Instant coffee is a quick and hassle-free alternative to regular coffee but seemingly, the consensus among coffee connoisseurs is that it’s the weak or fake version of regular coffee. The statement does hold true since instant coffee is just the crystallised version of brewed coffee.
And due to the crystallisation, the cup of coffee does lose most of its aroma and flavour. So, in essence, you’d be drinking brown water which just resembles true coffee.
But the catch is instant coffee is much easier to make, cheaper, and requires little to no equipment. So, in the last half-century, coffee companies started making it their forefront product.
How Is Instant Coffee Made?
The coffee beans are roasted to agitate the flavours. The duration of the roast makes a big difference. There is a light roast that has milder tastes than there is the medium roast which has a stronger flavour but greater acidity. Thirdly, there is the dark roast that is less acidic and has sort of a bitter-sweet aftertaste.
After the roasting, the coffee beans are ground (in the case of instant coffee, the size of the grind makes no difference). The grinds are then pressurised through the water to make coffee liqueur.
The liqueur is crystallised into granules. Then the granules are packaged and sold. When added again to water, the granules will dissolve to make a cup of instant coffee.
How Was Instant Coffee Invented?
According to The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, instant coffee was first created in 1771. But it didn’t grow to fame. It was then in the nineteenth century that a product called ‘Camp Coffee’ entered the market. It was made from chicory, water, coffee essence, and sugar. It became quite popular especially with soldiers as a replacement for real coffee. But even then people preferred regular coffee over the Camp Coffee.
In the twentieth century, the coffee market saw another change. Camp Coffee was replaced by a new version called Instant Coffee. The main difference was that the sugar and chicory products were removed from the recipe.
And just like that modern instant coffee took its place in our kitchen cabinets.