My husband and I love to drink coffee, whether brewed or instant. Often, we take brewed coffee in the morning. I prepare the coffee while we get ready for our activities. Then, we drink it while having breakfast and talking about our activities for the day. When we are out of the house and we want to drink coffee, we drink instant mix. There are several options for instant coffees. You can find coffee mixed with sugar and creamer. There are varieties of coffee with ginseng, mushroom extract, and other herbs. The list can go on.
We still love brewed coffee because of its aroma and earthy taste. But out of convenience, we prefer instant coffee on many occasions.
A lot of people think that instant coffee is bad for their health. They associate instant coffee with fast food, instant noodles, and other quick-serve foods and drinks that contain preservatives.
But did you know that instant coffee is not the villain that many envision it to be? In some aspects, instant coffee is better than brewed coffee. You don’t want to believe? Let’s check out some research that analyzed the effects of instant coffee on our health. First, let’s see how instant coffee is made.
How to make instant coffee?
Instant coffee is made from natural ground coffee beans. It is the by-product of drying coffee extract. The extract is made through the same process as brewing ground coffee beans. The difference is that it is more concentrated. When brewing is done, the water is removed from the concentrated extract, drying it to get coffee powder. In manufacturing plants of coffee companies, they have equipment that brews and dry coffee extract in minutes.
There are ways to make instant coffee:
Spray-drying
Coffee extract is sprayed into the hot air, which quickly dries the droplets and turns them into fine powder or small pieces.
Freeze-drying
The coffee extract is frozen and cut into small fragments, which are then dried at a low temperature under vacuum conditions.
Both of these methods preserve the quality, aroma, and flavor of the coffee.
When you want to drink instant coffee, simply add one teaspoon of coffee powder to a cup of hot water. Suggested water temperature is 80 degrees Celsius. Do not use boiling water, as it will burn the coffee powder.
Instant coffee benefits
Several studies have pointed out that coffee is the biggest source of antioxidants in our modern diet. In the United States alone, since more than half of its population enjoy drinking coffee every day, it means that they are getting more antioxidants from coffee than from fruits and vegetables.
The antioxidants in coffee are the leading source of the health benefits linked to drinking coffee. Another study suggested that instant coffee could contain more antioxidants than other coffee types, due to the process of manufacturing instant coffee. The study noted that since instant coffee is collected from concentrated coffee extract, the antioxidants were retained.
In addition to this, instant coffee contains fewer calories than most coffees you can buy from coffee shops. Take a look at the list below:
Calories in coffee
- Caramel Frappuccino coffee, no whip – 280 calories
- Caramel Frappuccino coffee, whip – 430 calories
- Latte, non-fat – 165 calories
- Latte, whole milk – 260 calories
- Café mocha, whole milk, whip – 400 calories
- Café mocha, non-fat milk, whip – 330 calories
- Café mocha, non-fat, no whip – 220 calories
- Mocha malt Frappuccino coffee, whip – 570 calories
- Cappuccino, whole milk – 150 calories
- Cappuccino, non-fat milk – 100 calories
- Black coffee – 5 calories
If you plan to lose weight, but still want to enjoy coffee, choose instant black coffee. It has 5 calories! You can enjoy up to three cups and feel no guilt and regret.
Caffeine is another favorite ingredient in coffee. Coffee drinkers swear by its potency and its ability to keep you alert, focused, and concentrating on the task at hand. Caffeine is a known stimulant that helps the brain manage stress.
However, some people are dismayed by caffeine. They think that it is addictive and bad for the health. While caffeine is a stimulant, it is a natural compound present in coffee beans.
Nonetheless, if caffeine is deterring you from drinking coffee, you will be fascinated that instant coffee has less caffeine than brewed coffee. You also have the option of using decaf coffee. Check out the caffeine content in the following coffee drinks:
- Black coffee – 95 to 200 mg
- Instant black coffee – 27 to 173 mg
- Latte – 63 to 175 mg
- Decaf coffee – 2 to 12 mg
Instant coffee has less cafestol than coffee made in a French press or Turkish coffee, according to Dr. Rob van Dam, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. Cafestol is a substance that can elevate cholesterol. Both instant coffee and filtered coffee prepared in an automatic coffee maker contain very small amounts of cafestol. If you already have high cholesterol or a family history of heart disease, instant coffee is a better choice than French press or Turkish coffee.
Now, you can enjoy less caffeine, fewer calories, and more antioxidants. Who said that instant coffee was bad?
Acrylamide in coffee
Acrylamide is a potentially harmful chemical that forms when coffee beans are roasted. The presence of this chemical is often linked to coffee’s bad effect, especially for instant coffee.
In one study, researchers found that instant coffee has twice as much acrylamide as freshly brewed coffee. It is true that too much consumption of acrylamide is bad for the nervous system and can increase the risk of cancer. However, the amount of acrylamide you’re exposed to through diet and coffee is much lower than the doses that have been shown to be harmful. Therefore, drinking instant coffee should not cause concern regarding acrylamide exposure.
Benefits of drinking coffee, either instant or brewed
Drinking coffee has several proven health benefits. Whether it is instant coffee or brewed, you can enjoy the same health effects:
- Enhance brain function: The caffeine can improve brain function
- Boost metabolism: The caffeine may increase metabolism and help you burn more fat
- Reduce disease risk: Coffee may reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
- Decrease diabetes risk: Black coffee may help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
- Improve liver health: Coffee and caffeine may reduce the risk of liver diseases like cirrhosis and liver cancer
- Improve mental health: Coffee may help lower the risk of depression and suicide
- Promote longevity: Drinking coffee may help you live longer
The bottom line?
Let’s not judge instant coffee too quickly. Instant coffee has received a bad reputation, but people just need to know more information, so they make informed decisions instead of relying on hearsay and passed on knowledge. You can check the links for the research studies and find out more about the results.
We still love brewing our own coffee because we love the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the house. However, for convenience, we don’t have anything against instant coffee. We can drink it every day if the situation calls for it.
Now we know that if we drink instant coffee, we are getting the same benefits and in some areas, instant coffee offers more health benefits than brewed, which is good to know.
Enjoy your coffee today as much as we always do!
Is Instant Coffee Bad For You?
In our discussion on pre ground coffee and whole bean coffee, we touched upon the topic of instant coffee.
Firstly, pre ground coffee and instant coffee are not the same. They may look like it because they are both ground but their brewing methods are what spell the difference.
In pre ground coffee, whole beans are ground according to the preference and liking of the manufacturer. The resulting product is then packaged and placed into containers and are ready to be sold to the market.
With instant coffee however manufacturers actually make liquid coffee and then freeze dry it to remove all liquid from the coffee leaving behind only the dried flakes and bits we all recognize as reconstitutable instant coffee.
Instant Coffee vs Regular Coffee
For brewers using pre ground coffee, the method is pretty simple. One can just put some in an automatic drip coffee machine and wait for it to finish making the coffee. Using a Chemex or Aeropress you have to use special grind size and manage the process but the waiting part is just the same, it’ll take a few minutes to get coffee from your hot water.
Other brewing methods can also somewhat be applied using pre ground coffee but one must always consider the type of grind necessitated by the brewing method. Otherwise, the taste and quality of the coffee would not be similar had the grind been according to what is stated.
On a parting note with pre ground coffee, it is always best to use whole bean when brewing a cup since whole bean coffee yields superior quality and taste compared to pre ground coffee. This is a result of a couple of things.
- Firstly, the oxidization process begins when the coffee beans are ground. This means that pre ground coffee is exposed to oxidization for a longer period of time compared to whole bean. As a result, the flavor and aromas of the pre ground are lost. This goes from the moment the beans are ground all the way up to finishing the last tablespoon of pre ground. Imagine that!
- Secondly, since pre ground beans are…pre ground, one is not able to manipulate the grind according to the method and taste expected. Options for brewers are thus limited.
- Lastly, pre ground beans do not last as long as whole bean coffee. They are faster to perish and also easily prone to contamination due to their vulnerable state.
This discussion on instant coffee then leads us to ask two burning questions. Are the pros and cons of pre ground coffee also present in instant coffee and is instant coffee a superior product compared to pre ground and whole bean from a taste and quality perspective?
In short no. When coffee is freeze dried the flavor and caffeine content is negatively affected. That’s why many instant coffees are “enhanced” with additional flavor compounds to offset what is lost.
Is Instant Coffee Good, Better, or Worse
How is Instant Coffee Made
Let us begin with the history and process of making instant coffee. Also known as soluble coffee, coffee crystals and coffee powder, instant coffee was an invention of Frenchman Alphonse Alias in 1881 using a process known as “Dry Hot-Air”. We will discuss this process later but for now, the method was improved by Japanese scientist Satori Kato in 1901.
Both World Wars boosted the popularity and usage for instant coffee and in the post-war era, brands such Nescafe came about and commercialized on the opportunity of the world needing a faster way to drink the beverage.
The process begins with the roasting of the coffee beans to bring out its aroma and flavor. These beans are then ground very finely, about 0.5 to 1.1 millimeters. From here on, the instant coffee making process forks into two.
The first method is the one mentioned above, “Dry Hot-Air”, and involves coffee in liquid form being sprayed in a fine mist through dry, hot air. The coffee droplets then land on the collecting bin in powdered form. The second method which is more modern and more commonly used today is referred to as freeze drying. The main idea behind this method is to remove water in the ground coffee by means of sublimation or in other words, freezing the water and partitioning it from the coffee without it going back to its liquid form.
The process begins by freezing the coffee grind, solidifying the water content. The frozen coffee pieces are placed inside a chamber which generates a vacuum and heat strong enough to collect and separate the frozen water from the grinds.
The caffeine content of instant coffee is much less compared to pre ground and whole bean. According to a study done to compare caffeine content, a brand of instant coffee has an average of 27 mg while a generic brew of whole bean contains 95 mg.
Why Instant Coffee is Not Healthy
Due to all the artificial processing instant coffee has gone through, it is no surprise that it has acquired many harmful chemicals and characteristics throughout its production. Instant coffee is known to be high in acrylamide, a cancer-causing chemical compound.
The FDA adds that acrylamide can cause nerve damage. This compound is a result of the high-temperature heating stage. To give you an idea, the average instant coffee has about 400 ppb (parts per billion) of acrylamide while whole bean only has 13 pbb.
Also, instant coffee directly affects iron absorption. This is most noticeable when instant coffee is drank an hour or less before a meal. A study notes that intestinal absorption of iron dropped from 5.88% to 0.97% compared to 1.64% with drip coffee. Absorption further sinks to 0.53% when the amount of instant coffee is doubled.
Naturally, coffee is rich in antioxidants which basically prevent chemical reactions harmfully affecting our bodies’ cells. Cancer, cardiovascular disease and aging are just some of the chemical reactions prevented or hampered by antioxidants. These antioxidants are called methylpridinium, a property only found in coffee.
Unfortunately, the amount of methylpridinium in instant coffee is greatly reduced.
Lastly, since we’ve mentioned that instant coffee has lower amounts of caffeine, this naturally leads to a greater consumption of to get that kick that whole bean or pre ground provide. Unfortunately, this increased consumption of instant coffee only makes us more prone to the health risks mentioned above.
Relatedly, the increased intake of instant coffee is reported to result in hallucinations. The study says that this is because caffeine increases the production of cortisone, a stress hormone. Those, the neurons in the brain are overloaded with cortisone, leading to a decrease in our motor senses.
So With That being Said, Can Instant Coffee Be Good For You Ever?
This is a point that is easily controversial. Most coffee snobs like us and many of our customers would right away tell you that instant coffee can’t ever really be good for you but many dietitians on the other hand don’t find it so clear cut.
In the world of fine coffee the flavors of freeze dried coffee are intensely off-putting but in the dietary world professionals are quick to agree that many of the same health benefits of standard coffee are also present in instant coffee, albeit in smaller amounts.
Antioxidants, potassium, caffeine, and other compounds are less concentrated in instant coffee but they are still there.
The flavor of instant coffee is certainly diminished over fresh brewed coffee but the freeze dried version is super concentrated and so it’s actually better to cook with if you need to infuse coffee flavors into your food. Especially in cases where you don’t want to dilute the rest of your food with the extra water that comes with traditionally brewed coffee.
Lastly, there’s no doubt that instant coffee really is the easiest coffee to make while traveling, camping, or staying somewhere other than your own home. All you need is a source of hot water!
Here at GGC we don’t strongly advocate for our customers to buy and prepare instant coffee but we understand it has it’s place in modern living. We’ll let you come to your own conclusions about the health risks of instant coffee but in our world we don’t drink it for flavor reasons first and foremost and for health reasons as a side-effect.