Why is instant coffee, which is despised by the "hand-grinding party", becoming more and more mellow?

Coffee is a popular beverage all over the world. In addition to its unique and attractive aroma, it also has the effect of refreshing the mind. Under the high pressure of modern society, it is a life-saving existence for many people. In the previous program, we talked about the health benefits of drinking coffee in moderation. Today, let's talk about the production of coffee.

The traditional way of drinking coffee is to roast the coffee beans first, grind them into fine powder, and then use drip or steam to make a cup of delicious coffee. These are the two most common ways of coffee extraction, American and Italian.

Coffee made in this way is fresh and delicious, but it is not that convenient, until instant coffee was invented. Instant coffee was born in the early 20th century, but it was first mass-produced in the 1930s. Although the taste of this coffee is slightly worse, it is much more convenient. It was very popular during World War II. Soldiers drank a cup of instant coffee on the battlefield, which made them more energetic. Later, instant coffee became popular all over the world and changed the habit of people consuming coffee all over the world, which has continued to this day.

Let's take a brief look at the production process of instant coffee. When a batch of fresh coffee beans is delivered to the coffee factory, they must first be selected and cleaned, and then sent to a huge roasting machine for roasting. This is an important process for coffee to emit a special aroma. During the roasting process, the coffee beans must be constantly turned and stirred so that they will present a uniform and beautiful brown color. Next, these brown coffee beans will enter the grinding machine and be ground into fine powder. However, this powder cannot be directly dissolved in water, and must be made into fresh coffee liquid through steam and high pressure. At this step, what we call freshly ground coffee has actually been made.

Technology and hard work come to the rescue. Next, the water in the coffee liquid needs to be evaporated, leaving only the remaining solid powder, and then packaged. The process of evaporating water generally uses high-temperature drying technology, which will cause a lot of damage to the original aroma of the coffee, so non-dairy creamer and sugar are added to blend the taste, which is why the earliest instant coffees are basically three-in-one. The coffee made in this way is definitely not delicious, but it is convenient, fast and cheap, so it has been popular for many years, especially in countries that do not have a tradition of drinking coffee. Such instant coffee is more popular.

After solving the problem of convenience and speed, people gradually became dissatisfied with the taste of instant coffee and also had health concerns about the added coffee companion. Therefore, more freeze-dried coffee powders that can retain the original taste of coffee and are convenient and fast were produced.

Remember the process of turning coffee liquid into solid soluble powder that we just talked about? Freeze-drying technology is used to replace high-temperature drying technology. The frozen coffee liquid is directly placed in a vacuum environment, so that the ice crystals sublimate directly from solid to gas without passing through the liquid state to remove moisture. After the water sublimates, the coffee powder retains its original structure and flavor, forming dry coffee particles. Due to the low temperature during the freeze-drying process, the aromatic compounds and flavor components of the coffee are less lost, and the original flavor of the coffee can be better preserved than high-temperature drying technology. There is no need to add any preservatives and additives during the production process, which is healthier. If there is a disadvantage, it is that this production process will be more expensive, so freeze-dried coffee will be a little more expensive than traditional instant coffee.

Of course, today's convenient coffee is no longer limited to solid form. There are also various concentrated liquid coffees, which are also very convenient. With the development of storage and preservation technologies, portable coffee is meeting consumers' tastes and personalized needs in all aspects.

We have talked about the competition in the milk industry before, and today the competition in the coffee industry is no less fierce. Whether it is capsule coffee that is comparable to the taste of traditional Italian coffee, or drip coffee that retains the original aroma, whether it is freshly ground coffee with touching prices of domestic brands, or a wide variety of portable coffee. For us coffee consumers, the coffee we drink is getting better and better.