Philippine Brown Coffee Review: The Best Instant Brown Coffee

For a lot of us, coffee is an important part of our lives with over 2.25 billion cups consumed every day. Certainly, we rely on a cup of good coffee to help us get started in the morning or to give us a boost later in the day so that we can get through our 9 to 5 office jobs. With coffee comes increased focus, less drowsiness, and deliciousness in a single cup.

I personally prefer a cup of good brewed coffee to jump-start my morning, especially a cup of good Philippine Barako Coffee.  However, we don't always have the luxury of time to brew coffee every single day. Sometimes we just need something that's cheap and easy to prepare. This has led to the increasing popularity of instant 3-in-1 coffee in the Philippines. There are 4 types of instant (3-in-1) coffee to choose from; Regular Blend, Brown Coffee, White Coffee, and Chocolate Coffee.

I know that different flavors are made to cater to a different market segments. Some people would prefer the sweet taste of White Coffee more than the caramel taste of Brown Coffee or the bitterness of a Regular Blend. So it wouldn't really make sense to compare across different varieties. We can, however, is compare the different products of each brand. 

In this article, let's compare the different brown 3-in-1 coffee offered by different brands in the Philippines. Note that each cup was prepared exactly using the measurements recommended on each package as to not dilute the coffee, so that we can get an unbiased idea of the flavor that each manufacturer wanted to deliver. 

Blend 45 Pula Coffee

Price: 46.5 x 10 Sachets

Blend 45 is a brand of coffee manufactured by Universal Robina Corporation (URC) to tap into the lower income coffee segment. Blend 45 Pula looked like regular brown coffee, with no frothing on the top of the cup. The cup also did not produce a strong delicious aroma which I find important in a good quality cup of coffee. Upon tasting, Blend 45 Pula produced a very mild caramel taste that wasn't too sweet, but with ultimately nothing special to distinguish itself from other brands. 

Rating: 2/5

Kopiko Brown Coffee

Price: 52.95 x 10 Sachets

Kopiko Brown Coffee is the first brand of brown coffee introduced in the Pihlippines and probably the most popular brand as well, produced by Indonesian company Tao Corporation and distributed by subsidiary Tridhana Marketing Corporation. While the coffee looked similar to Blend 45 Pula, Kopiko Brown Coffee produced a very strong, pleasing aroma. The coffee blend also had a very mild coffee taste with a smooth caramel finish that wasn't to sweet on the tongue. Certainly, Kopiko has done something right with Kopiko Brown that would really keep you coming back for more. Certainly a very delicious cup of coffee! 

Rating: 4/5

Great Taste Brown

Price: 59.5 x 10 Sachets

Great Taste is another brand of coffee produced by Universal Robina Corporation (URC) to tap into the higher income market who are willing to pay more for better tasting coffee.  I'm not going to lie, but I have always been a fan of Great Taste White so I had very high hopes that their brown coffee would deliver similar great taste (no pun intended!). Great Taste Brown looked like normal coffee again, but what sets it apart from Blend 45 is that it comes with a very sweet and appealing aroma. Upon tasting, the flavor is actually pretty good and delivers a pleasant caramel kick. It's also quite sweet, so I'm sure that this would appeal to sweet-tooths out there who like a good brown coffee. However, since I'm not very fond of sweets, it doesn't quite beat Kopiko Brown.

Rating: 3.5/5

Nescafe Brown 'N Creamy

Price: 62.5 x 10 Sachets

When you talk about instant coffee anywhere in the world, Nescafe would jump out as the first brand in mind. In the Philippines, it is no different with the company taking a lion's share of the Philippine coffee market with around 80-90% market share. Kopiko may be the first brand to introduce brown coffee in the Philippnes, but Nescafe is the biggest player in the market. With Nescafe Brown 'N Creamy, the company hopes to deliver a creamy cup of coffee with a sweet caramel touch. Brown 'N Creamy is the only brown coffee that was able to deliver a delicious froth on top of the cup that comes with a very strong caramel aroma. In terms of taste, it produces a very sweet caramel taste that reminds me of leche flan and caramelized sugar. Ultimately, Brown 'N Creamy offers a great blend that will keep you coming back for more, and it the best cup of brown coffee offered in the Philippines. 

Rating: 4.5/5

In your opinion, what brand of brown coffee do you like best? Let me know in the comments below!

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Cheers,
Chef Jay