What Is Instant Coffee? How It's Made and Why It Tastes Different

Instant coffee is coffee that has already been brewed and had its water removed, leaving a soluble powder or granule that dissolves back into a cup when you add water. It is made from real coffee beans — nothing is added in the process. The water is removed one of two ways: spray drying, which uses hot air, or freeze drying, which uses low temperature under vacuum.

How instant coffee is made

Beans are roasted and ground as they would be for any coffee, then brewed into a concentrated liquid. From there the two methods diverge.

Spray drying sprays the concentrate into a tall cylinder filled with hot air. The droplets dry almost instantly into a fine powder as they fall. It is fast and inexpensive, which is why most traditional supermarket instant coffee uses it. The heat is the trade-off — it drives off aromatic compounds, which is where the flat or slightly burnt taste associated with cheap instant coffee comes from.

Freeze drying was introduced in 1964. The concentrate is frozen to around -50°C in a thin layer, broken into pieces, and placed in a vacuum, where the ice converts directly from solid to vapor without ever becoming liquid. Because the coffee never gets hot, far more of the aromatic compounds survive. Freeze-dried coffee has the irregular, crystalline granules you can see in the jar. It costs more to produce, and it is what premium instant coffees use.

Other names for instant coffee

Soluble coffee, coffee crystals, coffee granules, coffee powder, freeze-dried coffee, spray-dried coffee.

Advantages of instant coffee

• No equipment. No brewer, filter, grinder, or electricity — just water.
• Adjustable strength. Because you measure the powder, you set the strength and the caffeine per cup.
• No waste. Nothing to compost or throw away, which matters for camping and pack-in pack-out areas.
• Long shelf life and far lighter to ship than beans or ground coffee for the same number of servings.
• Lower environmental footprint. At least one study found instant coffee has a lower footprint than other preparation methods, partly from its light weight and packaging.

A short history

According to the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, the first instant coffee was invented by John Dring in England in 1771 and patented as "coffee compound." There is no record of how it was made or how well it sold. The modern category is a twentieth-century product, and freeze drying only arrived in 1964.

Instant coffee is also a much larger category than most Americans assume. It is the preferred coffee format in several predominantly tea-drinking markets, including China, Russia, the UK, and Turkey.

Cooking and baking with instant coffee

Because it dissolves completely, instant coffee is used in coffee cakes, brownies, frostings, coffee rubs for meat and salmon, overnight oats, iced coffee, and milkshakes. For baking specifically, instant espresso is the more common choice — it is more concentrated, so you get the flavor without adding liquid.

Common questions

Is instant coffee real coffee?
Yes. It is brewed coffee with the water removed. Adding water reconstitutes it. No fillers or additives are required to make it, though some brands do add them — check the ingredient list.

Does instant coffee have less caffeine?
Usually somewhat less per cup than brewed, but it is adjustable. Instant coffee runs roughly 30 to 90 mg per cup depending on the brand and how much powder you use.

Why does cheap instant coffee taste burnt?
Spray drying applies high heat, which drives off aromatic compounds and leaves a flatter, more bitter cup. Freeze-dried coffee avoids this.

How can I tell if a coffee is freeze-dried?
Look at the granules — freeze-dried coffee is irregular and crystalline, spray-dried is a uniform fine powder. Brands that freeze-dry usually say so on the package.

Does instant coffee expire?
It has a long shelf life stored cool and dry in a sealed container. Most packages carry a printed best-by date.

Read more on freeze-dried vs. spray-dried, or shop Waka's freeze-dried instant coffee.