Why can't instant coffee be called good coffee? Will you still insist on drinking instant coffee after reading this article?

Every day when going to work, you can always smell the aroma of coffee from time to time. Office workers have a "date" with instant coffee every day due to overtime, lack of rest and other reasons. Whether it is to "not feel sleepy" or to "refresh", instant coffee occupies people's daily coffee routine with its unique "fast" quality. But why does the aroma of instant coffee always seem a little different from the "coffee aroma" smelled in a coffee shop?

Although we drink "instant coffee" and feel that it is different from freshly ground coffee, and we also know that instant coffee is not good for the body, many people do not know the reason. Let's analyze in detail why instant coffee cannot be called good coffee. There are three reasons:

1. Production process of instant coffee

First of all, we need to understand what the charming aroma of coffee is. It comes from the aromatic oils in the coffee. This aromatic oil is the soul of the charming aroma and taste of coffee. However, good things are always perishable, and aromatic oils are extremely volatile. Therefore, even roasted coffee beans are best consumed within two weeks to one month. The production process of instant coffee is destined to make the essence of this coffee disappear quickly.

Nowadays, there are two main production processes for instant coffee, one is spray drying and the other is freeze drying.

Spray drying

Ordinary powdered instant coffee is usually made by spray-drying concentrated coffee liquid, and then adding some creamer and sugar for flavoring. After the coffee liquid is sprayed and dried at high temperature, the aromatic oils in the coffee will quickly disappear. To make an analogy to help everyone understand more, can the sprayed perfume still retain its original aroma?

Freeze drying

The more expensive high-quality instant coffee granules are made using a more advanced process, which is freeze drying. The principle is to freeze the coffee liquid and then sublimate the water in the coffee liquid in a vacuum to obtain dry coffee granules. However, even this production process cannot avoid the loss of a large amount of aromatic oils in the coffee.

After introducing the production process of instant coffee, it is not difficult to find that no matter what kind of drying technology is used, it is impossible to retain the aromatic oils of coffee. The loss of aromatic oils is also the main reason why instant coffee is boring and monotonous.

2. Coffee beans used in instant coffee

Different coffee beans have different flavors, which is why the price of each coffee is different, because the taste experience they can bring is different. Baristas will also use different production techniques for different coffee beans to bring out the best flavor of the coffee beans.

This is like "a good horse needs a good saddle" and "a good horse is common, but a good horse trainer is rare", both are indispensable. No matter how good the coffee machine or the best barista is, without good coffee beans, it still can't play its role. Even if you have the best coffee beans, without a good barista to choose the most suitable way to make it, its flavor cannot be reflected.

The coffee beans used in instant coffee cannot really be described as "good". In addition to Arabica coffee beans, the world also produces a large amount of Robusta coffee beans, which have the qualities of high yield and pest resistance, but after all, rare things are valuable. This type of coffee beans is really lacking in taste. We rarely buy this type of coffee beans on the market because they are basically processed into instant coffee. Many cheap instant coffees occasionally mix in inferior coffee beans, so you can imagine how it tastes.

A large portion of the coffee beans imported by my country each year are cheap Vietnamese and Indonesian Robusta beans. These beans do not appear on the shelves with their varieties or origins indicated, but are directly made into instant coffee.

3. Additives in instant coffee

After the introduction of the first two points, we can also see the defects of instant coffee in the production process and the use of coffee beans. In order to make up for these defects, it is necessary to add a lot of "additives", whether it is creamer, saccharin or flavor additives. These will bring a temporary "good taste" to instant coffee, but if you taste it carefully, it is indeed not a "real" fragrance.

In addition, although these "additives" will not have any effect on the body if consumed in small amounts, the consequences can be imagined if consumed in large quantities over a long period of time.

Having said so much, we really cannot shake the enlightenment effect of instant coffee in the coffee market. But after all, long-term drinking not only fails to feel the pure flavor of coffee, but also harms the body. Why don’t we spend a little more time to make a cup of freshly ground coffee and experience the slow life that freshly ground coffee brings.