Americans spend an average of $1000 a year on coffee. This means an average American spends $20 every week on Starbucks and other coffee outlets. It’s no wonder the coffee industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
What is coffee?
Coffee is a dark and bitter beverage that provides an exhilarating effect because of caffeine. When green coffee seeds are toasted to dark brown color, it is blended and brewed for consumption.
Coffee can be drunk alone or mixed with other dairy products like milk or cream. It is can also be mixed with sugar to reduce the bitter taste.
Several measures have been put in place to transform coffee into a beverage accessible to almost everybody. This is because the traditional preparation of coffee is stressful and difficult. This limitation brought forth instant coffee.
What is instant coffee?
Instant coffee is a brewed type of coffee that is converted to powder form for easy consumption. The word instant means it can be used immediately; there is no need to crush and strain the coffee beans before brewing. This because it is pre-grounded from the factory; after being ground, it undergoes several dehydrating processes to create a dehydrated and finely grounded coffee. Instant coffees may be pure grounded coffee with no added flavor or grounded coffee mixed with milk, cream, or sugar.
With instant coffee, you are only required to open the packaging, which is usually in a plastic package, pour out the coffee powder, and add hot water to enjoy. This type of coffee was made to satisfy the always booming and busy populace with little time available to work. Instant coffee removes the stress of traditionally brewing coffee by allowing people to enjoy coffee in a short time. One of the popular brands of instant coffee is Nescafe.
How is instant coffee made?
Coffee companies buy coffee seeds commercially in large quantities. These green coffee beans are roasted under very high temperatures to produce the familiar brown coffee color. These roasted coffee seeds are then ground with the help of an industrial miller.
The ground coffee beans are then brewed industrially into a dense concentration of liquid coffee. It is then dried either through the spray-drying method or the freezing method. After drying, it then passes through evaporating, freezing, and sublimation before it is packaged for sale.
What is filter coffee?
Filter coffee is believed to be the more authentic type of coffee. This is because it had been around for a long time and uses a paper filter to brew. Filter coffee is made when ground coffee is brewed through filter paper to produce a plain concentration of coffee which can be taken plainly or mixed with other flavors.
Coffee beans can be grounded into different sizes. There is the finely ground or powdered form, and there is the semi-grounded form that consists of both fine coffee powders and bigger chunks of coffee beans. This size produces different coffee flavors when filtered with the finely ground powders producing a more bitter taste. Filtered coffee is mostly drunk plainly to enjoy the rich coffee taste, and it’s sometimes mixed with cream and sugar.
How is filter coffee made?
Filter coffee is made traditionally by grinding roasted coffee beans to your desired consistency. The paper filter containing your coffee powder is placed over the cup. The jug containing hot water is poured directly on the paper filter to produce your plain coffee. This method allows you to have complete control over the taste and consistency of your coffee.
Machines have been invented to save us the stress of the traditional way of making coffee. A French or coffee press helps in making filtered coffee faster. It saves you more time and can be operated by everyone.
Difference between instant and filter coffee
- Convenience
Instant coffee is more convenient to make because the word instant means immediately. This means you get to enjoy your hot steaming coffee anywhere. Filter coffee cannot be made instantly as it requires filter paper or a coffee presser.
Instant coffees also come in liquid form; these liquid forms can either be plain or flavored. It also saves you from stress as all the needed coffee ingredients have already been added.
- Taste
Filter coffee tastes better and has a more thick coffee aftertaste. This is because fresh coffee beans are used in the preparation of filter coffee. This is unlike instant coffee, whose coffee beans have passed through tons of preparation methods that remove important coffee features such as the aroma.
The preservatives and extra flavors in instant coffee counter the original smell and taste of the coffee beans. Although instant coffees are made from 100% coffee beans, it has a lower quality in taste and smell.
- Preparation methods
These two sets of coffees have different preparation methods. Instant coffee goes through countless processes before arriving in a packet, while filter coffees go through a bit of preparation process.
- Price
A well-brewed filter coffee costs more than an instant coffee. This is because it filters coffee uses fresh coffee beans, which are expensive to purchase. The traditional method of filter coffee requires expertise also. Companies that produce instant coffees will ensure their product is available to every person. This is why there are different types and sizes of instant coffee to suit anybody’s finance.
- Caffeine content
Caffeine is the stimulant present in coffees that heighten performance level in people and is also very addictive. An average instant cup of coffee contains 60-80mg of caffeine, while an average cup of filter coffee contains 60-120mg of caffeine.
This shows that a filter coffee will produce more stimulating effects of caffeine than a cup of instant coffee.
- Solubility in water
Instant coffee is also called soluble coffee because it dissolves in water easily. Filter coffee does not dissolve in water easily and still requires the help of a filter paper to brew with the hot water. This is why filter coffee cannot be prepared by pouring the coffee powder into the hot water directly.