Making My Own Fancy Instant Coffee: Can It Taste Good?

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[jacobcdefg]

Okay, so, no one tell my PhD supervisor, but I've experimented with making instant coffee using our lab's freeze dryer. I had access to a pretty nice super automatic espresso machine in the building, so I brewed into a pre-chilled container, and then flash-froze the coffee in liquid nitrogen. From brew to solid ice in less than a minute. This then went onto the freeze dryer overnight, and it was done by the next day. It tasted quite good, but I agree with James, there is something lost in the process that I can't quite explain. Fun experiment, but definitely super inefficient.

[BenMcGaghey]

Ben from Hasty Coffee in Canada here - Seems like specialty instant is trending on Youtube this week! We've been scaling freeze-dried for 4 years for us and over 40 coffee roasters and it is very difficult on a small scale. 

If you have 2-300k to dump into equipment you could produce an economically viable specialty instant on a small-medium scale. We've had to get creative and do some very risky in-house engineering and waste a ton of cash on blowing stuff up. It's been a wild ride but we've created a fantastic instant process now and I can't imagine a world without it.

Always happy to forward some samples for comparison!

[JimJansen]

'These are skull ice cubes of pure espresso' is the most metal thing that I've ever heard James say.

[VenusBijou]

I'm loving that this video has activated all the chemistry nerds who are secretly using their insanely expensive specialist work lab equipment for making illicit homebrew instant coffee, and then nerding some more about the exact process. Nerd love <3

[ogix]

Slurp-free audio track is the kind of innovation I expect from this channel.

[roboliver]

I reckon James could be obsessed with door knobs and his passion and media quality would still have thousands of us hooked. It’s really magnetic.

[Instant_Dan]

Instant Dan from B&W Coffee Roasters here. Thanks for shouting out our vid! The bit about freezing time was fascinating; we don't worry about it too much, but that's mostly a logistical thing. Would be interested to see if different modes of extraction yield different profiles for you to test your espresso theory. We found that a blend of espresso and filter actually produces a better instant than either alone. Would be happy to send along some samples if you want to test some of your experiments side-by-side!

[marcelbuhler]

I work in a research lab (some weird field called 'proteomics'), where we try to understand proteins using ridiculously expensive and complicated instruments ('mass spectrometers'). Sample preparation involves chopping up our proteins into 'peptides' using an enzyme (trypsin) and 'drying' the peptide-containing solution in a little vacuum centrifuge/vacuum concentrator (so called Speecvac), which makes our samples more suitable for storage. One trick we use to speed up the drying process is to first 'snap-freeze' our sample in liquid nitrogen before we place the frozen peptide-containing sample into the Speedvac for drying. You could kind of steal that idea to potentially improve your instant coffee: Idea 1): Directly extract your coffee into liquid nitrogen (or into a container placed in liquid nitrogen) and then transferring your 'snap-frozen' coffee into the freeze-dryer (you may want to add a bit of liquid nitrogen into the drying tray to prevent the coffee from thawing again). Idea 2): get some dry ice and extract your coffee directly into your dry ice. This will probably form some sort of frozen coffee crystal/dry ice mixture, which you could then spread out on your freeze-drying tray (without your coffee starting to thaw again) to start the drying process. The dry ice should just sublimate (released as CO2) during the drying process. The dry ice approach could be a bit messy, though (you may want to wear a lab coat and some protective glasses)... These approaches may address three problems: 1) Freezing your coffee much more quickly (which, as you mentioned, is essential to get tasty coffee); 2) Preventing your coffee from thawing while you distribute your coffee onto the tray of the freeze-drying machine, as I my gut feeling tells me that repetitive freeze-thawing may not really promote your coffee taste; 3) Speeding up your drying process, which may also help you create better tasting coffee. The cold temperatures and the fact that you have a lot of gas (CO2 or N2) surrounding your coffee may also reduce the amount of oxidation, and thus, preserve taste (although that's really just a naïve hypothesis...). Anyhow, would be interesting to see you play around with coffee and dry ice/liquid N2🥶😅. Really enjoy your channel, keep up the good work!

[franciscot]

Never clicked so fast. Missed you James.

[NoahK]

The "slurp-free" track is a kind of wonderful example of how much you and your team care about the quality of your videos. I don't personally mind the slurping but it says a lot that you're willing to put in a little more effort to make your videos better in that small way.

[kimberlydrennon]

Not a hack, but a little bit of science. I know the natural impurities of your water are important to the taste of your coffee. If you brew a cup of coffee with water that you like to drink and then freeze dry it, it will have all the impurities your water had. Then, if you reconstitute it with the exact same amount of the water you like to drink, the resultant cup will have double the number of salts/other impurities as the fresh cup. Some ways around this might be: a) to brew an extremely concentrated batch of coffee with water you like to drink and then reconstitute it at a more normal concentration for drinking. b) to brew your coffee with distilled water and reconstitute it with water you like to drink. c) to brew your coffee with water you like to drink and reconstitute it with distilled water. The problem with option c is that if you're in a situation where you are using instant coffee you probably don't have distilled water to hand. I'm not really tempted to use instant coffee as I just make some, even if I'm camping or traveling. I have a tiny french press and a little rocket stove that fits in my bag easily. Mostly I see uses for instant coffee in baking and there, maybe it's not necessary to get The Best cup of instant. Anyway, for the sake of science it might be fun to compare those three options I presented.

[glizbane]

As someone who has suffered from misophonia their entire life, thank you so much for making a separate audio track available.

[mickfanning]

"If you dont know Bovril, well done.
If you do know Bovril, good times!"

[johnthomasgoerke]

Thanks for this video, James. I broke a $700 lens today at work. ( I work in video.) and I just needed to unwind and think about something else. I love coffee. I use your V60 method every morning with my daughter. And your work always transports me to a better place. Thanks for that.

[knuble]

The struggle of adequately capturing James' joy with respect to the skull ice cubes is apparent. If there's a long shot of this, can there please be a directors cut?

[andrewpetracca]

Wow, my mom bought one of these freeze drying units a few years ago and started freeze drying everything she could think of and ended up making some really interesting fun snacks or stored ingredients. And James Hoffman is using it! This is the first time I have ever had some real-life experience with one of the crazy fancy appliances he buys for a project!! And very possibly the last time…

[floydffrogfloydffrog]

James' face after tasting the dried espresso is exactly what the doctor ordered for all our woes. Bless him! (it's at 10:24)

[carlosgpiva]

I simply love these experiments you do here, it’s always so fulfilling to see someone talk about something they care. Thank you

[alex_pier]

I'm very glad that you ate it straight. Sign of a man who knows his audience.

[julien]

I have had a coffee on my mind for a while now and this feels like a good time to bring it up.

A few years back, I was visiting Peru with my (now) wife. We decided to take a trip out to the Manu forest from Cuzco. On our drive we made various stops at little family-owned cafes, on the one road heading out to the Amazon rain forest.

I noticed a staple on every Peruvian dining table in the mornings, it looked to be a coffee concentrate in a glass cruet bottle with a cork in the top.
The locals would just add a bit of this with hot water from the kettle to make, in short, instant coffee. It was strong stuff. And the concentrate apparently keeps for days at a time.

I haven't found much information online about this, but I would love to learn more about it. If anyone can shed some light on Peruvian coffee culture, I would greatly appreciate it.

I always enjoy your videos James. Thank you, and your team, for all you hard work.