What Is Kenco Millicano and How Is It Made?

Kenco Millicano is a wholebean instant coffee: mostly soluble coffee, blended with finely milled roasted coffee beans. That small amount of real ground coffee is what gives it more body and aroma than a standard instant. It dissolves in hot water like any other instant, so it needs no machine, no filter and no grinder.

It has become a staple in offices, hotel bedrooms and back-of-house kitchens for exactly that reason. Below is what the product actually is, how it is made, and how it stacks up against ordinary granules and other wholebean instants.

What is Kenco Millicano wholebean instant coffee

Millicano is Kenco’s wholebean instant range. The base is freeze-dried soluble coffee, the same category of product as any jar of instant. Blended into it is a proportion of microground roasted coffee, milled far finer than anything you would put in a filter or portafilter.

The ground element does not dissolve. It stays suspended in the cup, and that is deliberate. It carries oils and aromatics that the soluble part alone cannot deliver, which is why a cup of Millicano smells and tastes closer to brewed coffee than a conventional instant does.

Kenco Millicano Americano Wholebean Instant Coffee in the 300g jar is the format most trade customers order. It is a medium-strength americano-style blend, sold at £16.95 ex VAT.

The short answer

Kenco Millicano is instant coffee with finely milled roasted coffee beans blended in. The soluble coffee dissolves; the microground beans stay suspended and add aroma, body and a slightly darker colour. You make it exactly like ordinary instant — a spoonful in a mug, hot water on top — but the result is noticeably fuller.

How wholebean instant coffee is made

Standard instant coffee starts life as brewed coffee. The liquid is concentrated, then either freeze-dried or spray-dried into granules or powder that dissolve back into water. Freeze-drying is the gentler of the two and retains more flavour, which is why most premium instants are freeze-dried.

The problem with any soluble process is that a lot of the volatile aromatics are lost along the way. You are drinking a reconstitution, not a brew.

Adding the microground element

Wholebean instant tackles that gap by milling roasted beans to a very fine particle size and blending them into the soluble granules. The particles are small enough to stay in suspension rather than sink into a sludge at the bottom of the mug.

Getting this right is a manufacturing balance. Too coarse and you get grit; too little ground coffee and there is no point. Kenco has been making Millicano since 2011 and the ratio in the current blend is well settled.

• Soluble base — freeze-dried coffee that dissolves fully in hot water
• Microground beans — roasted coffee milled to a fine particle size, blended into the granules
• Result — a cup with more aroma, a fuller mouthfeel and a slightly cloudier appearance

You will find it alongside the rest of our instant coffee range, which covers everything from standard catering granules to wholebean blends.

How Kenco Millicano compares to ordinary instant coffee

Side by side in the mug, the difference is visible before you taste it. Millicano pours slightly darker and less transparent, with fine specks visible if you look closely. Ordinary instant produces a clear, thin-looking cup.

On flavour, the gap is in body rather than strength. Millicano is not necessarily more caffeinated or more bitter — it simply has more weight on the palate and a roasted aroma that ordinary granules lack.

The residue is worth flagging if you serve it in glass cups or clear takeaway lids. Nobody complains, but staff should know it is normal and not a sign of a dirty mug.

Serving Kenco Millicano in a café, office or hotel

For jar service, a standard dose is one rounded teaspoon per mug, going to two for a large mug or anyone who takes it strong. A 300g jar gives you roughly 165 cups at 1.8g a serving, which makes the cost per cup genuinely low.

Volume dispensing

Once you are past about forty cups a day, spooning from a jar stops making sense. The Matrix Kenco Millicano Premier 3 instant coffee machine handles dosing and hot water in one unit and carries Millicano branding, which suits reception areas and hotel breakfast setups. It is £1,465 ex VAT.

If you would rather run an unbranded unit, the Matrix Premier 3 is the same machine at the same price without the livery. Both sit within our soluble and instant coffee machines category.

Practical points for busy sites

• Keep the jar sealed between uses — microground coffee picks up moisture faster than plain granules
• Use a dry spoon; damp spoons clump the product and make dosing inconsistent
• Water just off the boil gives a better cup than water straight from a rolling boil
• Store away from heat sources and direct light, as you would with beans

Kenco Millicano versus other wholebean instant coffees

Millicano is the best-known name in this category but it is not the only option. Summit 100% Arabica Wholebean Instant Coffee comes in the same 300g jar size at £14.50 ex VAT, and being 100% arabica it drinks a little smoother and less robust than the Kenco.

Which one suits you comes down to palate and budget. Millicano has the brand recognition, which counts in a hotel room or a client-facing office. Summit costs less per jar and works well where the coffee is a staff amenity rather than a talking point.

The wider Summit range covers beans, ground and soluble products, so sites already running Summit elsewhere often find it simpler to stay within one brand.

Where to buy Kenco Millicano and what it costs

We hold the 300g Millicano jar in stock at £16.95 ex VAT. Orders placed before 4:30pm Monday to Friday go out the same day on DPD, and delivery is free on orders over £69 ex VAT to mainland UK.

Sites getting through several jars a month should look at our bulk buy section, where case quantities bring the unit cost down. We have been supplying trade customers since 1993 and can set up repeat orders on a schedule that matches your usage.

Wholebean instant fills a real gap. It will not replace a bean-to-cup machine, but for meeting rooms, bedrooms, staff kitchens and anywhere without a plumbed-in machine, it produces a cup people are happy to drink.

Need Millicano on site this week? Order before 4:30pm and it ships the same day, with free delivery on orders over £69 ex VAT. Buy Kenco Millicano 300g