Coffee Supreme Instant Review

Overview

Coffee Supreme is a well-regarded specialty roaster out of New Zealand, and their Instant is exactly what it sounds like: single-serve sachets of freeze-dried coffee made from their standard Supreme Blend rather than a mystery instant-grade bean. It’s aimed at people who like good coffee but don’t want to haul a pour-over setup into the backcountry — think weekend trampers and car campers more than gram-counting thru-hikers, given the price tag.

Key Specs

Spec	Detail
Brand	Coffee Supreme
Coffee type	Instant (Freeze-Dried)
Blend	Supreme Blend
Format	Single-serve sachets
Weight per sachet	4.0 g
SKU	ST02126

Performance

At 4 g a sachet and zero packaging to speak of beyond the foil pouch, this disappears into a pack liner without a second thought — it’s about as close to a non-decision on weight as backpacking food gets. The pitch from Coffee Supreme is straightforward: they source coffee from the Yacuanquer region in Colombia, take the same quality coffee, roast it, brew it, and freeze dry it, with no additives or fillers. That’s a real point of difference from the Nescafé/Moccona end of the shelf, and it shows up in the cup — this tastes like coffee that used to be a proper brew, not a chemistry-set approximation of one.

That’s borne out by outside tasters, too. Metro’s write-up on NZ instant coffee had judges rank Coffee Supreme reigns supreme, describing it as dark and bouncy and bright, courtesy of some very nice citrusy notes, and one judge noted it “tastes like filter,” because that’s exactly what it once was before it was freeze-dried. On trail, that translates to a cup with actual acidity and some fruit-forward character rather than the flat, burnt-toast flavor you get from bulk instant — a genuine upgrade if you’re used to grocery-store granules at 6 a.m. on a cold summit.

That said, not everyone’s palate agrees, and it’s worth flagging the other side of the ledger. A Consumer NZ blind taste test of instant coffees found Coffee Supreme comes with hipster pedigree and an eye-watering price tag at $76.14 per 100 grams, and after coming in sixth place in the taste test, you’re probably better off buying a bag of cheaper instant and decanting it into a Ziploc bag. That panel scored it 42 out of 100, with participants feeling the offering had hints of coffee in its aroma that were lacking in its flavour — just 20% of panellists said they’d buy it for home. So there’s a real split here: coffee-forward tasters who value acidity and brightness tend to rate it highly, while a broader panel drinking it black found it underwhelming for the price. Worth noting that instant coffee generally scores better with milk added in blind tests, so if you’re a black-coffee purist on trail, temper expectations accordingly.

Practically speaking, the sachets are genuinely convenient — tear, dump, stir, done, no measuring spoon or waste sachet fumbling in the cold. The catch is the cost per cup. At New Zealand specialty-coffee pricing, you’re paying multiples of what a jar of Mount Hagen or even Starbucks VIA costs per serving, for a product that’s polarizing even among people who like coffee. If you’re doing the math on a long thru-hike where you’re brewing daily for weeks, that adds up fast.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Made from an actual specialty blend rather than commodity instant-grade beans — no additives or fillers
• Distinct, bright, citrusy flavor profile that stands out from typical bulk instant coffee
• Pre-dosed single-serve sachets are genuinely convenient — no scooping, no waste
• Negligible pack weight per serving
• Well-regarded outside the outdoor world for its cup quality

Cons

• Expensive relative to other instant coffee options, even other specialty brands
• Blind taste-test results are mixed — polarizing rather than universally loved
• Limited availability outside New Zealand/Australia, so restocking mid-trip abroad isn’t realistic
• Only one blend/roast option, so no variety if you want to mix things up

Who Should Buy This

This is a good fit for New Zealand and Australia-based trampers who already appreciate good coffee and don’t mind paying a premium to bring café-quality flavor into the backcountry for weekend or week-long trips. It’s a harder sell for budget-conscious thru-hikers doing months on trail, where the per-cup cost and reliance on a niche retailer for restocking become real logistical and financial friction points.

Verdict

Coffee Supreme Instant delivers a noticeably brighter, more complex cup than typical bulk instant coffee, and the pre-dosed sachets are about as frictionless as trail coffee gets. But it’s priced like the specialty product it is, and not every taster agrees it’s worth the premium — so treat this as a treat for shorter trips rather than a thru-hike staple. I’d put it at a 6.5/10: excellent for what it is, but the value proposition only makes sense if you’re already sold on Coffee Supreme’s flavor at home.