Supermarket own brand coffee named best in UK beating Kenco and Nescafe - less than £8

A supermarket's own-brand coffee has been named the best in the UK, beating beloved brands Kenco and Nescafé. Coming in at £7.25 for 200g, shoppers would save more than £1 with every purchase compared to the bigger brands, while getting more coffee per jar for hectic mornings.

A panel of 68 regular coffee drinkers sipped their way through 12 instant gold-roast-style coffees, drinking more than 800 testing brews. These included iconic Nescafé, as well as other well-known brands, Douwe Egberts and Kenco. They were pitted against nine supermarket own brands from Asda, Lidl and Sainsbury's.

Two supermarket coffees impressed tasters the most, while another retailer won the Great Value title, finding the sweet spot between quality and affordability.

The Nescafé Gold Blend came in at £8.35 for 190g, the same price as a 195g jar of Kenco. The former fared well among 68 taste testers, and it just missed out on 'Best Buy' status by one point. Around half were happy with the flavour of both Nescafé and Kenco, but a third wanted a stronger coffee hit.

The Which? consumer champion survey found that two supermarket brands topped the list: M&S and Waitrose.

"If you want to upgrade from basic instant, bag yourself a tasty brew with our top-scoring gold blend coffee from M&S," it said.

M&S Gold Instant Coffee cost £7.25 for 200g, and scored well for flavour, aroma and appearance. Nearly two-thirds were happy with the strength of flavour, while close to three-quarters approved of the bitterness levels. It also scored high ethically, being one of just two coffees on test with the Fairtrade logo.

Waitrose Gold Roast came in joint top place with M&S, also deemed a 'Best Buy'. It did well across the board, making a good first impression for its appearance and aroma.

Well over half of the tasters found the coffee's strength spot on, and nearly two-thirds enjoyed the bitter tang. This Waitrose coffee came in at £3.70 for 100g, making it more expensive per gram than Marks.

Aldi Barissimo Gold Roast Freeze Dried Coffee was voted the Great Value choice for Which? coming in at just £2.65 for 200g.

Drinkers enjoyed its aroma, the bitterness levels were approved by nearly two-thirds, and the flavour by just shy of half of tasters. A little stronger coffee flavour would've boosted its popularity still more.