Kenco Smooth review: a well-rated mild instant that's best bought as a refill

Looking for a Kenco Smooth review before you put a jar in your trolley? As the name suggests, Kenco Smooth is pitched as a gentle, easy-drinking instant, and it has a big following: hundreds of owner reviews across its jar and refill on Trolley.co.uk, most of them positive. The 200g jar is £7.80 at Tesco, checked 28 Sep 2026. I haven’t tested this in person. My verdict is based on the listed product details, dated UK prices, owner ratings and the independent sources I name and link below, and there’s one gap in the evidence I’ll be upfront about.

Kenco Smooth review: the short answer

Buy Kenco Smooth if you want an instant that’s pitched as mild and smooth, and you like the reassurance of lots of positive owner reviews. The 200g jar is £7.80 at Tesco (checked 28 Sep 2026), which is the lowest jar price I found.

Who it isn’t for: anyone who wants an instant with a strong UK taste-test result behind it. Neither Which? nor Good Housekeeping included Kenco Smooth in their roundups. If that matters to you, Nescafé Gold Blend did well in Which?’s blind test and costs less per 100g at its best price.

Choose the refill if you already have a jar at home and drink instant every day. The 150g paper refill is £4.70 at Asda (checked 28 Sep 2026), about £3.13 per 100g, and at Tesco and Co-op, the two shops where I could compare both, the refill costs less per 100g than the jar.

Who it isn’t for: anyone without a jar to top up, or who’d rather not decant coffee from a paper pack. Start with the jar.

What it costs right now

Prices for the 200g jar, via Trolley.co.uk, checked 28 Sep 2026:

• Tesco: £7.80 (£3.90 per 100g). Trolley.co.uk’s price history suggests this is below what the jar usually sells for, but there’s no formal sale or was-price shown, so the price could move either way. Check it on the day.
• Sainsbury’s: £8.35.
• Co-op: £9.00.

I couldn’t confirm Asda or Morrisons prices for the 200g jar, and Trolley.co.uk wasn’t showing any multi-buy deals when I checked.

Prices for the 150g paper refill, via Trolley.co.uk, checked 28 Sep 2026:

• Asda: £4.70.
• Morrisons: £5.00.
• Tesco: £5.00.
• Waitrose: £6.15.
• Co-op: £6.65.

Kenco also sells Smooth in 95g and 190g jars and a 300g refill. Trolley.co.uk flags the 300g refill as the best-value size, but I couldn’t confirm which shops the prices for these other sizes came from, so I’ve left the figures out.

What you get: sizes and what’s listed

It’s a jar of instant, so there’s nothing to set up. Trolley.co.uk lists the 200g jar as instant coffee, and the range covers 95g, 190g and 200g jars plus 150g and 300g paper refills for topping up a jar you already own.

Beyond that, the confirmed details run out. I couldn’t confirm the roast strength, the type of beans or how many cups Kenco says a jar makes, so I’ve left those out rather than guess. The name is the clearest signal of what Kenco is going for: something mellow rather than bold.

Who it isn’t for: anyone who picks coffee by roast strength or bean type. The listings don’t say, and if those details matter, you’ll probably get more out of fresh beans. My guide to the best coffee subscriptions is a good starting point.

Running costs: price per 100g

Here’s how the sizes compare, by my sums, using prices from the shops named, all checked 28 Sep 2026:

• about £3.13 per 100g for the 150g refill at Asda (£4.70)
• about £3.33 per 100g for the 150g refill at Tesco or Morrisons (£5.00)
• £3.90 per 100g for the 200g jar at Tesco (£7.80)
• about £4.18 per 100g for the 200g jar at Sainsbury’s (£8.35)
• £4.50 per 100g for the 200g jar at Co-op (£9.00)

So buying the refill at Asda rather than the jar at Co-op saves about £1.37 per 100g. Once you’ve got a jar, refills are the sensible way to keep going.

I can’t give you a cost per cup, because I couldn’t confirm how many cups Kenco says a jar makes. Price per 100g is the fairest comparison I can offer.

Who it isn’t for: anyone who wants the lowest price per 100g from a big brand in a jar. Nescafé Gold Blend’s 190g jar was about £3.03 per 100g at Asda (£5.75, checked 28 Sep 2026).

What reviewers and owners say

Owners are the strongest evidence here. On Trolley.co.uk, the 200g jar has 4.5 out of 5 from 138 reviews and the 150g refill has 4.7 out of 5 from 299 reviews (both checked 28 Sep 2026). That’s a far bigger sample than many instants get on the same site.

Independent tests are where the gap is. Which? and Good Housekeeping both left Kenco Smooth out of their instant coffee roundups. They covered Kenco Gold Indulgence instead, which Good Housekeeping named its “best branded buy”. That’s a different coffee, so I wouldn’t assume the result carries over. I also looked for reviews from BBC Good Food, The Independent and The Guardian’s Filter, and didn’t find one.

The one blind test I found that did include it is from Coffee Chronicler, which isn’t UK-based. It gave Kenco Smooth 4 out of 5 in its blind tasting and found it smooth and clean. That’s one test from outside the UK, so I wouldn’t read too much into it.

Who it isn’t for: anyone who wants a UK blind-test result before buying. For that, Gold Blend has the stronger evidence.

Kenco Smooth vs Nescafé Gold Blend

These are the two instants I’ve covered, and the choice comes down to price, evidence and style.

• Price: Kenco Smooth’s 200g jar is £7.80 at Tesco, and Gold Blend’s 190g jar is £5.75 at Asda (both checked 28 Sep 2026). Per 100g, that’s £3.90 against about £3.03.
• Refills: Kenco Smooth’s 150g refill at Asda (£4.70, checked 28 Sep 2026) gets it down to about £3.13 per 100g, close to Gold Blend’s best.
• Independent tests: Gold Blend did well in Which?’s blind test; Kenco Smooth wasn’t included.
• Owner ratings: Kenco Smooth has many more reviews on Trolley.co.uk (138 for the jar against Gold Blend’s 7).
• Style: Kenco Smooth is pitched as the milder option.

If you want lots of happy owners and a gentler cup, and you’ll buy refills, Kenco Smooth makes sense. If you want the better independent result and the cheapest jar, read my Nescafé Gold Blend review.

Who it isn’t for: anyone who only ever buys jars and wants the lowest price. Gold Blend at Asda is cheaper per 100g.

Downsides

• No UK taste-test result. Which? and Good Housekeeping covered Kenco Gold Indulgence, not Smooth.
• The jar isn’t the best value. Refills cost less per 100g at the shops where I could compare both.
• Prices move around. Trolley.co.uk’s history suggests Tesco’s £7.80 is below the usual price, so it may not last.
• Gaps in the details. I couldn’t confirm cups per jar, roast strength or bean type, so there’s no reliable per-cup cost.

Where to go next

If you’re tempted to move on from instant, my guide to the best coffee subscriptions compares fresh-bean deliveries, and my best burr grinders under £100 guide will help if you go for whole beans. For a milky instant latte, a frother is the easy upgrade: see my best milk frothers. And for the other instant I’ve covered, read my Nescafé Gold Blend review.

FAQ

How much is Kenco Smooth? The 200g jar was £7.80 at Tesco, £8.35 at Sainsbury’s and £9.00 at Co-op, all checked 28 Sep 2026.

Is the Kenco Smooth refill cheaper than the jar? Yes, per 100g. The 150g refill was £4.70 at Asda (about £3.13 per 100g), against £3.90 per 100g for the 200g jar at Tesco (both checked 28 Sep 2026).

Has Kenco Smooth been in a UK taste test? Not in the ones I found. Which? and Good Housekeeping covered Kenco Gold Indulgence instead. A non-UK blind test by Coffee Chronicler gave it 4 out of 5.

Is Kenco Smooth strong? It’s pitched as a mild, smooth instant, and Coffee Chronicler found it smooth and clean. I couldn’t confirm an official strength rating.

How many cups do you get from a jar? I couldn’t confirm Kenco’s cups-per-jar figure, so I can’t give a reliable cost per cup. Check the label on the jar.