How to make instant coffee!

[aussiegirl]

Okay all you coffee drinking skeptics out there!

Please can someone with some expertise in science, physics etc.. whatever it takes, answer this question for me.

I have always made my instant coffee by putting in a teaspoon or more of instant coffee, adding hot water, (not boiling) and some milk. I only have a little milk.

Then one day my daughter comes and says, "that's not how you make coffee. You have to put the instant coffee in the cup, add the MILK, and THEN the hot water.. it tastes so much better.

Well, being such a skeptic, I thought this is a load of rubbish, as the coffee is instant, and already has been so pulverized, mixed with other chemicals etc... who cares?
You can't make it taste any different by adding milk first. Off course these coffee drinkers believe that you "kill" the coffee flavor with the hot water.

I really don't notice any difference. Technically though, can I prove to my daughter somehow, that this is all a load of rubbish??? :p

[MG1962]

Its the same as rotating a teapot three times while the tea draws - All in the mind

[soylent]

Challenge your daughter to a (double) blind test.

[Rasmus]

Yeah, a double blind test is the way to go.

For both of you, as she could still be right, after all. At least I wouldn't be completely surprised if it made a difference to dissolve the coffe first (and in fatty milk at that) and then heat it up rather than directly dissolving it in hot water and then adding milk.

(I've heard that it does make a difference whether you put milk into the cup before or after the tea because of the way the milk is heated up. If true, that might account for a difference in taste, too.)

Important: "Better" is a value judgement that you can't test for. You can only test for a difference in taste. So even if it turns out to be true you might well continue making your coffee as you used to.

[baron]

Whilst you're at it, a double-blind of tasting coffee made with boiling and nearly-boiling water would be interesting (assuming a lag of several minutes between making and drinking).

[kosai]

I'd be interested to hear the results of your test if you do it. You could also throw in a cup of fresh brewed coffee to try and see if all those coffee snobs have a point or if instant has caught up as much as it says on the box. I'd also keep some cold water near by to drink in between each cup.

[Kilgore Trout]

Whilst you're at it, a double-blind of tasting coffee made with boiling and nearly-boiling water would be interesting (assuming a lag of several minutes between making and drinking).

Be careful trying this. I once hit the wrong button on a microwave, brought a cup of water to boil, let it sit a moment even past the time it stopped bubbling, added instant coffee and it immediately overflowed, the coffee fizzing and bubbling over. Maybe it's because I added coffee to the water, not vice versa, but it was a pretty messy, and hot, situation.

[FramerDave]

I've always wondered about a similar thing. Probably 99.99% of people I have ever seen drink coffee put the milk or creamer in after pouring a mug of coffee, then stir it. I always put my milk in first, then pour the coffee. It mixes itself and I don't have to deal with a spoon or stirrer. Makes perfect sense to me. Am I just insane?

[brodski]

Be careful trying this. I once hit the wrong button on a microwave, brought a cup of water to boil, let it sit a moment even past the time it stopped bubbling, added instant coffee and it immediately overflowed, the coffee fizzing and bubbling over. Maybe it's because I added coffee to the water, not vice versa, but it was a pretty messy, and hot, situation.

that's nothing, i made instant coffee in the microwave and almost went back in time! ;)

[Coffee]

As others have suggested the double blind test is the way to go just use water to cleanse the pallet between samples.

I only use instant coffee in an emergency. I am a "coffee snob" who prefers brewed or percolated coffee. I have noticed that instant coffee has improved in taste in recent years but still cannot compare to the robust flavor and wonderful aroma of fresh brewed coffee. I do use sugar and cream in my coffee however I look down my "coffee snob nose" at those flavored coffees unless the flavoring is whiskey. :)

[PetersCreek]

A thought occurred to me that I think would be crucial to an instant coffee blind test:

...why bother? The stuff is awful. :sour:

Lacking time to brew a cup or a pot, I'd just as soon have a caffeine-rich soda or...perish the thought...one of those trendy, pretentious "energy" drinks. :D

[baron]

Be careful trying this. I once hit the wrong button on a microwave, brought a cup of water to boil, let it sit a moment even past the time it stopped bubbling, added instant coffee and it immediately overflowed, the coffee fizzing and bubbling over. Maybe it's because I added coffee to the water, not vice versa, but it was a pretty messy, and hot, situation.

Ah yes, I wasn't suggesting using a microwave :) Microwaves can superheat water and they should never be used to boil liquids.

[Kiosk]

Yeah, microwaves are crazy things where liquids are concerned. You can have a lot of fun with superheated water.

Scalding, howling fun.

[Agular]

I always put my milk in first, then pour the coffee. It mixes itself and I don't have to deal with a spoon or stirrer. Makes perfect sense to me. Am I just insane?

I deal with the spoon, and leave it in the cup to make it all cool off a bit, and be ready to drink, faster.

[Normal Dude]

Can;t drink instant coffee. It gives me the most horrific headaches.

[aussiegirl]

Well thank you for all those comments. I still think that the difference between the two, milk first, or hot water first, is so small that the pallet really can't pick it up.

I made my husband a coffee once, without him seeing me, with milk first, as we always do the hot water first. After he had his coffee, I asked, "so how was your coffee?"... he didn't know what I meant... LOL.... I then told him and he said he didn't notice any difference.

Once again, I think it's all in the mind. Someone says, "it tastes better this way".. the mind and the pallet join in!!

I love "real" coffee, as some of you mentioned. I did notice though that the coffee, (while visiting the States), in the States, was awful everywhere I went.
Those Styrofoam cups are awful and just kill the "coffee flavor".. (there you go you see? all in the mind LOL).. and it was so hard for me to find a real coffee machine, other than Starbucks, which I don't particularly like either.

In Aussieland, we have what we call, "a long black" with "milk on the side".... you get a nice strong brewed coffee, with hot milk if you ask for it. I also enjoy an espresso from time to time.

And..... yes. Normal Dude, some people are quite allergic to coffee of any kind. In fact, if you withdraw from drinking the stuff, you also get headaches. So, it is a drug really.

I wanted to do a blind test, but my daughter didn't want to do it, as she is just convinced and that's that. She is also a great skeptic, so I'm surprised she is so convinced about this one. Then again, she may be right.

It's a bit like, someone likes chocolate, other's don't like it at all... etc.. we all have different pallet tastes.

It's my drug... I'm hooked.... but you have to enjoy somethings in this crazy world eh?

[fuelair]

Yeah, a double blind test is the way to go.

For both of you, as she could still be right, after all. At least I wouldn't be completely surprised if it made a difference to dissolve the coffe first (and in fatty milk at that) and then heat it up rather than directly dissolving it in hot water and then adding milk.

(I've heard that it does make a difference whether you put milk into the cup before or after the tea because of the way the milk is heated up. If true, that might account for a difference in taste, too.)

Important: "Better" is a value judgement that you can't test for. You can only test for a difference in taste. So even if it turns out to be true you might well continue making your coffee as you used to.Part of the claim on the water temp. used to be that the hotter water would be more likely to curdle the milk (denaturing it's protein most likely. I have not noticed that problem, personally.

[luchog]

I have always made my instant coffee
There's your first mistake right there.

[m_huber]

I personally like my coffee best when it's actually tea.

On a more relevant note, I don't know about the order of milk/water, but I have seen where adding milk to hot coffee results in less loss of temperature than adding milk to coffee shortly before you drink it.

[devnull]

I drink my coffee black - I try to avoid dosing myself with blood, feces and paratuberculosis (otherwise known as 'milk').

[hipparchia]

Maybe "milk first" comes from the pre-homogenized days when pouring it last could make it curdle? Just a wild guess.

Anyway, the proper way to make instant coffee is to have the coffee powder, pour several drops of water on it, stir like crazy until it turns into foam and add more water.

Tastes all the same, has a little more foam, but we sometimes definitely go for this weird style for laughs.

[ponderingturtle]

Ah yes, I wasn't suggesting using a microwave :) Microwaves can superheat water and they should never be used to boil liquids.

They are fine if you put something with sufficient sources of neuclation on them in the water, like a cheap wooden chopstick.

[Kiosk]

Don't know about coffee, anyway, but if you're making tea you have to put the milk in first. Otherwise you get little clouds of scum floating on the top.

[ponderingturtle]

Don't know about coffee, anyway, but if you're making tea you have to put the milk in first. Otherwise you get little clouds of scum floating on the top.

So you pour the brewed tea on top of milk? If you are brewing in the cup you are killing your water temp and black tea needs to have hot water.

[Kiosk]

I think the same thing happens whether you brew in the cup or use a teapot - I'd always put the milk in first. What you say may well be true, but I prefer an imperfect cup of tea to a perfect cup with bits floating on the surface...

[madurobob]

Instant coffee = blecho!

Here is how an ex-girlfriend's father used to do it. She swore it was the best coffee anywhere on the planet. He took a pound of ground colombian coffee and poured it into a giant drip filter on top of a 1 gallon carafe, then suspended a gallon of water over the coffee, using a spout that just barely dribbled water to saturate the coffee. It took over an our for the water to drip over the coffee. What filtered through was a dense coffee syrup (we haven't gotten to the "Instant" bit yet).

This syrup he kept in the fridge. When coffee was wanted he simply added a couple of tablespoons to a cup of very hot water (or, was it the other way 'round?). Instant coffee!

That girlfriend broke up with me soon after I saw this process and remarked "congratulations, your dad has managed to replicate vending machine coffee".

Yes, it was that good.

[DavidS]

You can't make it taste any different by adding milk first.
While that may be true, it's not as obvious as you might think. As fuelair and hipparchia have noted, adding the hot water to the milk + "coffee" changes the processing path followed and may produce products with quite different properties -- including taste.

When you add milk to hot "coffee", the milk that first contacts the coffee becomes hot milk before it disperses into the coffee. There could be meaningful chemical or physical changes that occur only when those elevated temperatures occur in conjunction with "full strength" milk but not when the milk is diluted. When hot "coffee" is added to cold milk, the converse is true; the thermal mass of the milk cools the first bits of "coffee" to dilute the milk before its temperature is raised much.

True, the final equilibrium state of a "coffee"+milk mixture is independent of the process path... but you have little reason to believe such a true equilibrium state has anything to do with the mixture you intend to drink.

I'm not certain it does matter, but it's not "woo" to recognize that it might. Seems to me you need only try it both ways, after which whatever you believe is right enough for your purposes.

PS: I just gotta quote "coffee" in this context -- I'm certainly no coffee snob/connossieur, but IMO instant "coffee" yields a liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee.

[ponderingturtle]

I think the same thing happens whether you brew in the cup or use a teapot - I'd always put the milk in first. What you say may well be true, but I prefer an imperfect cup of tea to a perfect cup with bits floating on the surface...

This cries out for an experiment. On a chemical level I can't think of much reason why it would matter if you add watter to milk vs milk to water. You are not producing a highly exothermic reaction after all. Maybe adding the milk to the water before heating would be best.

As for milk and instant coffee, well there is the issue of fat vs water soluble compounds. As instant coffee is freeze dried water made coffee though any fat soluble compounds would be absent anyway.

[Normal Dude]

I drink my coffee black - I try to avoid dosing myself with blood, feces and paratuberculosis (otherwise known as 'milk').

You forgot the pus.

[aussiegirl]

You forgot the pus. and devnull!!

You trying to put me off drinking milk???? LOL

Back to the coffee/milk saga. I still think it doesn't make much difference and that it is a pallet thing.... everyone tastes things differently.

I don't have much milk at all, so it probably doesn't make any difference to my coffee. I have my coffee with just a touch of milk, so that it looks dark brown.
People who pour in so much milk that the coffee looks almost white , puts me right off, as I think they totally destroy the coffee flavor so I don't know why they drink it.
One friend of mine, always orders a "long black, half shot".. in a mug? why even drink the stuff?? LOL

I thank you all for taking so much interest in my thread. It's been very amusing... and (I never did look at milk this way Normal Dude)... :eek:

[Big Les]

I've been assuming that this is the same phenomenon as my weird foible about tea in dark mugs. It's not anything intrinsic about the mug (or in this case, the order of the ingredients) it's that it's somehow harder to judge the correct amount of coffee, water, and milk if you add the latter, erm last. You tend to leave less room for the milk than it needs, so by the time you've filled the cup, you've got too much water and not enough milk, hence the lack of a "blended" appearance and a watery taste.

The same goes when making tea from a teapot. Tea in the cup (with teabags) however, is the other way around - milk last, otherwise the milk prevents the tea from infusing properly from the teabag.

Assuming nothing is going on beyond the above, this would make a meaningful double-blind test pretty tough to design.

However, maybe my "wrong" cup of coffee isn't what the OP is describing. You can see that you've failed to mix the proportions correctly, it's just very hard to correct once got wrong, and easy to get wrong in the first place. If someone's claiming that their instant coffee tastes different but doesn't look any different, then the double-blinding should work.

There is an effect with instant coffee whereby the resonant pitch rises as you stir, something to do with air bubble formation as the water hits the granules. Would a differently oxygenated cup possibly taste different? Probably not. But the pitch effect (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071121145300AAKGqCK) is an interesting phenomenon in its own right.

ETA - Instant coffee is disgusting. But any port in a storm, right?

[The Painter]

Instant coffee sucks. It's horrible.

[Big Les]

I look on it more as soluble caffeine than coffee - somehow more socially acceptable than popping proplus pills. Certainly not enjoyable, unless it's something more expensive than coffee beans themselves, like Nescafe Cap Columbie or similar.

I only drink it because a) it's all there is at work and b) I'm rubbish at getting up in the morning so sometimes have a cup for speed's sake. It tastes even worse first thing, probably because your forced/acquired taste hasn't yet kicked in!

[Monza]

I like my coffee the same as I like my women: black and smokin' hot!!

Seriously, I believe the milk-first or milk-last is only in the mind. I agree that a double-blind test would be very interesting. Hopefully, someone will post their results here.

Has anyone seen the recent study regarding wine tasting? People tend to give better evaluations to the wine they believe is higher priced. We are an easily fooled species.

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

I like my coffee like my soul, dark and bitter.

Jokes aside, I've gotten to the point where I can't even brew drip coffee at home that is up to my standards. Been saving my pennies for a decent espresso machine (guestimating ~US$300). Thankfully, there is a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Company shop on the way to work as well as several decent locally owned shops.

Milk first vs last? Meh. If I add milk, I'm with FramerDave, let the pouring do the work.

[RichardR]

I recommend using fresh ground coffee, not instant, and with no milk. That will definitely taste better. Problem solved.

[ThatSoundAgain]

Instant coffee = blecho!

Here is how an ex-girlfriend's father used to do it. She swore it was the best coffee anywhere on the planet. He took a pound of ground colombian coffee and poured it into a giant drip filter on top of a 1 gallon carafe, then suspended a gallon of water over the coffee, using a spout that just barely dribbled water to saturate the coffee. It took over an our for the water to drip over the coffee. What filtered through was a dense coffee syrup (we haven't gotten to the "Instant" bit yet).

This syrup he kept in the fridge. When coffee was wanted he simply added a couple of tablespoons to a cup of very hot water (or, was it the other way 'round?). Instant coffee!

That girlfriend broke up with me soon after I saw this process and remarked "congratulations, your dad has managed to replicate vending machine coffee".

Yes, it was that good.

I was once recomended this process ("cold brewing") by some coffee aficionado. Seems there is a whole industry of different presses, filters, beakers and the like and much bickering about what process / apparatus is the best. Not to worry, I was told, you can try it out with just a tea filter and a jar. So I did.

If I understand it correctly, the whole process is designed to eliminate the acids and bitter taste you get from heating the beans. After tasting it, my only question is why you'd want to do this, as the result tastes remarkably unlike coffee. I want my coffee to be acidic and bitter.

[EHLO]

I imagine that mixing the coffee with milk first would protect some of the many volatile compounds in the coffee - although "not quite" boiling water would do the same. That said, given all the variables in making a cup of coffee I doubt the milk/water order would have any major effect.

I'm doing an un-blinded test right now and they taste the same. If I was pushed I might say the milk first coffee tastes slightly creamier.

I don't know why people get so pretentious about "the perfect" tea or coffee - like any food I change the recipe to suit what I feel like - espresso/instant/filtered/percolated, with/without milk, with/without water, with/without sugar, hot, cold, with/without flavours/alcohol etc etc. It's all good!

[ponderingturtle]

I like my coffee like my soul, dark and bitter.

Jokes aside, I've gotten to the point where I can't even brew drip coffee at home that is up to my standards. Been saving my pennies for a decent espresso machine (guestimating ~US$300). Thankfully, there is a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Company shop on the way to work as well as several decent locally owned shops.

Milk first vs last? Meh. If I add milk, I'm with FramerDave, let the pouring do the work.

Why not try a french press? Also why would an espresso machine something that is much more involved be a good solution, unless it is like one of those nesspresso machines that have the sealed canisters.

[NeilC]

Oddly this is the opposite advice I've seen for making tea where people claim that pouring the hot water on the milk "scalds" it.

One thing I do know is that adding coffee to the milk means it doesn't disolve as well and often ends up with little specks floating on the drink.

Tastewise it makes no difference I can discern.

BTW anyone know if one can smell sugar in a drink? I forgot to which tea I'd added sugar and my co-worker sniffed it to work out if it was his. He got it wrong. I tried a quick test with a couple of cups and the result was inconclusive.

[Jimcalagon]

From what I understand, the rationale behind adding milk to the coffee first is to ensure that the coffee is dissolved before the water is added.

If you add boiling water to instant coffee, you get those annoying undissolved bits floating on top when you add the milk. There are two ways to avoid this:-

1. Let the boiled water cool for a few minutes before adding it to the coffee, then add milk - this results in a cup of coffee which may be too cool for some tastes.

2. Add the milk first, mix it until the coffee is still dissolved then add boiling water.

So, nothing to do with taste, but soluability, is my understanding.

I once saw Sir Trevor Bayliss (the inventor of the clockwork radio) demonstrating this on TV.

Of course any way that you make it, instant coffee still tastes like cr4p. Unless you use the little sachets of Nescafe you find in some restaurants in Greece which are something else (completely unlike the UK Nescafe). I once bought two boxes of those home from holiday.

[ponderingturtle]

From what I understand, the rationale behind adding milk to the coffee first is to ensure that the coffee is dissolved before the water is added.

If you add boiling water to instant coffee, you get those annoying undissolved bits floating on top when you add the milk. There are two ways to avoid this:-

1. Let the boiled water cool for a few minutes before adding it to the coffee, then add milk - this results in a cup of coffee which may be too cool for some tastes.

2. Add the milk first, mix it until the coffee is still dissolved then add boiling water.

So, nothing to do with taste, but soluability, is my understanding.


I find this odd as the general rule about solids disolving in liquids is that higher temperature results in faster disolving.

[Jimcalagon]

I find this odd as the general rule about solids disolving in liquids is that higher temperature results in faster disolving.

I would normally be in agreement with you but I have seen it myself - the little undissolved bits I mean. And IIRC the instructions on jars of instant coffee say to use hot but not boiling water.

[NeilC]

I find it quite the opposite. Coffee disolves perfectly in boiling water.

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

Why not try a french press? Also why would an espresso machine something that is much more involved be a good solution, unless it is like one of those nesspresso machines that have the sealed canisters.
Sorry, I wasn't clear, there are two seperate issues.
1) My cheap-ass espresso machine died and, if I am going to bother replacing it, I am going to do so with a machine that makes a decent cup of espresso
2) My drip coffee maker sucks. Yes, a french press is an option I keep forgetting but would be well worth the effort/cost to try out.

[ThatSoundAgain]

Yes, a french press is an excellent option, especially if you combine it with a grinder and buy your beans whole. Freshness!

[Big Les]

I like my coffee like I like my women.

In a plastic cup.

(With apologies to Mr E. Izzard).

[ponderingturtle]

I like my coffee like I like my women.

In a plastic cup.

(With apologies to Mr E. Izzard).

The only way I like my coffee is chocolate covered coffee beans.

I am not sure how much that lends itself to such a statement. I guess covered in chocolate makes sense.

[luchog]

I like my coffee like I like my women.

In a plastic cup.

...pale and bitter.

...ground up and in the freezer.

...anally.