The High Court in Edinburgh heard Craig Wilson, 30, Alan Piper, 26, and Malcolm Amos, 40, were caught during police surveillance on 25 November 2015.
Amos had drugs worth £25,000, which he collected from Piper in a car on Lauder Road, Edinburgh.
As part of the same surveillance operation, police caught Wilson coming out a house in Glen Street, Paisley, with packages worth £175,000.
Advocate depute Derek Ogg QC said all the packages were forensically tested and found to be about 70% pure cocaine, except for one package which was of poor quality.
The prosecutor said Wilson, from Cardonald, Piper, from Paisley, and Amos, from Edinburgh, had no previous convictions, and had "very limited experience of any involvement beyond being couriers".
Judge Lord McEwan deferred sentence until next month.
Three men have admitted transporting cocaine worth about £200,000.