I Taste Tested Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee

by Nigel Ong

Instant coffee is a growing segment in the coffee business, probably due to its ease and competitive pricing. Premium instant coffee is also one of the highest-performing instant coffee types.

One of the most popular premium instant coffee around is Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee. Curious to see what it is enjoyed by so many, I picked up a jar to try it out myself.

In this post, I will review the Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee. I will try the instant coffee black, iced, and also with fat and sweeteners before comparing it with other relevant instant coffees.

About Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee

Mount Hagen Coffee is a renowned brand of premium, organic coffee. It is particularly known for its commitment to sustainability and high-quality coffee.

Originating from Germany as the Deutsche Extract Kaffee, Mount Hagen coffee uses beans from Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea.

Mount Hagen offers a diverse range of products, including:

whole bean roasts,
ground coffees, and
instant coffee.

Their coffee products cater to a wide range of coffee lovers, from those who appreciate the ritual of brewing a traditional cup to those who favor the convenience of instant coffee. One notable exception is coffee pods and capsules.

The organic instant coffee from Mount Hagen is among its most popular products. This is because the coffee uses 100% organic Arabica beans, then brewed and freeze-dried. This helps to ensure a rich and smooth flavor that rivals freshly brewed coffee.

Mount Hagen’s organic instant coffee can also be purchased as a Decaf version if you are less tolerant of the stimulant.

First Impression

My jar of Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee does not look too unique. It comes in this black plastic cap, with a rectangular-shaped glass jar holding the content.

The glass jar looks thick and durable. However, I would not rank it higher than Davidoff’s instant coffee jars. Those are real confidence-inspiring.

The jar may hold premium instant coffee, but the design and packaging do not look so; it’s quite understated. Each jar holds around 3.52 ounces of coffee, about 100mg if you operate in metric.

On the labels, I can read that the coffee content inside is organic and Fair-Trade. This means you support coffee businesses that pay the farmers and laborers fair wages. Good choice.

Other than that, there is not much information. There are no flavor notes about the coffee, nor does it mention much about the origins of the coffee beans. There are some brewing instructions, but we will leave that to the tasting section later.

Once I removed the plastic cap, a thin layer of aluminum seal was inside. The seal reminds me of Nescafe’s – they do not come off in a single piece. This may make removals a slight hassle.

My advice is to be gentle and remove the foil slowly. This prevents the foil bits from falling into the instant coffee granules.

The coffee granules are large and chunky, similar to other premium instant coffees such as Nescafe Gold, Lavazza Prontissimo Intenso, or Davidoff. The color is quite light, perhaps the coffee is not roasted within an inch of its life. Aroma-wise, I can pick up a bit of nuttiness.

How Does Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee Taste?

To give Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee a fair review, I thought I would try it in black with the most common flavorings people add to instant coffee.

These include sweeteners such as sugar and Equal, milk, and creamer. I also tried the coffee with ice for good measure.

Black

I started making black coffee with the Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee. I brought two teaspoons of the coffee granules and 180ml of hot water. The water is off-boiling, around 185°F, or 85°C for you metric folks.

After stirring, I noticed the coffee’s color was not too dark. Instead, there’s a translucent, brownish hue that reminds me of Nescafe Gold Cap Colombia. The aroma is great, with a bit of warm spice in it.

The coffee exhibited a bold flavor that came straight to my palate but was surprisingly smooth enough. Perhaps the lighter roasting took out some of its more intense flavors.

The coffee is not as earthy as I would expect from regular instant coffee, showing its premiumness. This is probably achieved using 100% Arabica beans instead of mixing in Robusta ones.

Flavor-wise, I can pick up a bit of nuttiness and warm spices too, perhaps cinnamon or cloves. This clearly indicates the origin of the coffee beans, which are from the Sunda archipelago. In this case, Papua New Guinea.

This is a rather enjoyable black coffee to be sipped on its own. I suggest you try this yourself before slapping in other flavorings.

Iced

I first added the instant coffee into a shaker with water for Iced coffee. After shaking to ensure everything was dissolved, I added ice and continued shaking.

I poured out the drink into a glass and went for it. The coffee is smooth and nice to drink, although I think the hot version tastes better.

I think the ice elevated the bitterness of the coffee, making it less enjoyable.

With Sugar and Sweetener

For sweeteners, I have two ready to try out with the Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee.

Brown, granulated sugar from cane
Equal, a synthetic sweetener.

For both servings of the coffee, I made them the same way I made my black, hot instant coffee, but in two cups instead.

Into the first cup, I added two drops of Equal. In the second cup, I mixed in a stick of brown cane sugar. Then, I stirred both cups thoroughly before tasting them to ensure the sweeteners were completely dissolved.

The addition of cane sugar gave the coffee a more lustrous and slightly glossy appearance. This sort of made the coffee look smoother, silkier, and more delicious. This effect was less pronounced in the cup with Equal.

The sugar-sweetened coffee was notably sweeter, blending in well with the coffee’s more gentle and mild flavors. This makes the coffee quite smooth to drink. If you like your instant coffee with sugar, you may actually like this.

I usually do not really enjoy artificial sweeteners, and I have the same to say here. The cup with Equal is somewhat less satisfying compared to the sugar-sweetened one.

To my palate, at least, the sweetness seemed to come slower. The sweetness also seemed to stay in my mouth much longer, even after I swallowed the coffee. It sort of made the coffee experience less natural and more synthetic.

With Milk and Creamer

Similar to sweeteners, I prepped two sources of fat:

Whole, fresh UHT cow’s milk
Coffee Mate creamer

I made two cups of Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee. The first cup gets a milk shot, while the second gets two teaspoons of Coffee Mate.

Both immediately made a visual impact, the coffee turned creamy and brownish. Both milk and creamer also enhanced the coffee’s silkiness and thickness.

However, as I sip the coffee, this thickening effect is more obvious in the cup with milk. The coffee also sort of ‘glides’ into my mouth. Definitely a smoother cup than black.

In terms of taste, I would say the milk and creamer added some creaminess to the coffee, blending well with the smoother flavors of the Mount Hagen coffee.

Between the two, I prefer the natural flavor that milk brings. While creamers are acceptable, they don’t offer the same ‘body’ and ‘depth’ creaminess as milk.

Moreover, the sweetness imparted by milk feels more authentic, likely due to the natural lactose content.

Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee vs Popular Premium Instant Coffee

I naturally compare the Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee with other premium instant coffee in my collection. They are:

These premium instant coffees are quite competitive, and it is quite hard to choose what I like. My decision eventually boils down to the flavor notes I enjoy.

I would rank Mount Hagen in the middle here, behind Cap Colombia, Maxim, and Illy Classico. My reason? The creamy and sweet notes of the Illy Classico seem to give me the most satisfaction.

Is Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee For You?

Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee is a great, premium instant coffee. It is smooth, gentle, and has that nutty, spicy note. The milk coffee version is also nice to sip on.

I can see this as a great instant coffee to begin a busy day, especially if you just want something fast to kick-start your day. It can also be a decent instant coffee to enjoy with your afternoon tea, especially with a dollop of milk.

However, no instant coffee can rival the taste of freshly brewed coffee, no matter how premium they are. If you really care about your coffee, get freshly brewed ones instead.