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What are the commonly available different types of instant coffee, and what's the difference in each of them?

I'm currently living somewhere without a way to make coffee, but there's a few dozen options of instant coffee available at the market. The most obvious difference that I can see in the different types of instant coffee is that some are granulated and some are not granulated, but I'm sure there's other differences as-well (which I simply cannot see just with the naked eye).

Photo of granulated instant coffee in a glass jar
Granulated instant coffee is visibly different from non-granulated instant coffee -- you can see the large grains with the naked eye (source)

I've tried searching the 'net for this, but all the results that I come-across describe the difference between instant coffee and non-instant coffee. I'm asking here only about the difference between different types of instant coffee. I'm not asking for a comparison of different brands of instant coffee. I'm asking about the different types (of manufacturing of) instant coffee.

What are the most common types of instant coffee, how are they made, and how does each compare?

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  • See also coffeestrides.blogspot.com/2014/09/…
    – Michael Altfield
    Commented Jul 15 at 19:04
  • Instant espresso powder does seem different - just about good enough to use in baking. But I don't know if the process is significantly different to normal instant. Then there are the instant types that have a bit of extremely finely ground coffee in them as well. More expensive, not really much better.
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 15 at 20:28
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    I'd guess that they all use more or less the same process and the differences are entirely down to how finely they break up the final product - wikipedia tells me some are freeze dried and others spray dried, which would give final grain size differences. It might well come under the heading of "industrial secret" as I'm sure you would need to ask the manufacturers as to how they actually do it.
    – bob1
    Commented Jul 15 at 21:18
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    @SnakeDoc While comments are used for some less-directly-on-topic purposes, they are not a place for extended discussion, nor do they constitute carte blanche permission to go as off-topic as you like. Specifically, the OP very clearly chose to ask an informational question about types and attributes of instant coffee, and our job is to respect that and address it, not to try to judge the overall quality of instant coffee or discuss other types of coffee. I'd suggest stepping away from this question.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Jul 16 at 1:42
  • paging @tetsujin, who seems to know quite a bit about instant coffee
    – Michael Altfield
    Commented Jul 16 at 6:11

1 Answer 1

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The options I'm aware of:

  • freeze-dried (which typically results in the "granules") - frozen, then placed under vacuum to remove the water

and

  • spray-dried (which is more just a fine powder) - liquid sprayed at the top of a column where warm dry air is being (rather gently) blown in the bottom and the droplets are dried to specks of powder as they fall.

Freeze dried is generally considered to be somewhat better (since less heating of the coffee is involved), as instant coffee goes. But as a matter of taste, try and see which you prefer, that's what actually matters to you.

Within each process type there may be differences you taste due to bean selection and how the coffee is roasted and brewed at the factory, or process parameters of the drying process. That tends to be submerged in a tide of marketing, and not really divulged in any detail; so listen to your own taste with regards to "better/worse." Most of "dozens of types" is really multiple brands (some probably made by the same company in the same factory - and possibly only the labels differ) of the two types.

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    I've wiped the comments. Please be kind, as the rules request, and in particular if you think something is wrong with the question don't take it out on people writing answers.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Jul 16 at 1:35
  • Your answer could be improved by focusing on the attributes in that paragraph about what people often consider "better." I think it's probably mostly just a matter of connecting the dots a bit: less heating of coffee means... more original flavor preserved?
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Jul 16 at 1:38
  • Good answer +1. An important aspect of instant coffee is whether it is made from arabica or robusta coffee; personally, I find arabica by far the better, but it is a bit more expensive.
    – j4nd3r53n
    Commented Jul 16 at 8:03
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    Sometimes what is sold as "instant espresso" or whatever might already have added sugar or powdered milk, so beware of that.
    – Edheldil
    Commented Jul 16 at 9:28
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    A slight issue is that there is also agglomerated instant coffee, in effect spray-dried coffee powder stuck together into small lumps to make it look a little more like freeze-dried coffee. It may also affect the flavour slightly.
    – Henry
    Commented Jul 16 at 17:43

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