What's the difference between instant coffee and freshly ground coffee? Advantages and disadvantages of instant and freshly ground coffee

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According to statistics, sales of instant coffee tripled from 2000 to 2014. In the United States and Brazil, it is a very different picture: freshly ground coffee dominates the market.

So what's the difference between instant coffee and freshly ground coffee?

How is instant coffee made?

How to make instant coffee?

No matter what you think of instant coffee, it is an amazing scientific achievement. The factories that make instant coffee remove the water from the coffee, and consumers add the amount of water that suits their taste as needed. All the remaining substances are water-soluble compounds in coffee.

Dehydration can be done in two ways: freeze-drying or spray drying.

Freeze-dried coffee refers to putting liquid coffee in a freeze-dryer with dozens of degrees below zero, sublimating the water in the coffee liquid and removing the ice to get dry, irregularly shaped large particles of coffee powder.

Spray drying refers to high-temperature steam drying, the coffee liquid into the high-temperature ejector, spray coffee liquid, coffee also evaporates in the high-temperature environment, leaving dry small particles of espresso extract. The advantage of this kind of hot drying lies in its high productivity.

But throughout the process, the high temperature will cause some volatile compounds in the coffee to evaporate, especially caffeine and aroma, and some manufacturers will add spices at a later stage to make up for the lost aroma during the process.

The difference between making and cooking

Instant coffee brewing is very simple, put 5 grams of coffee powder in the cup, pour into hot water to brew, a cup of coffee can be completed.

For freshly ground coffee, the process is much more tedious. You need to grind the coffee, extract it professionally, and finally discard the coffee grounds and clean it up, but when you try the pleasure of making your own coffee once, it's like opening the door to a new world and falling madly in love with it ever since, because you can try many different brewing parameters. Powder-to-water ratio, water temperature and other necessary conditions for making a good cup of coffee.

Instant coffee always tastes the same, while freshly ground coffee gets different flavors and tastes because of many changes in extraction details.

So who is better?

The overall situation in the market seems to be divided into instant dissolving group and current grinding school, so what is the big difference between the two?

1. Cost and convenience (Cost&Convenience)

There is no doubt that instant coffee costs less per cup. All that needs to be done is to boil a pot of hot water, so it is very convenient.

2. Quality and flavor (Quality&Flavor)

The biggest factor affecting the quality of coffee has always been the coffee bean itself. Because instant coffee pays more attention to cost, it mostly chooses coffee beans of lower quality. In the process of production and extraction of instant coffee, the flavor and flavor compounds of some coffee will volatilize and disappear.

It is not impossible to use high-quality coffee beans to make instant coffee, but it is rare in the market; freshly ground coffee will also use poor-quality coffee beans, but you can buy a cup of high-quality coffee whenever you want.

3. Health (Health)

Drinking instant coffee is bad for your health? In fact, this is not the case. There are many rumors that drinking instant coffee can lead to cancer, but they are all baseless rumors, and there is no clear evidence that instant coffee is more beneficial or harmful than freshly ground coffee.

Of course, if you buy 3-in-1 coffee with sugar or cream in it, it will become less healthy. However, the instant coffee production process will not add any extra coffee, from this point, the simple instant coffee powder will not have much negative impact on the body.

Above. Therefore, for those who are addicted to coffee, instant coffee is not as bad as imagined. In order to save time and cost, instant coffee and hanging-ear coffee are all available choices; if you want to experience the beauty of coffee carefully, then making a cup of freshly ground coffee by hand undoubtedly adds a lot of interest to life.