Have you ever made instant coffee before and it just tasted… burnt? Weird right, and not the most pleasant way to start off your day. Well, chances are the coffee you made that morning was made from instant coffee powder, not coffee crystals. You might be thinking, what's the difference? Well don’t worry, here at the sweet lyfe, we’ve got your back.
In your life, there are two types of instant coffee that you’ll encounter: coffee powder and coffee crystals. Both are made from brewed coffee beans, but where they differ is in how they’re preserved. Coffee powder is made by spray drying. Kind of like the dehydration process, this involves heating the coffee to a high temperature to ensure all of the water is removed. Heating the coffee produces a powder-like result. However, like with dehydration, the high heat changes the original flavour, which is why you may come away from your morning pick me up with a burnt taste in your mouth.
On the other hand, there are coffee crystals. Coffee crystals are made through the freeze drying process. This process forms the brewed coffee into crystals. Since this type of coffee is freeze dried, it keeps its original flavour, giving it a more similar taste to brewed coffee.
Freeze-dried coffee vs Spray dried coffee is like pitting freeze-dried candy against dehydrated candy. Yeah, you’re still getting candy, but on the freeze dried candy side, you’re getting the same taste you know and love, whereas, with dehydrated candy, you get a candy-like taste. And as we all know, it's not quite the same.
Freeze-dried coffee crystals retain a better taste, providing a higher quality of coffee compared to the coffee powder made from spray drying. Instant coffee is great, it's a time saver and allows you to have more moments in the morning enjoying what you want to do. However, you also want quality coffee to get you ready for the day. So the next time you are in the grocery aisle and you’re looking for a better way to start your day, reach for the coffee crystals instead of the coffee powder. Trust us, you’ll be thanking us all day!