The Best Instant Coffee for Easy Coffee at Home or On the Go

Things to Consider Before Buying Instant Coffee

In some parts of the world, around 50% of coffee sales are made up from instant coffees and around 15% of coffee consumed in the US is instant. Consumed at home, in the workplace or from vending machines, instant coffee is so convenient as only hot water and a stirrer is required.

From the early days of instant coffee, when it could not dissolve properly in hot water, the processes for producing instant coffee have evolved to give today’s high quality instant coffees.

Many instant coffees are now microground so they appear more like ground coffee, and even when we open a canister or jar of instant coffee, its aroma is often similar to that of freshly ground coffee. Most instant coffees are also much more budget friendly than whole bean or ground bean coffees, as well as being shelf stable. Unlike fresh coffee, instant coffee does not require any particular storage conditions to keep it at its best; it will keep fine in a cool kitchen cabinet or drawer.

Instant coffee can be brewed with hot water, hot milk or cold water for iced coffee. It is also ideal for adding some coffee flavor to hot cocoa to make hot cocoa coffee. As instant coffee is more concentrated than fresh coffee, it is good for baking with and because it does not need dissolving first, it will not affect the liquid ratio in baked goods.

In its instant form, coffee can also be easily added to breads, oatmeals, pancakes, milkshakes, chilis, dry rubs and more.

Instant coffee is also known as soluble coffee, coffee powder or crystal coffee – when the instant coffee has been crystalized.

Many instant coffees just contain coffee beans, although some also come with creamer and sweetener (often known as 3 in 1 coffee) which can be especially useful when on the move if you prefer your coffee with creamer and sweetener.

Instant coffees are also available in many different flavors, but as these usually contain a higher sugar content, it can be worth taking a closer look at the ingredients of instant coffees just to see how much sugar or what other ingredients have been added.

The History of Instant Coffee

The very earliest version of instant coffee developed in the UK in the early 1770s and by 1853, a US product had been developed that was used during the Civil War. In 1890, Strang’s Coffee was marketed by the New Zealander David Strang, who used his patented ‘Dry Hot-Air’ process to make instant coffee.

In 1901, a stable powdered coffee was produced in Japanese chemist working in Chicago and by 1906, a UK chemist living in Guatemala had developed a commercially successful process for producing instant coffee. Known as Red E Coffee, this was popular in the US for around 30 years and eventually fell out of favor when Nestle started producing Nescafe instant coffee in 1938. Nescafe became hugely popular with soldiers during the Second World War who took it home with them after the war and continued to drink it. 

By the 1950s onwards, processes for making instant coffee had continued to improve and in 1963, Maxwell House produced freeze-dried granules that when hydrated tasted more like fresh coffee. All major manufacturers then switched to the new technique of freeze-dried processing

How Instant Coffee Is Made

Instant coffee is made from fresh coffee beans, either arabica or robusta. Instant coffees made from pure robusta or a robusta-arabica blend usually cost less than instant coffees made with pure arabica beans.

There is no chemical alteration made to the coffee beans before they are processed into instant coffee.

The beans for instant coffee are roasted in the same way that beans are roasted whole bean or ground bean coffee, apart from they may be left with a slightly higher moisture content than whole beans would be. The beans destined for instant coffee are also coarser ground to assist water flow through the coffee processing system.

There are two main ways of making instant coffee, either freeze-drying or spray-drying. Before the coffee is freeze-dried or spray-dried it will often be concentrated.

This is done through either freeze concentrating, in which water-based ice is removed to leave a concentrated coffee liquid behind. This method of concentrating is also used for making concentrated juices and vinegars.

The second way to concentrate coffee is through vacuum evaporation, a method also used for making powdered milks and ketchups. In this process, the coffee is able to boil at lower temperature.

When coffee is freeze-dried, this allows the instant coffee to retain more of its coffee ‘flavor’. To freeze-dry coffee, the coffee or coffee concentrate is quickly frozen down to around -40°F. The cold coffee is then placed into a drying chamber and a vacuum created in the chamber. This vacuum chamber is then heated and as the coffee warms up, the water in the coffee expands into a gas through a process called sublimation. Once the water is removed through this process, it leaves dry grains of coffee left in the chamber.

The second way to manufacture instant coffee is through spray-drying. Coffee which has been spray-dried usually loses more of its flavor than freeze-dried coffee as it is processed at higher temperatures.

To spray-dry, the coffee, or concentrated coffee is sprayed down into a hot air chamber from a tower which is usually at least 75 feet high. As the coffee falls down in this chamber it allows the water in the coffee to evaporate, leaving dry crystals of coffee at the bottom of the chamber. The heated air circulating in the chamber is also diverted out of the tower near the bottom and as it is filtered, the collected fine particles can then be reintroduced to the dried coffee later on in the processing.

Because freeze-drying coffee requires more processing, freeze-dried coffee is usually more expensive than spray-dried instant coffee. Coffee processed through either form of drying process can also have extra aroma (often the volatile aromas which may have been removed from the coffee during earlier processing) or flavor compounds added to it to better recreate the experience of fresh coffee.

Once an instant coffee has been manufactured, it is be packaged under low-oxygen conditions to allow it to retain as much aroma and flavor as possible. It is also packaged in low humidity to prevent the now hygroscopic coffee particles from absorbing any moisture from the air. This is also why instant coffee is always packaged in airtight considers, jars or cans.

The waste products (coffee grounds) from processing are often re-used as fuel to heat the water needed during the processing, helping make the processing of instant coffee more environmentally friendly.

Caffeine Content of Instant Coffee

A cup of instant coffee will usually contain less caffeine than a cup of freshly brewed coffee. A cup of regular fresh coffee can contain between 70 and 140 milligrams of caffeine, while a cup of instant coffee may contain as less as 30, or as much as 90 milligrams of caffeine.

Drinking instant coffee can be one way to help reduce daily caffeine intake and if you do find a cup of instant coffee to be more on the bitter side than freshly brewed coffee, then adding a little sugar or sweetener will help cut through some of the bitterness.

One side effect of caffeine is that it can decrease the amount of iron absorbed in the body from the diet. Some research also showed that instant coffee was able to cause even less iron to be absorbed in the intestines than freshly brewed coffee. As with drinking any coffee or caffeinated drink, you can reduce some of the impact of instant coffee on iron absorption by avoiding drinking coffee less than an hour before and for several hours after eating.

Concerns Around Acrylamide in Instant Coffee

Although there is less caffeine in instant coffee compared with fresh brewed, there is usually a higher amount of acrylamide – in fact, there may be twice as much acrylamide as there is in freshly brewed coffee.

Acrylamide is a chemical generated when coffee beans are roasted so as well as being found in all roasted coffees, it is in other foods such as cookies, potato chips and breakfast cereals. Acrylamide can also often be in a wide range of personal care and household products.

It is known that prolonged exposure to high levels of acrylamide can cause damage to our nervous system and this exposure may also increase the risk of developing cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) categorize acrylamide as being a ‘probable human carcinogen’, although the majority of research studies to date have involved animal rather than human data.

Those who are most at risk of exposure to higher levels of acrylamide are those involved in the industrial processes that use acrylamide, although there are regulations in place for levels of acrylamide in the workplace. The EPA also monitor levels of acrylamide in our drinking water supplies.

Acrylamide is one of the reasons that instant coffees often carry a Prop 65 warning for residents of California. As part of the Proposition 65 or ‘Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act’, producers or businesses that sell their products in California have to provide warnings that are clear and reasonable before they knowingly expose people to any of the chemicals included on the Prop 65 list – unless the expected exposure level poses no significant cancer risk.

However, as research suggests that coffee may help to lower the risk of certain cancers such as prostate and skin cancer, it seems that drinking any form of coffee in moderation is generally safe and may actually be beneficial, rather than harmful, to our health.

Instant coffee may also contain higher levels of some antioxidants than freshly brewed coffee – mainly due to how it is processed.

Conclusion

When on the move, or even just at home, the convenience of instant coffee should never be underestimated. With the advances made in processing techniques, there is no reason why committed fresh brew enthusiasts should not be able to find an instant coffee that they can still enjoy.