Making My Own Instant Coffee: Can I Make It Taste Good? 

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

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

Ben from Hasty Coffee in Canada here - Seems like specialty instant is trending on RU-vid 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!

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.

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!

Never clicked so fast. Missed you James.

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

James Hoffman colluding with his son Lance for an instant coffee revolution

Not freeze-drying the coffee in skull form might be the greatest missed opportunity this channel has ever experienced

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?

Will I ever do this? No. Did I watch the whole thing? Yes.

Highly disappointed that this didn't end with liquid nitrogen to flash freeze espresso before freeze drying. Amazing sweater game as always.

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

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

Positively surprised to see my mug in the video, AND paired with a cool experiment of making quality instant coffee ❣ Makes my day and simply so happy to see it being used in your studio. 🙏🙏🙏

Bovril mentioned, means I can drop the one fact I know about it, which is that the "vril" part of it is named for a popular 19th century sci-fi novel. Vril was a high-energy compound consumed the ancient subterranean Vril-ya beings, who invade the surface world in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "The Coming Race."

My guess, the rubber flavor was from the presumably silicone lined ice mold you used.

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.

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…

James is always instant gratification.

The rubberiness may be at least partially coming from the tray bay in the Harvest Right. The silicone and glue in the bay can take a few batches to "burn off" on brand new Harvest Right machines. You also want to make sure that there's not too much oil in the pump as that can cause the oil to get into the food. Great episode btw! I'm going to have to try this asap!

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.

Chemistry, physics, coffee-tasting, James….and Skull-shaped instant coffee ice cubes!!! “My God! It’s full of stars!” 🤩 Fabulous as always… Thank you Mr Hoffman 😍

Once upon a time I worked for a biotech company that had a Lyophiliser and I was always tempted to misuse it to freeze dry my espresso. But the pharma-related chemicals we ran through it dissuaded me. Excellent topic, thanks for covering it

Literally just finished watching a video Sir Lance put out on instant coffee, and here you are! What a time to be alive!

First Technology Connections, then ElectroBoom, and now James Hoffman? RU-vid really is giving us all the greats today.

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

"If you don't know how freeze dryers work, it's very cool." Yes, yes they are. 😉☕🤘

Justice for Hames Joffmann! James, our favorite joke channel needs your help.

James' somewhat joyous delivery in explaining he'll be BLENDING his frozen espresso skulls was honestly beautiful

10:05 James giving a giddy like a little girl is the absolute meme I needed.

"English beef drink, Bovril" words I did not expect to hear in that sequence

I'm going to start incorporating the phrase "domestic best efforts" into my vocabulary.

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

The existence of slurp-free audio tracks on these videos is so, so, so wonderful. A HUGE thanks to you! (Oh right, also for the video, it was great too.) Misophonia makes me avoid most coffee content on RU-vid, unfortunately.

The number of times I’ve thought about trying to make my own instant coffee in my freeze dryer (I also have a Harvest Right) but being afraid it wouldn’t be good is not a small number. Now I don’t have to do my own experiment. Thank you, once again, James Hoffman for the coffee science. Also, yes, freeze dryers are cool. I like to freeze dry marshmallows, powder them, and it makes a weirdly delicious coffee creamer of sorts. 😊

In terms of freezing quickly, liquid nitrogen can be bought fairly easily from most welding places. If you let droplets of the coffee fall in and freeze one at a time, they'll be flash frozen and should be easy to load into the trays as a bonus.

REALLY cool video! I had no idea of the work behind Instant and Kat's video really opened my eyes. Very cool! And I am giving Headspace a try. Thanks James!

Love the joy I’m seeing in these experiments; the coffee skull got a hearty laugh. Thanks for sharing your results!

James spent so much on his holiday, he has to drink instant coffee. 😂

Maybe the rubbery taste came from your ice cube molds-i have silicone ice cube molds and find they give the ice a bit of a rubbery taste

Yesterday i stumbled over Roaster Kat's Video on how they do instant coffee at Black and White. Its really, really interesting and fun to watch. Was facinated by how accidently a night in a fridge seperates fines and oils from the coffee before dry freezing. Literally it means a roaster can take most of the processes of making great coffee out of the hands of the customers so a customer can enjoy a great cup of coffee without learning all the stuff of differnt brewing methods, ratios, grind sizes etc. Thats possibly a game changer.

Love the video James, as someone who enjoys but knows very little about coffee I love the clear and simple way you explain everything, I learn something from every video I watch - thank you! 😊

One of the trick with instant coffee is to first put room-temperature water in it, so that once you add the boiling water, it doesn't scorch the coffee that's already been brewed and frieze dried. It totally changes the flavor and reduces the bitterness! Give it a shot !

Run the coffee through a line chiller then freeze with liquid nitrogen. That should be fast enough.

your exploration of homemade instant coffee is fascinating! It's a great example of experimentation and pushing the boundaries of traditional coffee-making methods. ☕

What a joy it would be to happen upon a James Hoffmann meditating on a bench.

Hey, thanks for sharing! If I ever want to spend time and money turning good coffee into bad coffee, I’ll definitely give this one a go. Cheerio!

English Beef Drink was a grouping of words I didn’t know I needed to hear today. But I did.

James, I think you meant "Antoines Equation" at 5:30 which describes the vapor pressure a liquid has at different temperatures. That directly correlates it to its "boiling point" at certain pressures. For Example at 100°C the vapor pressure of water is around 1,013 bar or 1 atm. So to make Water boil at 20°C you have to bring the pressure to around 0,023 bar. Great Video as always!

Canadian here, Bovril on a nice cold winter day out ice fishing .... great memories.

I think a good starting point would be cold brew concentrate. You can get it as strong as espresso, you're starting close to the freezing point already, and you can do the actual brewing in a sealed container. As another user commented, you'd probably want to use distilled water as well.

@james hoffman ; since you are adding hot water at the end maybe a cold brew could be good for thid experiment?

The slurp-free audio track makes me so happy. Always glad to be a patron

My brother has a freeze dryer and I’ve wondered this as well! Thanks for making this video!

Wild how you and Lance Hendrick both posted videos about instant coffee within 24 hours of each other. Is instant coffee having a moment? Not complaining mind you :)

THIS GUY IS A FREAKING LEGEND FOR FITTING AN AUDIO TRACK WITHOUT SLURPING OMG

Ah, how delightful it is to witness progress! In the year 2024, James Hoffmann unveils a revolutionary innovation: instant coffee. A true masterpiece of coffee culture, elevating the enjoyment of this exquisite beverage to new heights. Yet, let us also reflect on the long journey we have traversed to reach this point. From the discovery of the first coffee beans nestled in the depths of the Ethiopian highlands to the refined techniques and methods of modern coffee production - each stage marked by dedication, exploration, and innovation. And now, in this epic moment, the circle completes as we celebrate instant coffee as the latest achievement. A moment of joy, a moment of laughter, a moment that demonstrates the boundless nature of human ingenuity. 😂😂😂

Great video James, thank you. Very interesting as well - instant coffee being affordable because of their ability to extract more from the bean than a regular brew. Fascinating.

❤❤ James is the reason I stay on RU-vid

Could the rubberiness be from the silicone molds?

The world isn't ready for a James Hoffmann x NileRed collab

Hi James I've been following your coffee reviews and insights for a while, and I really appreciate your detailed approach. I noticed you haven't reviewed any machines that use E.S.E. pads yet. It would be great to see you explore this type of coffee machine. I own one myself and have been very pleased with the coffee it produces. I think your take on the convenience and quality of E.S.E. pads could be really interesting for your audience. Looking forward to potentially seeing this review! Thanks for all your great work!

As someone who drinks a lot of inexpensive instant, I'd recomment not using boiling water for instant coffee and instead experiment with 60-75C water. Unless you're using Nescafe. Nothing will save that stuff.

Justice for Hames Joffmann! Bring him back!!!

Oh man, there's a new Map Men video, and a new James Hoffmann video. What a great Wednesday!

It’s really cool to see you using a technique I first heard about from the bar Panda and Sons. They’re doing sugar concentration in unripe fruits via directional freezing. So cool!

Greetings from Switzerland :)

LN2 and dry ice (frozen CO2) are readily available in the US, and would be far more ideal for the initial freezing. Non-commercial freezers simply aren't powerful enough to extract heat quickly. It's possible to craft a freezer box fairly cheaply that houses you choice of super-coolers. Dry ice in a simple styrofoam cooler, with the pan set directly on top of the ice will flash-freeze even boiling-hot coffee. LN2 is even faster, but you would need to pour it directly into the pan of coffee, so it's not as safe (I suppose you could pour beside the pan while it's sat in a cooler, and let the flow under/around/over prevent splashes...). On a different note, they sell those exact same freeze driers at my local sporting goods store (for hunting and camping food purposes). I hadn't paid any attention to them, but now I'm genuinely interested. Might have to check them out.

This might be the best part of my day. This is spectacular. Thank you!

Hey James! Thanks for diving into the world of instant coffee and the Hotfreezing machine. It was quite the journey to witness how the cooling process affected the flavors. If you're looking to speed up the freezing, perhaps considering liquid nitrogen could be intriguing. It's incredibly cold and might just slash the process time. However, as you well know, handling liquid nitrogen requires caution due to its hazards. Maybe it's worth discussing how this method could expedite freezing and alter flavor profiles. Thanks for the engaging content and the eye-opening experiments! Can't wait to see what's next. Cheers!

I'm just waiting for the "freezedryers are cool" merch to drop?

Probably never tapped RU-vid notification this fast. Wasn’t disappointed. James is still wearing suberb knitwear

Great episode. I never knew just how much goes into the freeze dried coffee process.

The directional freezing coffee was *not* a failure! It didn't give you the expected result, but you still learnt from it. As long as you learn something from an experiment, it succeeded.

I appreciate the slurp free audio track.

I make my own freeze dried coffee, and have found it great (I own the same freeze dryer). Many ask why do it, one reason is camping - taking decent coffee with you, another is convenience of having decent instant coffee in case of power cut - far easier to boil a kettle on the fire / camping gas than having to grind etc first. We always freeze dry directly on the trays and ensure its not too deep. For your next batch, to ensure it’s completely dry, weigh the tray .. once when first going in, once when it says it’s complete and then an hour later (have it run extra time) if it’s lost even the slightest amount, it’s not dry - add more time. Make sure you have’t hit to complete the cycle though! In case you need extra time. Most instant coffee is spray dried, not freeze dried.

A skull ice cube of espressos is _such_ a James Hoffmann thing.

James is the only person that could make me worried that I don't know Bovril

Yeah!!! You got a freeze dryer! We have been doing this for a few years now. I use it for travel. It works well when you are stuck in a vehicle for hours and hours. This beats road side or train coffee any day, We blitz it in our food processor after it is dried… especially the one with cream (or milk). I do one with cream and the other one without. Hubs add his sweetener afterwards. My key is to use really really good coffee and add some salt to it. I pre-freeze directly on the tray. The tray is frozen when I pour it… it is poured and goes into the flash freeze section of my freezer. Don’t overfill. Reconstitute… I use about a teaspoon or less per cup. Put it in the cup with just about a teaspoon of cold or room temp water, stir it up, then add super hot water.

Bovril is so specific, and I was suddenly transported into the room for a moment. Thanks for a fascinating video, James!

We bring instant coffee while backpacking and while I’m never going to make freeze dried coffee myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this 😊

THANK YOU FOR THE SLURP FREE AUDIO, IT IS WONDERFUL

I'm really impressed by your slurp-free track. Incredible

Finally, a new video. I've been waiting for this! 😅 Awesome video as always!

Good video. Aside: When are you going to bring out the particle analyzer?

Good video and I have always wanted to try this before you made a video and I am glad you made this one. I wish you also made a fridge brewed coffee then turn it into instant coffee. Maybe try making the instant coffee but put sugar into the coffee before you freeze it and see how it turns out.

Excellent video as alway. Thanks for the video james

Thank you so very much for the slurp free audio track

If you were in the niche cross section of backpacker and specialty coffee enthusiast, bringing your own freeze dried instant coffee on a backpacking trip would be such a baller move!

Thank you I always enjoy your channel , I love your committment to discovery. Blooper I'd like to see: James tries the Nescafe thinking its something else and pronounces it excellent! balanced acidity and honest depth of flavour!

This was great take on how coffee tastes when the chemical composition has to do work to get there. You should also make a video on most practical ways of how to best store an already brewed coffee to still taste great.

Now this sort of content is awesome. A little over way thought when he mentioned the flaws of the first try, I thought, I hope there’s a lot left of the video, because I want to know what future results could be. Then boom, “here’s the results”, no 10 minutes of b-roll to please the algorithm, but fairly quick and concise, respecting the viewers time, while still giving us plenty of insight and details of what’s important. Great editing and storytelling. Appreciate you.

I don't even like coffee but I occasionally stumble upon this channel and always have a great time 🤘

i'm not even into coffee, i kinda hate it, never had a cup i truly liked, but i'm enjoying your videos and i love your way of explaining things and your tone of voice. very chill, relaxing videos!