Three deadly sins of instant coffee

1 essence:

This should start with the production process of instant coffee.

The production process of instant coffee is generally as follows: pretreatment, → roasting, → grinding, → extraction, → concentration, → drying. The pretreatment is to remove impurities. During the roasting process, coffee beans undergo complex physical and chemical reactions to form unique coffee aroma substances. After grinding, the active ingredients in coffee are extracted into water at a certain temperature and pressure. Through vacuum concentration, it is convenient for 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. At present, spray drying is generally used, but because of its strong thermal sensitivity, coffee is very volatile at high drying temperature (there is a certain volatilization in the process of extraction and concentration). This is the main reason why instant coffee is not rich in freshly ground coffee aroma.

The above is only the production process, coffee in many high-temperature operating environment, the aroma has been basically lost. So how to make up for it? It's the essence. Manufacturers add flavors in the process of extraction, concentration or drying (depending on different manufacturers, some companies are one of the steps, some are multi-step flavors).

(2) poor quality of coffee beans:

90% of the coffee beans on the market come from Arabica (Arabica) and Robusta (Robusta).

Arabica is of good quality. Because the coffee tree itself is very sensitive to heat and humidity, its growth conditions are at least higher than the highland climate of 900m at sea level. the higher the height, the better the quality of coffee beans baked. This variety has a low caffeine content (1.1-1.7%).

Robusta, which is very resistant to tropical climate, is easy to cultivate. It grows very well at 200 ─ 300m above sea level. However, its unique resistance also makes its concentration higher, and its taste is poor and bitter. Its caffeine content (2 ─ 4%) is 2-3 times that of Arabica coffee.

Because of the cost, instant coffee will certainly choose Robusta to grow coffee. More importantly, those who seriously affect the quality of broken beans, bad beans, dysplastic beans and so on are often baked and ground directly without screening. Anyway, it is only the extraction of caffeine, and the lack of aroma can also be reconciled by all kinds of flavors and additives, which results in the poor quality of coffee beans that make instant coffee.

3There is a risk of carcinogenesis:

Instant coffee contains acrylamide. In 2005, the Ministry of Health of the people's Republic of China issued a notice: acrylamide is a carcinogen. Acrylamide is a chemical substance that is the raw material for the production of polyacrylamide and can be used for industrial purposes such as sewage purification, the notice said. The results of animal experiments show that acrylamide is a possible carcinogen. Epidemiological observations of occupationally exposed people showed that long-term low-dose exposure to acrylamide resulted in symptoms such as drowsiness, mood and memory changes, hallucinations and tremors, accompanied by peripheral neuropathy (glove-like sensation, sweating and muscle weakness). Although the effects of acrylamide on human health need to be further studied, this problem should be paid attention to.

According to the data provided by the Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, among the more than 100 samples monitored, the foods with more acrylamide content are potato fried food, cereal fried food and cereal baked food, and other foods, such as instant coffee and corn tea, also contain acrylamide. The subsequent statement issued by Nestl é China only dodged the question. Nestl é first accused the scientific and medical community that it had only recently noticed the presence of the compound in foods such as instant coffee. Acrylamide existed as early as when humans began to cook or heat food. But Nestl é does not deny the fact that its instant coffee contains acrylamide. So for the sake of your health, it's better to drink less.