Nescafe brands of food and drink are available all over the world, including Thailand. Nescafe coffee too. Nescafe Red Cup however is mostly only available in Europe and Asia and I’m not sure why? It’s one of the best instant coffees I’ve ever tasted and well worth the price, so I’m amazed it’s not available everywhere. It’s also one of Thailand’s most popular and most sold brands of instant coffee.
I first drank Nescafe Red Cup when one of my students gave me a jar as a birthday gift. I used to teach English as a foreign language in Thailand and all my students knew I’m obsessed with coffee, as I drink around 15 cups a day. Yes, you read that right, 15 cups a day! I’m bouncing off the walls from morning till night, but at least my students thought I was lively.
When my student gave me the jar of Nescafe Red Cup, my first thought was “Well that will save me a couple of dollars this week”. I drink a lot of coffee but am by no means a coffee connoisseur, so I’ll usually drink anything that’s put in front of me. I do however notice when a coffee is better than the normal stuff I drink. The only reason I hadn’t drunk Nescafe Red Cup before was, in Thailand, it’s about $1 a packet more expensive than the coffee brand I normally drink, and I wasn’t sure it was worth it.
I made myself a cup of the new Red Cup as soon as I got back to the staff room. I knew the moment I brought the cup to my lips it was a step up from what I normally drink. It’s a slightly heavier and darker coffee, with a more pungent aroma. I realized as soon as I opened the packet, from the color alone, I would need a little less in my cup than normal. But when I brought it to my lips and took the first taste – yum, I was sold. The taste of Nescafe Red Cup is much smoother than that of a regular, cheaper coffee. No bitter after taste, no slight heartburn. It slides down smoothly and sits there really nicely. Strong but mild, it’s just about the perfect coffee.
When I got home that night, I made myself another cup, this time by adding it to a cup of boiled milk and some sugar, thus making my very own latte. Even in this incarnation, it holds up well and gave me a smooth instant coffee latte with a kick.
Over the next few days, I made a delicious iced coffee with it, a smooth coffee ice blended and even whipped up a quick coffee syrup sauce and had it over ice cream. It came out a treat on all of them.
In Thailand, Nescafe Red Cup is available in individual serving packets, 100 grammes, 200 grammes and 400 grammes soft packs and jars. It’s even available in Nescafe Red Cup 3-1 (coffee, sugar and dried milk all in one sachet). It is more per packet than what I normally spend but, in my opinion, worth the extra money. Also, because of the strength, I found I actually used less coffee per cup so the difference in the price is negligible.
Since my first drink I have switched to regularly buying Nescafe Red Cup, and drink it now about 70% of the time.
Finally, for an incredibly tasty Nescafe Red Cup Chocolate Frappe, try this:
Put 2 teaspoons of Nescafe Red Cup in a blender, and 6 ice cubes, 1 ½ cups of cold milk, 3 teaspoons of sugar and 3 teaspoons of Drinking Chocolate Powder (you can also substitute chocolate milk for the cold milk and chocolate powder, if you like). Turn on the blender for 1 minute, pour into an iced glass and add some chocolate sprinkles on top. The taste is out of this world.