The shelves of grocery stores in the hot drinks section are filled with many options for instant coffee. You can get cheap instant coffee, and on the other end of the spectrum, you can spend a small fortune on 80g of luxury instant coffee.
Instant coffee divides the world of coffee lovers. Some say drinking instant coffee isn't coffee drinking; others swear by it because it's convenient and gives you a cup of coffee within seconds, unlike regular coffee.
It's undeniable that there's a huge difference in taste and quality. The same is true for coffee made from a freshly roasted coffee bean, though!
If you have ever wondered about how instant coffee is made, why it's different from "real" coffee, whether it has less caffeine or the same amount as regular coffee, this article is here to answer these questions (and a few more).
What Is Instant Coffee?
Instant or soluble coffee is made from beans that are processed into a concentrated form via freeze-drying or spray-drying. The result is a coarse or fine powder that can be dissolved in hot (but not boiling) water.
There are quite a few steps involved in the process, and the first few aren't different from how "proper" coffee is produced.
Let’s take a look at the freeze-drying process in detail:
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Harvesting and Selection: Ripe coffee cherries are carefully picked from the coffee plants at their peak ripeness.
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Drying process: The whole beans are dried using one of the typical coffee processing methods.
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Transport: The next step is the transport of green beans to coffee factories.
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Roasting: The green coffee beans are roasted, in most cases, to a medium level.
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Grinding: The freshly roasted beans are put through a grinder to produce a fine grind. This is where the differences to regular coffee end. The grinding machine is designed in a way that allows nitrogen gas to be pumped through the grounds. This happens because some of the coffee's aroma compounds are lost during grinding. The nitrogen gas picks up that aroma, and it's stored in special tanks (these compounds later greatly affect the end product).
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Brewing: Now, the roasted coffee beans are mixed with water in a huge extraction tank. These tanks usually hold several hundred kilos of coffee as freeze-drying coffee happens on a rather large scale. To put it into perspective, Nescafe's pods can hold the equivalent of a quarter of a million cups. That's more than you'll drink in a lifetime!
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Evaporation: After brewing ground coffee beans, the liquid is moved to an evaporation tank. The water is heated in this tank, so it evaporates - but not totally. Ultimately, all that's left is a thick coffee extract that's about 50% less watery than before.
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Freezing: Now it's time to put it through a GIANT freezer. The coffee experiences temperatures between -40 °C and -50 °C (- 40°F and -58°F) and is broken into small bits and pieces. Of course, there's still too much water in those.
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Sublimation: This takes us to the sublimation stage, a rather complex process. It's an instant way to turn a solid into a gas, skipping the "liquid" phase. It's what dries out the frozen coffee granules and creates the dried coffee extract, i.e. dehydrated crystals.
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Aroma transfer: Remember the lost aroma? That's now added back simply by spraying them over the granules.
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Packaging: All that's left is the packaging. In most cases, the instant coffee is put into glass jars, but you can also find instant coffee in metal containers and cardboard tubs with protective lining inside. An airtight seal and a lid are added, a label is attached, and the product is ready to be distributed.
The freeze-drying process produces chunkier, crystal-like granules and is often seen as producing better instant coffee.
Another method with which instant coffee is made is the spray drying process. This produces fine, powdery instant coffee. It's a simpler and cheaper process. After the coffee is brewed, the coffee is sprayed around in a big tank with heat added so the water evaporates and leaves the coffee powder behind.
This process isn't only cheap but fast - and because of that, the coffee loses much of its quality in the process.
The spent coffee grounds are often turned into other products, like logs for burning in wood logs!
History Of Instant Coffee
Instant coffee is nothing new, and there is conflicting information about who invented it online. This is mainly due to the different stages the product went through before it became marketable.
The first instant coffee, a "coffee compound," was patented by the Englishman John Dring in 1771. It wasn’t a very good product and spoiled quickly, but it was a start.
The next step also happened in the UK (in 1840), but this time in Scotland by a company called T&H Smith. They created a liquid coffee concentrate, but this liquid coffee was mixed with chicory and burnt sugar syrup, so not quite the instant coffee we know today.
The way the essence was prepared is similar to the evaporation stage in the freeze-dried process.
In the following decades, there were many other attempts to create instant coffee beverages. Still, the real breakthrough happened in New Zealand when David Strang patented "Strang's Soluble Dry Coffee-Powder" in 1890.
This instant coffee was created via a “dry hot air” process. The resulting powder could be turned back into coffee by adding hot water.
In 1903, Dr. Satori Kato (a Japanese living in the USA) applied for and received a patent for what Kato called "certain new and useful Improvements in Coffee Concentrate and Process of Making Same".
In 1909, George Washington (no, not the politician!) introduced the first commercial instant coffee to the world, mainly to American troops in World War I, as the instant cup of coffee was a hit with soldiers.
Freeze-dried coffee entered the stage after World War II and was a byproduct of other wartime research.
In the following decades, instant coffee was constantly improved (early versions weren't very good) and eventually became what we can buy in grocery stores today.
What Makes Instant Coffee Different From Regular Coffee?
Brewing Process
Regular coffee can be brewed in many different ways: from using a drip filter, a French press, an espresso machine, or an Aeropress. It's a more involved process than instant coffee. Using fresh coffee gives you a rich and nuanced taste but requires time and equipment.
Instant coffee is simpler: Boil some hot water, put a spoon or two of coffee powder in a cup, add the water, stir - and you’re done.
Storage
Instant coffee can be stored for longer periods without losing its flavor. On the other hand, fresh coffee needs to be used up within 2-3 weeks to enjoy the best flavor.
Caffeine Level
Due to the processing method of instant coffee, it contains a little less caffeine compared to ground coffee on average:
One cup of instant coffee contains around 30-90 mg of caffeine, and a cup of regular coffee gives you about 70-140 mg.
Flavor
Instant coffee is convenient, but cheap brands can taste disappointing and smell like cigarette ash. A freshly brewed coffee's flavour is usually the winner in the taste department. This is because the dehydration process (for instant coffee) can alter the taste, especially when companies opt for cheap and fast methods.
There are, however, some excellent instant coffees on the instant coffee market - but a coffee enthusiast will usually be able to tell the difference between a fresh brew and a cup of instant coffee.
Can You Make Instant Coffee At Home?
Yes and no. Unless you’re rich and technically very competent, it’s unlikely that you can set up a proper way to make “real” instant coffee at home. It’s a complex process and difficult to re-create on a small scale.
You can, however, create something similar to instant coffee, for example, if you want to go hiking but can't take all your equipment with you. You'll have to grind your coffee beans as finely as possible and then press them through a sieve to get the finest possible coffee particles. You can then use this powder like instant coffee. It's not quite the same, but it's the closest you can get at home.
Is Instant Coffee Healthy?
Instant coffee contains antioxidants, just like ordinary coffee. However, the dehydration process leads to the loss of certain compounds. This might impact the overall health benefits but doesn't turn it into an unhealthy drink (as long as you don't overindulge).
What Is The Best Instant Coffee?
Choosing the best instant coffee is subjective and depends on personal preferences (mild or bold? Sweet or punchy? etc.). If you're new to instant coffee, you should explore different brands and types to find which coffee hits your palate the most pleasing way.
Instant Coffee: Yay Or Nah?
While most serious coffee drinkers will always choose freshly brewed coffee, there's nothing wrong with drinking instant coffee. It's a convenient option for when you're short on time, for traveling, and when you can't be bothered getting out your brewing equipment.
