How Instant Coffee is Made

Instant coffee is a ready-made solution for quick and convenient coffee. There's no need to brew the coffee. Just add water and you're set! But how is it made? Instant coffee is made by freezing brewed coffee, then, while in a vacuum chamber, rapidly increasing the temperature so that the ice sublimates (goes from a solid to a gas state, skipping the liquid state), stripping away the water content and leaving the soluble matter extracted from the coffee during the brew. That soluble matter is then ground into coarse chunks, similar in size to coffee grounds used for brewing coffee, except they will redissolve after coming in contact with water. 

When you brew a pot of coffee at home, you're really drinking about 98% water and 2% solubles extracted from the coffee during the brew. When you enjoy an espresso at the nearby cafe, that number is closer to 9% coffee and 91% water. In some cases, that number could be as high as 20% coffee. We call that number "total dissolved solubles" (TDS), and you'll also hear coffee aficionados refer to it as "extraction" or "yield."

That's important for understanding because the brew method can impact the strength and taste of the instant coffee.

- Brewed from espresso: more body, more bitterness, could be turned back into espresso using 30-50ml of water and 3-5g of instant.

- Brewed from drip coffee: less body, more sweetness.

The TDS also has implications on the economics and viability of instant coffee.

- Coffee brewed at 2% yield has greater clarity in taste, but is costly to produce.

- Coffee brewed at 9% yield is a happy medium in terms of flavor and versatility, but difficult to scale.

- Coffee brewed at 20% yield keeps production costs low, but muddies the flavor of the coffee. 

In terms of accessibility and affordability, Nescafe has been a leader in the instant coffee game. They were one of the first companies to go big and bring this product to shelves in every major grocer. Blue Bottle is a specialty coffee brand (acquired by Nestle in 2017) that also focused on expanding their specialty offerings to major grocers. Their product is more expensive, but is considerably more flavorful than other instant coffee producers. Black and White Coffee Roasters (North Carolina) takes it one step further by releasing only single-origin instant coffee products.

Transparency and traceability are key to discerning great coffee products from mediocre ones. Most often, if a coffee roaster went through the trouble of tracing and making transparent the origin of their coffee, it means that there is a greater level of trust and accountability, both for the product, and for the company and producers involved. Looking for signs of the name of either the producer or the farm from which the coffee came would be a dead giveaway that the product will be good. Try to identify either the name of the region from which the coffee was sourced, or the name of a coffee blend used to make the instant coffee. That would be a sign of thoughtful curation, and would give some level of anchoring to an existing region or product. Second to that, look for tasting notes. Tasting notes are a sign that the roaster paid close attention to the details, and even offers a bit of a guidepost for consumers as to what type of coffee they can expect, and which drinks it might be most suitable for.

How Technology is Improving Instant Coffee

In recent years there's been a focus on aroma capture. Aroma capture refers to the brewing and processing techniques used to lock-in the volatile compounds and preserve the ideal flavors. Otherwise, there's been a general focus on quality increase across the board. Farmers are experimenting with innovative processing methods to increase the flavor and quality of their crop. That too has downstream effects on the quality of our instant coffee.

Myths About Instant Coffee

There's a perception from within the specialty coffee industry that convenient coffee products are in some way disrespectful because they lower the quality of the coffee. I think that's an outdated point of view. Convenience, as in any other industry, is an outgrowth of customer demand. At one point, our phones were connected to the walls of our homes by a physical cable. Certainly, the early versions of these products are not as high quality as their potential. However, in time, our understanding of brewing and processing techniques will grow, and the quality will improve because of it.

The Future for Instant Coffee

It's likely that a handful of well-known specialty roasters will lead the way by creating thoughtful instant coffee products. Unfortunately, most coffee roasters lack the financial and human capital required to get instant coffee products off the ground and keep them on the shelves. I'd like to see roasters experiment with additive mineralization I think you will see interesting decaf options in a way that wasn't available before. Roasters will look for ways to add value for customers, like adding tear-off condiments with each pack of instant.