I likey Smooth-ish. More accurately, light texture, but mostly smooth to Smooth AF. Order of preference below:
Cheapo PBT with Oleophobic coating
Anyways, this specifically refers to the texture present in budget PBT keycap options. The typical texture a clone; blatantly anime set; or a budget China keyset GB would have. Feels like high-grade office bond paper smooth-ish with enough texture to keep things interesting. Many China-only keycap GBs at the 50-60usd base set mark feature the same finish. There are other objective metrics that would be more appropriate to critique on these cheap sets. I’m just arguing that texture is not one of them…though it is oft lumped together with the other issues of these low cost sets.
SP SA
Smoothest I’ve ever tried. These used to be my absolute favourite. SP SA speaks for itself really. 'nuff said.
KAT PBT
It’s kinda hard to describe the texture…it’s like if you were just about to enter smooth…but you stopped short, and gave it a light texture. Basically, smoothest as something textured can be?
After getting my hands on KAT Lucky Jades and a few other KAT keysets (just 2 months ago). I am completely converted.