked up some aroma once I brought my nose to the can. The instant coffee smells of roots and herbs and is very earthy, too.
Starbucks does print out clear instructions on how to make your coffee. Combine about 6 oz (180ml) of hot water with a teaspoon of instant coffee. There was no mention of how hot the water should be, so I decided to stick to my usual 185°F (85°C).
Black
When I had the coffee ready, I was surprised by its lack of aroma. My kitchen does not smell like coffee, which is odd. There are instant coffee with a stronger aroma, such as Nescafe Cap Colombia.
However, my concerns about the coffee disappeared after I took a sip. I know I’m drinking actual coffee here. The smoke and bitterness are not strong, allowing other flavors to shine.
This shows that the Starbucks Premium Instant is a premium instant coffee. In many cases, regular instant coffee has so much bitterness and earthiness you feel you are putting dirt into your mouth.
I picked up a bit of herbal-like notes from the bitterness the coffee brings. There is also some cocoa-like bittersweetness, particularly at the finish.
The coffee does not have strong sour notes, so it is likely not too acidic. This coffee may work well if you have a gentle stomach.
Iced
I made another cup of coffee, and this time, I chucked in many cold steel cubes to chill the coffee down. Ice usually alters the flavor profile of coffee by either muting or elevating certain notes. I notice the same with the Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast.
The ice boosted the bitterness in the coffee, making it a tad earthier. However, it is not overpowering – I like my iced coffee deeply bitter, so this is not an issue with my palate. The ice also muted the cocoa’s bittersweetness, meaning it is less strong now.
This is a decent iced coffee but cannot compete with a proper iced Americano. This is expected since, after all, Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast is an instant coffee.
With Sweetener
I made two fresh cups and experimented with two popular sweeteners. Here, I have some granulated brown sugar and Equal artificial sweetener. I added a stick of sugar to one cup and the Equal to the other.
Both cups of coffee become sweeteners and silkier. Both seem to elevate the cocoa-like bittersweetness, making the coffee more pleasant to sip.
The only difference would be the quality of the sweetness. The sweetness in the sugar seems to come a little early and dissipates quickly. Equal seems to come a bit later, and the sweetness lingers longer.
In fact, the sweetness in Equal lingers for a little too long for my liking. It feels unnatural and distracts me from enjoying the earthy bitterness of the coffee. I prefer the sugared version.
With Milk
With fat, milk is probably the most popular option with coffee. I made a fresh cup of Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast and then added a single shot of milk (about 1 oz or 30 ml). As for the milk, I use whole, fresh, UHT cow’s milk.
The milk turns the coffee paler, which looks delicious to me. As I sipped the coffee, I noticed how the milk softened the overall earthy, bitter taste. Instead, the earthy notes are accompanied by some indulgent creamy taste.
I also like how the milk added some mild sweetness to the coffee. Perhaps the lactose content in the coffee did its magic. The Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast is nice with milk. I thoroughly enjoyed my cup here.
With Creamer
Aside from milk, non-dairy creamers are also popular. As a result, I thought I’d try the Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast with it. I made a fresh cup and added two teaspoons of Coffee Mate creamer.
I think the creamer added more creaminess to the coffee compared with milk. The creamer made the coffee slightly paler than milk, which means the visual cues tally with the stronger, creamier taste.
The coffee also becomes a little bit sweeter. However, I found the sweetness not as natural as milk. My palate may sometimes be inconsistent, but I prefer the milked version here.
Starbucks Premium Instant Medium vs. Dark
Since they are technically siblings, I thought I’d compare the taste of the Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast and Dark Roast.
The Dark Roast seems to be a stronger, more potent version of the medium roast. It has more bitterness and stronger cocoa-chocolate-like notes. However, I seem to prefer the Medium roast.
I have always preferred lighter roast, which usually does not smash my palate with smoke and bitterness. The Dark Roast is not strong, but the Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast is softer and wins my palate.
Starbucks Premium Instant Medium vs. Starbucks Via
I can also compare the Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast against Starbucks’ other instant coffee, the Via. I have Veranda Roast and also the Pike Place with me. I made fresh coffee with them and sipped them side by side.
The Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast is not as good as the Starbucks Via. The Premium Instant may be a premium instant coffee, but it still has that instant coffee taste.
The Starbucks Via, on the other hand, tastes a little like instant coffee. In fact, untrained tongues may even think the Starbucks Via is brewed coffee, as the taste is very good.
In fact, when I compared the Starbucks Via Veranda Blend with the actual Veranda Blend, I was surprised at how close they are in taste and flavor. Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast may not be at this level yet.
Starbucks Premium Instant Medium vs. Premium Instant Coffee
Finally, since Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast is a premium instant coffee, I thought I’d also compare the taste with other premium instant coffee in my collection. These include:
- Maxim Original Instant Coffee
- Lavazza Prontissimo Classico
- Nescafe Gold Cap Colombia
- Illy Clasico Instant Coffee
- Nescafe Gold Original Blend
Note that these are all medium roast instant coffees. I left the darker instant coffee from the list here, as I think it would not be a fair comparison.
After sipping all of them, I would place Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast in the middle of the pack. To my palate, at least, it loses out to the Illy Classico, Nescafe Gold Cap Colombia, and Nescafe Gold Original.
Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast lacks the smoothness and gentleness of these instant coffees. It has a bit more earthy bitterness, making the coffee less easy to sip than the winners.
However, Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast is better than the other instant coffee on the list. I rank Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast marginally better than Maxim Original. I think the cocoa note is stronger than the latter.
Is Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast For You?
When you shop for instant coffee, always understand this – your coffee will never taste as good as an actual brew. You will make the same trade-off here with Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast.
The upside of Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast is that it tastes better and more refined than your regular instant coffees, such as Folgers or Nescafe Classic.
This means the Starbucks Premium Instant Medium Roast would make sense under two conditions. You want something very convenient but do not want to buy coffee from a shop. Two, you are willing to drink lower-quality coffee for that convenience.
If you care about your coffee, just brew from coffee grounds. If that’s too much work for you, just spend a dollar or two and pick up freshly brewed coffee from your local Starbucks, Dunkin, or McCafe.