Does Instant Coffee Have Caffeine

Instant Vs Ground Coffee

The takeaway scoop: instant coffee might have a less developed flavour to ground coffee, but it is a quick and cheap solution to quelling your thirst for coffee. We recommend keeping a jar of both in the cupboard, meaning you have the option to choose depending on the circumstances. Why not take a look at our coffee selection? You can choose from five ethically-sourced coffee blends to find the one that you love. And, our Podster coffee machine makes whipping up a freshly-brewed mug of java as easy as instant just press a button and let it do the work for you!

If youre not rushing off somewhere first thing, make sure you take the time to sit down and enjoy your coffee. Having something to nibble on the side can also bring out more nuanced notes in your coffee, and were not just talking about biscuits.

Chocolate and coffee go together like a match made in heaven. You may think that were being biased, but we promise the developed flavours of cocoa to bring out the nuanced notes of coffee. Keep a square or two by the side of your mug to nibble on between sips.

When To Drink Instant

Don’t worry about reaching for that speedy cup of instant coffee on days when you need it. While the caffeine in instant coffee compared to brewed coffee is slightly lower, and its health benefits slightly less, these are only modest differences. Overall, it’s the same beverage you’ve grown to know and love just a whole lot quicker to prepare.

Why You Shouldnt Drink Instant Coffee

Ok, So before we start, this is all opinion which by its very nature is subjective but can we just agree, Instant isnt up to scratch in this day and age of coffee consumption?

Were on the same page?

Right?

With that, lets begin.

There are many reasons we shouldnt drink Instant Coffee, but the simple answer is, because we dont have to! With so many great espresso bars, home espresso machines, pour over kits, Aeropress, French Press why would you adulterate your precious time and palate with a cup of coffee that is anything but special?

Photo by Robert Shunev on Unsplash

Taking time out to enjoy some finely ground & brewed coffee shouldnt be taken for granted. In our increasingly busy lives, too often to we take the convenient over the good, purely because its there, rather than taking five minutes to produce something really worth savouring. More on that in a minute.

First though, lets look at the history of Instant Coffee and frame up an argument for why we should be saying no to it.

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How Instant Coffee Is Made

The first reason that instant coffee typically has less caffeine than brewed coffee is due to how it is made at the factory. There are two primary ways to make instant coffee that can then be quickly mixed with water to create a fast cup of joe at home.

Spray drying

Spray drying is the first method of manufacturing instant coffee. The factory will brew coffee in a regular fashion to create a normal cup of coffee. They start with the same beans as everyone else, roast them to their desired color, and brew them similarly to how you would at home but to industrial proportions.

This coffee is then taken and reduced into a concentrated, thicker, and more potent coffee form. This concentrate is fed through a system of tubes where it is sprayed out of nozzles at close to 500 degrees Fahrenheit into a chamber of extremely dry air. At these temperatures, the concentrated coffee spray will lose any water that survived the initial concentration efforts.

This processs end result is a fine powder that collects on the floor of the collection chamber. Being completely dehydrated, this powder can be mixed with hot water to create a cup of coffee instantly.

This process loses only a small portion of the caffeine content of the coffee. This is due to the extreme temperatures, forces, and the number of steps it is subjected to during the process.

Freeze drying

Health Benefits Of Caffeine

Many studies have shown coffee to have positive health benefits. According to a major study on diet and health that tracked more than 400,000 people over 10 years, older coffee drinkers were found to have a 10% to 15% lower rate of death than those who didn’t drink coffee, cited Very Well Fit.

The analysis, which excluded people with cancer, heart disease, and stroke, found that drinking two or more cups of coffee per day was linked with greater longevity. Coffee drinking decreased the risk of death from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, but not the risk of death due to cancer.

Still, the study couldn’t determine cause-and-effect for the lower risk of death, and it did not consider whether people were drinking regular or decaf coffee.10

Although caffeine can increase your heart rate, there’s some evidence that people who consume more caffeine have fewer irregular heartbeats, or arrhythmias, long term.11 In addition, even though caffeine can cause a very short-lived spike in your blood pressure, studies show caffeine does not cause high blood pressure. Research also points to possible stress relief properties of caffeine.

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Which Kinds Of Foods And Beverages Contain Caffeine

Caffeine can be found naturally in the plants we use to make coffee, tea and chocolate. Its also found in some plants used as flavorings, such as guarana, or alternative teas popular in South American, such as yerba mate and Ilex guayusa.

Caffeine may also be added as an ingredient to foods and beverages.

Death Wish Instant Coffee

This is said to be one of the worlds strongest coffees at around 485 mg caffeine content per 8 fl. oz of coffee.

Death Wish instant coffee is made from Robusta coffee beans which are stronger than Arabica beans.

With its really high caffeine content, this is for those who have a high tolerance and can handle high amounts of caffeine.

It is not recommended for anyone who is not used to consuming large amounts of caffeine.

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Whats The Best Coffee

The perfect instant coffee-to-water ratio depends on your tastes whether you like your coffee strong or mild. A good ratio to start with is a rounded teaspoon of coffee to 7 ounces of water. Thats 3.4 teaspoons of instant coffee if youre brewing a 12-ounce cup.

You can adjust this ratio if its too strong or weak. Just add a little more or less to the cup! Taste the coffee and see what you think.

The Coffee With The Least Caffeine

Most associate espresso with a high level of caffeine due to how intense and bitter it is, so it may come as a surprise to you that espresso is the least caffeinated of all the different types of coffee beverages.

However, the only reason that espresso contains the least amount of caffeine is because of its small size. A typical single espresso is only around 25ml .

Unless you live in Italy, youre probably more used to a large mug of filter coffee. Because of the amount of ground coffee used to make an entire mug, filter coffee contains a much higher caffeine content.

For a typical 250ml cup of filter coffee, you need around 15g of ground coffee. For a single espresso, that figure is just 8g . Less coffee, less caffeine.

Its a little unfair to compare a 25ml beverage with one thats ten times its size. The correct approach is to compare the two beverages in terms of their caffeine concentration by volume.

Looking at the table, we can see that espresso has a caffeine concentration thats 4.5 times higher than filter coffee.

In order to achieve the same caffeine content as a 250ml cup of filter coffee, you would only need a 55ml serving of espresso.

And if you were to drink 250ml of espresso, youd consume a whopping 450mg of caffeine, which is more than the daily recommended intake.

So what can we conclude?

From a beverage serving perspective, because espresso is served in small volumes, it contains less caffeine than filter coffee.

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Which Instant Coffee Is Better Arabica Or Robusta

The coffee bean used for instant coffee makes an impact when it comes to the overall taste and flavor of the coffee.

If youre going for an affordable pack of instant coffee, there is a good chance that it is made from Robusta coffee beans as they are cheaper than Arabica coffee beans.

But you will also find Arabica beans instant coffee on the market. It might be a bit more expensive, but the taste profile will be much better. If you have a pack of Arabica instant coffee and it isnt expensive, then the quality of the beans might not be that good.

Robusta instant coffee comes with more caffeine content. It can also be a bit more bitter when compared to its Arabica counterpart.

You can also find instant coffee that makes use of both Arabica and Robusta coffee grounds.

If the taste is important, we suggest going for Arabica bean instant coffee. It is worth every penny. If you get bored eating it raw, you can toy with it and make a nice cup of whipped coffee or Dalgona coffee if youre feeling fancy.

On the other hand, if affordability is your main factor, then go for Robusta instant coffee. You wont notice a big deterioration in taste when you compare the two coffee bean types.

Also Read: Can You Make Instant Coffee With Cold Water?

Instant Coffee Vs Ground Coffee: Which Is Healthier

By Stuart Marsh| 5 years ago

Before we analyse the health differences between instant and ground coffee, let’s all agree on one thing: coffee is life, and you should never feel bad about drinking it.

That’s because unlike sugar-heavy energy drinks, coffee is extraordinarily good for you.

At this point in time researchers have found that knocking back a cappuccino or two every day can: help you live longer, halve your chance of liver damage, make you poop, improve your performance in the gym, help kill cancer cells and even prevent dental cavities.

For a delicious beverage that most of us would drink regardless of whether it was healthy or not, that’s a pretty impressive list.

But here’s where things get complicated: can you get all of these health benefits from instant coffee, or is ground coffee the be-all and end-all when it comes to your health?

According to dietitian Melanie McGrice, you can rest easy for the most part, instant coffee has all of the health benefits of its more expensive counterpart.

“Instant coffee is literally just 100 percent coffee beans that have been roasted, ground and brewed with water into a liquid, then dehydrated, so it has the same health benefits as ground coffee beans,” McGrice tells Coach.

“The differences between instant and ground coffee are pretty negligible, but there may be a small difference in terms of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and caffeine levels.

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To Brew Or Not To Brew

Overall, instant coffee has less caffeine per serving than its freshly brewed counterparts. Servings vary wildly based on making the coffee, and the primary factor in varying caffeine levels is the amount of coffee used per cup. Starbucks, McDonalds, and Dunkin use enough coffee grounds to reach their desired caffeine contents.

Servings sizes are suggestions, and you can make a cup of instant coffee just as strong as your favorite coffee shop. The primary difference between instant and regular coffee is taste, and it is almost universally agreed upon that instant coffee cannot compare in this regard.

If youre in a hurry and need to make a strong cup of instant coffee that will put a hop in your step, reference our list of brewed coffees to determine how many servings of instant coffee you should stir into your cup.

Please use the above image to share how much caffeine you find in instant coffee on social media!

Should You Eat Instant Coffee

The answer depends on what you want.

As we mentioned, you will not get any health problems by eating instant coffee. Having said that, your taste buds might not forgive you if you go overboard.

Just because it is safe to eat instant coffee doesnt mean that you should.

In our opinion, you can eat instant coffee only if youre looking to avoid making a coffee. Eating it is also a good choice if you a quick jolt of energy without having to drink a cup of coffee.

In every other scenario, eating instant coffee does not make any sense.

Also Read: Is Instant Coffee Real Coffee?

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What Factors Affect Caffeine Content

The caffeine content of coffee depends on many factors, such as:

Type of coffee beans: There are many varieties of coffee beans available, which may naturally contain different amounts of caffeine.

Roasting: Lighter roasts have more caffeine than darker roasts, although the darker roasts have a deeper flavor.

Type of coffee: The caffeine content can vary significantly between regularly brewed coffee, espresso, instant coffee and decaf coffee.

Serving size: One cup of coffee can range anywhere from 30700 ml , greatly affecting the total caffeine content.

How Much Caffeine In A Cup Of Coffee

Determining how much caffeine is in your coffee is not as straightforward as you might think. You need to weigh a wide variety of factors, including the type of coffee bean, how it was brewed, and the size of the cup you’re using.

Caffeine is a natural stimulant most commonly found in tea, coffee, and cacao plants.

It works by stimulating the brain and central nervous system, helping you stay alert and prevent the onset of tiredness, according to Health Line.

Historians track the first brewed tea as far back as 2737 B.C.

Coffee was reportedly discovered many years later by an Ethiopian shepherd who noticed the extra energy it gave his goats.

Caffeinated soft drinks hit the market in the late 1800s and energy drinks soon followed.

Nowadays, 80% of the worlds population consumes a caffeinated product each day, and this number goes up to 90% for adults in North America

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Adjust The Ground Level

Assuming that the brewing method stays the same, the finer you grind coffee, the more caffeine it will release. We can use this fact to our advantage by grinding the coffee a bit coarser to reduce the caffeine in our brew. Just make sure that you dont make the coffee grind too coarse, for youll end up with an underextracted brew that might taste like dish water.

Practical Takeaway

• Use a coarser ground to prepare your coffee.

How Much Instant Coffee Per Cup

Im not going to tell you how many teaspoons of coffee you should add to cup because, our tastes are going to different and so will the instant coffee we use.

The taste of coffee will vary from brand to brand and can also change when you add milk/whiteners and sugar.

You can experiment between different coffee brands and make coffees in various strengths until you find one that you like.

You can do this by using the same teaspoon, coffee cup and a similar amount of hot water. And if you like to have milk and sugar add these to the coffee every time you make it.

Then when making each cup varying the strengths by using a heaped or level teaspoon of coffee with or without milk or sugar.

Keep adjusting the strengths by reducing or increasing the amount of coffee and milk you add into your cup until you find a strength and flavour you are a happy with.

You might also like to experiment by adding a little cold tap water or milk to the coffee granules before adding hot water and see if that makes a difference to the taste.

Once you have found your preferred brand and strength you can it to take to it the next level make some delicious hot coffee shop style coffees at home.

I will show you how to make an espresso, cappuccino, mocha, flat white coffee and coffee latte using instant coffee. They are quick and easy to make too, when you get the basics right.

So, keep reading

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How To Measure Caffeine In Instant Coffee

All reputable companies that manufacture instant coffee or any other product put all the information and ingredients of their product on the product label. You can accurately check the amount of caffeine of instant coffee by reading the product label. If you come across a product without a label, whether it is instant coffee or something else, I recommend that you dispose of it immediately.

These companies measure the caffeine of their instant coffee and place it on the packet label. Each company differs in the way it reads the proportions of product ingredients. But most of them measure the caffeine in instant coffee use a method called ultraviolet spectroscopy. It is a very accurate method, inexpensive for corporate use, but expensive for personal use.

Therefore, measuring the amount of caffeine in instant coffee is not very useful especially when the amount is already recorded on the product label. Even if you want to measure the amount of caffeine yourself, the result will be very close to the number on the label.

But if you insist on that. A method for measuring the amount of caffeine in instant coffee is using ultraviolet spectrometer. Yeah, the same method used big companies. It is not as easy as you think because you need to get to a suitable laboratory to start your analysis of the amount of caffeine in the instant coffee. Also, you will need to understand some basics of analytical chemistry.