The Starbucks VIA Columbia Instant Coffee is positioned as a balanced, single-origin medium roast with faint hints of fresh herbs and nuts. According to Starbucks, this blend is made from beans foraged straight from the bright Colombian countryside, lending to the location-specific juicy taste and round body.
Starbucks VIA – Because it’s been around for the longest and was perhaps the first to make the claim that instant coffee could taste as good as brewed coffee. Jiva Instant Coffee – Because they were the first company we found that was talking about instant coffee in the language of gourmet coffee.
But here in North America, instant coffee is a lot less popular. We long ago decided that fresh-brewed gourmet coffee is the only way to go. Put simply Gourmet coffee from whole beans is good. Instant coffee is not good. That sounds about right yes? So why are companies now trying to sell us “new and improved” instant coffee?
Here are our top picks. The well-balanced Starbucks VIA Instant Pike Place Roast was first created for customers that wanted a coffee they could drink throughout the day. It’s a medium roast with notes of cocoa and pine nuts, and is so smooth, you can drink it all day long.
How much of the world’s coffee is instant?
Today, instant coffee accounts for only about 7% of American coffee consumption and 10% worldwide. It remains popular in Britain, though, where more than three-quarters of the coffee consumed at home is still instant.
In 1954, Nestlé figured out a way to make their instant coffee without the added carbs. Then in 1965, the company found a way to create crystallized instant coffee. They did it by using the new “freeze-drying” technology: ground coffee is brewed in water, concentrated, frozen to -50 C°, broken up and dried.
It’s Super Coffee, a brand that takes a new and refreshing approach to bottled brews. Super Coffee is made from carefully-selected organic Colombian Arabica beans , so the pedigree is certainly right.
When “the boys came home,” they spread the word about what they called their “morning cup of George” and instant coffee became a hit – making Washington and his coffee, renamed “Red E Coffee,” a millionaire. Instant Coffee Goes Mainstream.
As you undoubtedly know, Arabica beans produce the best coffee. It’s sweeter, more acidic, and more complex. Arabica beans, however, are also more expensive – so most instant coffee producers choose to use cheaper Robusta beans which create a harsher, grainier, lower-quality coffee with a lot more caffeine.
A British patent for instant coffee, described as a “coffee compound,” was issued to John Dring in 1771. And a version of instant coffee, molded in the form of a cake, was developed in the 1850s and put into soldiers’ rations during the Civil War. They hated it.
That’s why instant coffee often tastes less flavorful. You certainly can buy instant coffee that’s been freeze-dried and not spray-dried, and there are some instant coffee brands made from Arabica instead of Robusta beans. That’s a good starting point, when you’re looking for the best instant coffee.
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