Do we support instant coffee
Yes and No.
Yes we support instant coffee when
1. You are stuck in an island with no electricity
2. When your city is flooded or you are stranded
3. You are travelling in a train and you are have no access to better means
4. If you are a UN soldier who is posted to North korea Iran etc
5. And so on and so forth
We can go on but the crux is - as long as you can, you should avoid instant coffee is what we think
Because we do not want you to go through that taste every day. You deserve better
Yes we support instant coffee when
1. You are stuck in an island with no electricity
2. When your city is flooded or you are stranded
3. You are travelling in a train and you are have no access to better means
4. If you are a UN soldier who is posted to North korea Iran etc
5. And so on and so forth
We can go on but the crux is - as long as you can, you should avoid instant coffee is what we think
Because we do not want you to go through that taste every day. You deserve better
Whats our gripe
So
Facts
So net net you miss out on the flavor , the most important part , of coffee big time but gain marginally on the time taken to make a cup. Which is not a good trade off.
Why do you think were espresso machines invented. Its named so for a reason – it creates coffee faster and which is far more flavorful than a freeze dried coffee.
- In the process of freeze drying the essential oils are essentially wiped out clean so a majority of the taste goes for a toss
- Freeze dried coffee oxidizes faster and hence it turns sour faster
- Because the essential oils are lost out the freeze dried coffee does not have a specific aroma to it. Whatever you get from an instant coffee pack is pumped-in aroma. Take a look at this if you doubt the claim http://www.nescafe.com/coffee_aroma_en_com.axcms
- Is freeze dried coffee good?
Let us correct that for you. Freeze dried coffee is better , its not good.
And what is better than ?
Its better than its inferior cousin the spray dried coffee. Let us break down the whole spray dried and freeze dried stories for you. Make a coffee decoction and leave it out in the open for some time. Then reheat the decoction. Try tasting that and compare with a freshly brewed coffee. Take that 2 notches lower and that’s the spray dried coffee. Freeze dried is better than this as there is no reheating part. - Each coffee bean has around 1,200 volatiles or aromatic compounds trapped in it (a grape has around 800) and they become active when roasted to between 140 degrees and 240 degrees . Incidentally, instant coffee is freeze-dried at over 240 degrees at which point all the volatiles have been sacrificed and artificial flavours have to be added to make it resemble the real thing.(source)
Facts
- Coffee has a specific aroma
- Coffee has essential oils which give the taste, the flavor and fragrance
- Arabica is superior to Robusta in taste. ·
So net net you miss out on the flavor , the most important part , of coffee big time but gain marginally on the time taken to make a cup. Which is not a good trade off.
Why do you think were espresso machines invented. Its named so for a reason – it creates coffee faster and which is far more flavorful than a freeze dried coffee.
It cant be all that bad - what did we miss out ?
- The taste of coffee still changes with the different blend used. So better beans , better blends make for better coffee even in Instant coffee
It tastes obviously better when Arabica is used, when a good quality beans are used etc - Its still coffee with caffeine and anti oxidants. It still does job if caffeine fix is what is important
In our opinion
An average ground coffee > a very good instant coffee