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Cult favorite
Café Bustelo
Espresso Style Dark Roast Instant Coffee (7.05 oz)
Cheap, strong Latin-style dark roast that dissolves hot or cold: a cafecito-and-iced-coffee workhorse rather than a nuanced cup.
6.9
Fair
Coffee Reviews score
See the breakdown →
Community
—/10
- Roast
- Dark
- Format
- Instant
- Caffeine
- Regular
- Price
- $9.90
Kosher
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Last reviewed October 17, 2026 by the Coffee Reviews editors · How we score
Cheap, strong Latin-style dark roast that dissolves hot or cold: a cafecito-and-iced-coffee workhorse rather than a nuanced cup.
Café Bustelo's espresso-style dark roast in instant form, now sold in a 7.05 oz plastic jar after a move from glass. It dissolves in hot or cold water or milk and is built to stand up to milk, sugar and ice; Bustelo lists about 70 mg of caffeine per 6 oz serving. In Tasting Table's ranking of nine instant coffees, it outperformed Starbucks, Folgers and Maxwell House.
Best for
- Cafecito-style sweet coffee and café con leche
- Iced coffee and baking
- Budget camping coffee
What we like
- Bold, Latin-style dark roast flavor that holds up to milk and sugar
- Dissolves in hot or cold water or milk
- Inexpensive and widely available
- Used by home bakers as an espresso-powder substitute
Watch-outs
- No origin, species or sourcing information
- Some reviewers find it musky or harsh when drunk black
- Cups per jar are not published, so cost per cup depends on your dose
How it scored
The breakdown.
6.9Fair
Cup score out of 10, weighted across five factors.
- Flavor & cup quality30%6.9
Strong and smooth for the price per Tasting Table; Whole Brain Coffee panned it, and Redditors range from 'fine' to 'weirdly addictive'.
- Quality & freshness20%6.3
Mass-market dark-roast soluble coffee in a new plastic jar, with no origin or roast-date detail.
- Value20%8.4
Under $10 for a 7.05 oz jar at the checked price, cheap per cup for a bold espresso-style instant.
- Sourcing & transparency15%4.8
No origin, species or sourcing certification disclosed beyond a kosher mark.
- Community love15%7.6
A cult pantry staple: camping, baking and r/Coffee threads describe it as surprisingly good for zero effort.
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What people are saying
From the forums.
Verbatim from Reddit, forums and long-term owner write-ups — linked so you can read the full thread.
“Cafe Bustelo instant espresso is the easiest way to make a decent cup of coffee with no fuss.”
“It's fine, not unpleasant. No sourness or bitterness, it's fairly mild. The draw here is the convenience.”
“For some reason Cafe Bustelo is weirdly addictive to me. It’s trash, but in like the best way.”
“On the palate, it arrives strong and robust, yet nuanced and smooth with Latin inspired-flavor notes”
Details
The particulars.
- Format
- Instant
- Caffeine
- Regular · ~70 mg per serving
- Ingredients
- 100% pure coffee
- Best brewed as
- Just add water, Iced / over ice, Lattes & milk drinks
- Certifications
- Kosher
- Typical price
- $9.90 for 7.05 oz (200 g) jar (checked October 2026)
- Servings
- 1 tsp per 6 fl oz of hot water or milk; the brand does not state cups per jar
Community
Member tasting notes & discussion.
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Discussion
No discussions yet.
Own Café Bustelo Espresso Style Dark Roast Instant Coffee (7.05 oz)? Ask a question or share your recipe — you’ll be the first.
FAQ
Good questions.
How much caffeine is in Café Bustelo instant?
Café Bustelo says there are approximately 70 mg of caffeine per 6 oz serving.
Why did the jar change from glass to plastic?
Bustelo says it moved production of this product in-house and its production model does not support glass, so the jar is now plastic; it says the taste is unchanged.
How do you prepare it?
Stir one teaspoon into 6 fl oz of hot water or milk. It also dissolves in cold water or milk for iced drinks.
Sources (10)
- cafebustelo.com/coffee/instant/espresso-instant-coffee
- cafebustelo.com/our-history
- vitacost.com/products/caf-bustelo-espresso-instant-coffee-7-05-oz-200-g-116045
- tastingtable.com/2276601/instant-coffee-brand-outshines-starbucks-folgers-maxwell-house/
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Bustelo
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_J.M._Smucker_Company
- amazon.com/dp/B01MAWBNWZ
- reddit.com/r/CampingandHiking/comments/1rul3ny/best_instant_coffee_packets/oanfjla/
- reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/7ffz7l/first_experience_with_cafe_bustelo_instant/k9nbjse/
- reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/y9cjhe/are_there_any_good_instant_coffees/it781xz/
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