We praise fancy brewing methods like the siphon and exotic beans like the geisha, but we have to admit that there are some pretty decent instant coffees out there. It’s a pretty cheap option, but have you ever wondered in you can make your own instant coffee?
How Instant Coffee Is Made
If you’re going to try and make your own instant coffee, then you’ll probably need to know how instant coffee is made by the major companies!
It may seem obvious, but the first step to making instant coffee is to brew a fresh pot of regular coffee. Instant coffee is just the dehydrated form of the drink, so the starting point of the process is to start with the hydrated form!
Once you have liquid coffee (or coffee, like everyone else calls it), you must then dehydrate it. Now, it’s not as simple as just leaving the coffee sitting out to evaporate, that just leaves behind a silty, hard-to-clean, mess. There are two processes to getting coffee crystals – spray drying and freeze drying.
Method 1 – Spray Drying
The coffee is put into a large and expensive machine literally called a “spray dryer”. This machine has a bunch of other applications in foods and pharmaceuticals, where liquid drips into temperature-controlled container to evaporate. This container is kept at nearly at 500 °F (260 °C) and the liquid evaporates nearly instantly in the high heat. The remainder — everything that makes coffee, coffee — collects at the bottom of the container!
After a large amount of coffee is fed through the machine, the crystals are harvested, packaged, and later sold!
Needless to say, don’t try this at home! This process requires specialized equipment specifically meant for spray drying, and any attempt to reach these extreme temperatures at home would be very, very dangerous!
Method 2 – Freeze Drying
The coffee is put into a different specialized piece of equipment that essentially freeze dries the coffee. The coffee is dehydrated through the process of chemical sublimation.
If you’re having a hard time remembering the lessons you learned in high school chemistry, this is when a liquid is frozen to a solid and then brought to the vapor (gas) stage without going through the intermediate liquid phase! This leaves behind crystalized coffee powder that can be packaged and shelved.
Wait, So Then How Can I Make Instant Coffee?
Short answer — you can’t. But wait, don’t leave just yet! We’ve come up with a DIY substitute that’s cheaper than buying packets of instant coffee and allows you to choose your own roast.
First, brew a large pot of coffee using five times the amount of grounds as you normally would. That’s about 80 grams of beans per cup, just multiply by the number of cups!
Second, allow your coffee to cool and seal it in an airtight glass container. Be sure to store this in your fridge for maximum shelf life!
Third, heat about a mug of plain water to near boiling, and mix in one part super concentrated “instant” coffee to every four parts hot water.
That Seems Like A Lot of Work, What Is the Best Instant Coffee To Buy?
Best Instant Coffee – Anthony’s Organic Instant Coffee, Arabica, Non GMO
What Else Should I Look For?
It’s important to know that in both dehydration processes, both the original taste of the roast and the caffeine content in the beans are affected! This is normally what gives instant coffee a bad rap, along with some of the silt left behind at the bottom of the cup.
But wait! Instant coffee has come a long way since it got its bad reputation back in the 70s, and some instant coffees can compete with cheap pre-ground roasts. Make sure to spend your time finding a quality instant coffee and doing be afraid to mix in some cinnamon, dark chocolate, or other flavorings!
Before You Go!
Hopefully you found something here that you liked? Whether you did or you didn’t, we appreciate you supporting our site! Our efforts here are fueled by you and a healthy dose of coffee. Feel free to check out our other articles, guides, lists, and more!
Social Media