The three deadly sins of instant coffee do not drink instant coffee

Instant coffee is not recognized by the traditional coffee industry in many cases because of the use of inferior coffee beans in industrial production and other harmful residues that may remain in the production process. In addition, instant coffee often does not roast the coffee beans properly and does not fully reflect the aroma of the coffee beans.

History of Instant Coffee

Instant coffee, drinkable with only hot water, was invented in Chicago in 1901 by Satori Kato, a Japanese-American chemist. In 1906, British chemist George Constant Louis Washington invented the technology for mass production of instant coffee. Washington, who was living in Guatemala at the time, observed dry coffee on coffee cups and experimented with creating Red E Coffee, which entered the market in 1909.

In response to the coffee surplus, the Brazilian government and Nestle developed a more advanced spray-drying method for instant coffee production in 1938. This is done by using hot steam to evaporate the water from the coffee beans, leaving a dried coffee extract. Instant coffee dissolves quickly in hot water, takes up less space and volume during storage, and is more resistant to storage, so it is popular in the mass market. Instant coffee was first used on the battlefields of World War II, when Allied soldiers used instant coffee as a daily drink to improve efficiency to some extent.

Instant coffee three sins

1. essence

This starts with the production process of instant coffee. The production process of instant coffee is generally: pretreatment → baking → grinding → extraction → concentration → drying. The pretreatment is to remove impurities. Coffee beans undergo complex physical and chemical reactions during roasting to form unique coffee aroma substances. After grinding, the active ingredients in coffee are extracted into water at a certain temperature and pressure. Vacuum concentration facilitates the drying process. Drying, which is the forming process of instant coffee powder, is also the process that has the greatest impact on the quality of coffee powder during processing. At present, spray drying method is generally used, but due to the strong thermal sensitivity of coffee aroma, it is very volatile at higher drying temperatures (there is a certain volatility in the process of extraction and concentration), which is the main reason why instant coffee is not fresh ground coffee aroma.

The above is only the production process, coffee in many high temperature operating environment, the aroma has basically been lost. How do you fix it? is essence. Manufacturers add essence in the process of extraction, concentration or drying (depending on different manufacturers, some companies are one step, some are multi-step plus essence).

2. Coffee beans of poor quality

90% of coffee beans on the market come from Arabica and Robusta. Arabica, excellent quality, because the coffee tree itself is very sensitive to heat and humidity, so its growth conditions are at least 900 meters above sea level highland climate, the higher the height, the better the quality of coffee beans roasted. This variety has a low caffeine content (1.1-1.7%). Robusta is extremely resistant to tropical climates and easy to cultivate. It grows very well at 200 - 300 meters above sea level. However, the unique resistance also makes its concentration higher, taste poorer, bitter. Its caffeine content is higher (2 - 4%) than Arabica coffee 2-3 times.

Because of the cost, instant coffee will of course choose Robusta coffee. More importantly, those seriously affecting the quality of broken beans, bad beans, poorly developed beans, etc. are often baked and ground directly without screening. Anyway, it is only extracted caffeine, and the lack of aroma can also be reconciled by various flavors and additives, which causes the quality of coffee beans used to make instant coffee to be very poor.

3. Risk of cancer

Instant coffee contains acrylamide. In 2005, the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China issued an announcement: acrylamide is a carcinogen. Acrylamide is a chemical that is a raw material for the production of polyacrylamide and can be used for industrial purposes such as sewage purification, the announcement said. Animal tests have shown acrylamide to be a possible carcinogen. Epidemiological observations in occupationally exposed populations have shown that chronic exposure to acrylamide at low doses results in symptoms such as lethargy, mood and memory changes, hallucinations and tremors, accompanied by peripheral neuropathy (glove-like sensation, sweating and muscle weakness). Although the effect of acrylamide on human health needs further study, this problem should be concerned.

According to the data provided by the Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, among the more than 100 samples monitored, the foods with higher acrylamide content are potato fried food, cereal fried food, cereal baked food, and other foods, such as instant coffee and corn tea, also contain acrylamide. Nestle China's subsequent statement was also just to avoid the question. Nestle first accused the scientific and medical communities of only recently noticing the compound's presence in foods such as instant coffee. In fact, acrylamide has been present since humans began cooking or heating foods. But Nestle doesn't deny that its instant coffee contains acrylamide. So for the sake of your health, drink less.