Folgers vs. Maxwell House vs. Yuban vs. Nescafe: Which is the Best?

What are some cheap coffees worth trying?

According to the National Coffee Association, 86 percent of Americans brew their own coffee at home. Coffee drinkers drink an average of 3.3 cups of coffee per day, or 1,200 cups per year. That's why value for money is especially important when it comes to coffee.

We found the most popular instant coffees on the market, and they are:

• Folgers 

• Maxwell House

• Yuban

• Nescafé

Is instant coffee okay? Which coffee is best for me?

Some instant coffees are much better than others.

Unlike whole bean coffee, where a "bad" bag usually just means it's too bland or tasteless, instant coffee comes in a wide range of qualities. On the bottom, you'll often find it super bitter and sour. But at the top, you'll find flavor-packed, delicious, and smooth brands.

The most famous coffees compared, quickly know their reviews and scores

Coffee Reviews & Buying Guides

#1.                                                 

What Is Folgers?

Folgers is so popular because it was one of the first American companies that produced instant, ground, ready-to-brew coffee at an inexpensive price. 

The Folgers Coffee story starts all the way back in 1850. After a major fire destroyed the Folgers’ family livelihood, James and his brothers moved to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. His brothers headed to the mines, but James was a skilled carpenter, and started working for the Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spill Mill when he was 14. 

He built a mill for one the owners, William Bovee. James eventually became a full partner in The Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mills. When the Civil War broke out and there was economic collapse, he was able to convince creditors to pay off the company’s debts, and he bought out the other partner, changing it to J.A. Folger and Co.

The company grew quickly and solidified itself in the market by focusing heavily on the taste of the product. They established a taste standard, instead of focusing on the appearance of beans, which is what other brands did. 

James discovered Mountain Grown beans were the best in terms of taste and aroma. 

In 2008 Folgers Coffee was acquired by J.M. Smucker Company and has continued to see success to this day. 

Is Folgers coffee good?

Brewed with care, Folgers can make a decent cup of coffee. Not great, but decent. 

It's a medium-to-good cup of coffee, mild and slightly bitter, but not a whole lot of flavor. It's smooth enough to enjoy and an easy coffee to repurchase.

 It works best in drip machines and doesn't really offer much for manual methods like a French Press or Mokka Pot. Still, for the majority of American coffee drinkers who are brewing their caffeine by the pot, Folgers has a mild flavor that can satisfy the masses. It won't thrill those who have a taste for specialty gourmet roasts, but it also won't (deeply) offend them, either.

Besides the taste, another advantage is the price. For just $5.29 at Target, this coffee makes about 90 servings, depending on how strong you like your coffee.

Folgers coffee can taste on the bitter side. Folgers uses a product formulation of robusta beans with a high caffeine content and arabica beans which have less caffeine. Classic Folgers is a blend of 60% of the inferior robusta beans, which have a bitter taste, and 40% of the preferred arabica beans known for their smooth flavor, to balance out the bitter coffee taste. 

Since their coffee is made directly from beans grown in the mountains, it has an aromatic blend. Through the best roasting methods, they achieve a fine and smooth taste unlike any other coffee brand. After all, “The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup.” – This tagline didn’t come from thin air. 

Folgers are not as expensive as Starbucks, leading middle-income people to rely on them for their daily coffee needs.

Likewise, Folgers doesn't compromise on flavor blends, even though they're relatively inexpensive. So by keeping price and quality the same, they've really established themselves as having the best of both worlds.

While Folgers recognizes concerns about ethical responsibility, working conditions, and sustainability, they do not currently have certifications to demonstrate that their coffee supply chain is free from herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides. Because of this, there is no way of knowing whether chemicals or mold might be present in their blends.

So if you open a Folgers coffee and don't like the smell or taste, but it doesn't seem to go bad, your taste buds may be used to a high-end coffee brand rather than a cheap one.

The coffee supply chain sources its coffee beans from all over the world. The company sources Robusta from the hills in South and Central America, while the Arabica beans come from Indonesia and the African continent. Compared to competitive and affordable commercial coffee brands such as Maxwell House, Folgers has a lower caffeine content. 

What are the popular products of Folgers?

Folgers Classic Roast Coffee

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Folgers Classic Roast is a crowd pleaser and can be brewed to suit nearly every coffee taste. The flavor may not thrill everyone as it can be a bit bland, but the aroma offers a classic coffee scent. It’s not as bitter but it does have a subtle bite to it at the throat’s end after consumption. Overall, it has a nice and familiar scent that everyone seems to appreciate.

Though Folgers isn't the absolute best brand of coffee you can find, it's still quite good and it's easy to understand why it's so popular. If you're looking for a coffee that everyone is sure to love, you can't go wrong with Folgers Classic Roast Coffee. For people new to the coffee world, its smoothness and its bright, cheery aroma make it very attractive from the first sip. For coffee aficionados, its richness and its surprisingly complex flavor profile reliably make for an enjoyable cup.

Folgers Black Silk Coffee

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This one’s a favorite among the people who go crazy over the bitterness of a dark roast. That being said, it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. But those who do appreciate it, truly know its value. 

However, it’s possible to tone down the bittersweet flavor by using heavy creams, sweetener, etc. into the brew. The dark smoky flavor also pairs nicely with iced coffee and lattes. So, if you have a knack for dark tastes and like less caffeine, this one’s a great choice.

While Black Silk is a much more intense coffee flavor, it’s important to remember that Folgers Black Silk caffeine content will be slightly lower than milder roasts.

Black Silk coffee offers fans of truly dark roast a real treat thanks to the smoky, slightly bittersweet flavor. Any additives used in this coffee such as creamer or sweetener only enhance the rich and complex odor and taste.

#2.                                                 

What is Maxwell House

Maxwell House Coffee has been around since the 1800s. Of all the Kraft-Heinz products that exist on the market, Maxwell House is one of the most well known.

Maxwell House, once the country’s leading national brand, for years had mainly Folgers to contend with in the fight for space in Americans’ cupboards. 

For decades, it was enough to rely on its sponsored TV placements and its reminder that its coffee was “good to the last drop.” It was one of the first mainstream products to target Jewish shoppers, making it what the New York Times once called “the pioneer” of multicultural marketing.

But coffee culture has changed as Americans shift from homemade brew to splurging on a premium priced java grabbed on the go at omnipresent cafes. For example, Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

Is Maxwell House coffee good?

Maxwell House represents some of the most profoundly un-fun parts of American coffee. It's the type of grind that you can dump into your drip machine without thinking about — a coffee that prioritizes convenience over the tasting experience that you deserve. Even among mass-marketed coffees, this one stands out, but not in a good way.

Maxwell House and Folgers Coffee are both well-known affordable coffee brands. Folgers Coffee is the better choice if you like a smoother, classic coffee flavor. Maxwell House is the better choice if you prefer a bolder, more robust coffee flavor.

What are the popular products of Maxwell House?

Maxwell House Original

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This blend is a medium roast for a crowd-pleasing coffee and is a great choice for general consumption.

Very sweet aroma, with nut and perhaps slight floral and chocolate notes. In the cup cloyingly bittersweet wood and nut robusta character with continued faint chocolate and floral suggestions.

Maxwell House Wake Up Roast

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If the Master Blend is a bit stout for your palate, the Wake Up Roast may be a better choice. This coffee is a light roast, offering less bitterness and a lower acid content than the Master or Original blend.

#3.                                                 

What Is Yuban?

Yuban is an inexpensive coffee that uses beans from South America. It was created by the famous coffee roaster John Arbuckle in the 1860s.

According to Arbuckle Coffee Roasters, until 1865, coffee beans were sold "green" or unroasted. Coffee beans had to be roasted over a wood stove or campfire in a skillet before they could be ground by hand and brewed. 

Hand roasting was a tricky process, often resulting in burned beans that ruined the coffee's flavor. In 1865, brothers John and Charles Arbuckle patented a roasting process using a sugar and egg glaze on the beans that sealed in the flavor of the beans and shielded them from being burned.

Arbuckle invented the original Yuban blend in 1905. The name "Yuban" derives from Arbuckle's Yuletide Blend, in which he used only the best South American beans. 

Meant as a special Christmas offering, it was only available to his own dinner guests and as a gift to friends until it was put it on the market in 1912 following John Arbuckle’s death.

The Yuban Coffee Company is now a subsidiary of the Kraft Heinz Company.

Yuban received its Rainforest Alliance certification in 2006 for using ecologically-sensitive growing methods for at least 30% of its beans. At least 30% of their coffee beans are grown organically without chemicals and pesticides. 

Farms are audited by the alliance every year, and must also provide fair wages and health care to laborers.

The Yuban coffee canisters consist of 50% or more recycled materials. Some containers claim to be 100% recyclable as well. 

So if purchasing ecologically friendly and labor-friendly coffee is important to you, Yuban fits with your beliefs. However, this also means only 30 percent of its beans fit these standards. 

Is Yuban coffee good?

Yuban has been known for many years as a brand that makes great coffee at an affordable price. It's almost exotic, even, proudly made with 100% Colombian coffee beans. Yuban Original Medium Roast Premium Coffee Gold.

Then, the recipe changed recently. It doesn't get any better. 

The product label says 100% Arabica Premium Beans are still used. It no longer says Colombia.

A change in their recipe resulted in a ton of complaints. Today, Yuban coffee is extremely bland, without all the excitement and taste enjoyed by the cowboys of yesteryear.

Yuban doesn't pack the same bold, bright flavors that it once did. It's hard to make old things seem new and this coffee just feels (and tastes ... and smells ...) a bit stale.

What are the popular products of Yuban?

Yuban Original Gold

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This seems like it might be the “top of the line” for Yuban, as Yuban Gold medium roast coffee is a 100 percent, premium Arabica coffee. 

The flavor of this medium roast coffee is described as being smooth rather than the stronger, burnt or bitter flavor. It may not be the best option for those who like a strong roast coffee.

However, because it is smoother and less acidic than some coffees, it may be ideal if you’re trying to cut back on cream and sugar or switch to drinking your coffee black, and you want a smooth roast while you make the transition.

No brightness, sweet but woody, with an herby, peppery pungency and a molasses note that aspires to chocolate but doesn't quite make it past the wood and herb.

Yuban Dark Roast

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Yuban Dark Roast is a rich and distinctive coffee blend that appeals to those with a taste for the more robust flavors in their cup. So if you like French Roast or Medium Dark Roast coffee, this might be worth trying.But it didn't have any burnt taste (common taste in Starbucks coffee). It is described as smooth but chocolatey.

However, the label also reads “100 percent pure coffee”.  The company says: "Made with Robusta and Arabica beans from Latin America and other tropical regions." This most likely actually means: We sourced the cheapest beans we could get from wherever we could find them.

#4.                                                 

Nescafé

Not much of a surprise that a cheap instant coffee brand uses cheap ingredients. Nescafé coffee was never very good but got an ingredient change a few years back that made things even worse. Customers quoted in that story compared the flavor of the new recipe to dishwater, calling it "vile" and "awful." The company claimed that the change was intended to offer a more full-bodied, flavorful coffee, but to us, that sounds a lot like marketing jargon.

Nescafe Classic

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Nescafe Classic draws on the original Nescafe coffee, released in 1938, that established the brand. Nescafe briefly disappeared from shelves, replaced with a similar Nestle instant coffee product called Taster's Choice. Nestle brought back the Nescafe name with the word "Classic" added to the label of one of its products, a means of assuring consumers that it still has the flavor of the classic product. Nescafe Classic uses medium-dark roasted coffee beans for a robust flavor and an aroma described as "comforting and intense."

Nescafe Clasico

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Nescafe Clasico is targeted toward the Latino-American population and is the top coffee brand among Latinos in America. Clasico features a bold flavor that comes from dark-roasted coffee beans. The dark roast results in a full-bodied coffee with a bolder flavor than Nescafe Classic. When blended with sugar, Nescafe Clasico is comparable to a cafe Cubano or cafecito, a strong, sweet espresso drink popular in Cuba. In addition to original Nescafe Clasico, Nestle makes Nescafe Clasico Decaf, which has a similar flavor without the jolt, and Nescafe Classico Suave, which has a smoother flavor than bold Clasico.

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