A Quickie Fan? Or Do You Prefer A Brewing Romance?

Some prefer their cuppa brewing and teasing while some prefer it quick - perhaps, it wouldn’t be too odd to say that coffee preferences are as personal as religion to most people. Almost a morning ritual for most, coffee drinkers have their own specific way of consuming coffee.

Coffee has become the world’s most popular beverage in the last century or so. This obviously had implications on how coffee is manufactured. Mainly there are two processes of making coffee - brewed and instant.

 

The Brewing Romance

 

 

Brewed coffee remains close to how coffee was originally drunk. At its basic, hot water is poured on grounded coffee beans and the mixture is allowed to brew - however, this can happen with different tools, like, a filter, a percolator, or a French press machine. The coffee grounds are collected in the filter while the brewed coffee passes through the filter into a pot. This process obviously requires the aforementioned tools and well, time.

 

The Quickie

 

In contrast, instant coffee is soluble and comes from brewed coffee beans but it can be used instantly. While originally crafted around 1901, instant coffee was popularly used in World War II by soldiers who needed quick coffee drinks while being on the move. Later, it met the huge demands of coffee all over the world regardless of the socio-economic status of people. Instant coffee addressed what the common people needed - a quick,affordable, no-fuss pick-me-up that came close to brewed coffee.

 

 

 

While the caffeine content is much higher in brewed coffee than instant coffee - the advantages of instant coffee are definitely more. For example, instant coffee is quick to make, less quantity is required to make the same amount, has a longer shelf life and is better for the environment. Brewed coffee, then, becomes more about the ritual of making coffee from scratch and finding joy in that and of course, the high caffeine content. 

 

 

Instant coffees also have various processes involved in their manufacturing. In general, the process follows a direct flow: Green beans are roasted first - the degree of roast affects flavour too - light, medium, dark - is what a packaging often indicates, then ground into a coarse or fine powder, then blended. The next step, extraction, is crucial. After that it is concentrated and then another crucial step, i.e. Drying and Agglomeration. There are two ways of drying the coffee - freeze-drying and spray-drying. Freeze drying preserves better flavour and is done in a vacuum chamber. Spray drying is quick but results in a powder that is too fine and a lot of the flavour is lost. All of this at last results in instant coffee.

 

However, instant coffee has a major downside which is that it is highly susceptible to moisture. While it has a long shelf life, any contact to moisture spoils its texture and even makes it unusable.

 

In an attempt to solve this problem, Hetal’s Homemade has come up with its own unique way of getting people their daily cuppa. Our coffees come in paste form making moisture a non-issue. The paste also retains more flavour. Additionally, our paste coffees come in a range of flavours and their form means it can be used in diverse ways - hot coffee, cold coffee, desserts, milkshakes, and more. If there was a way to make instant coffee more quick and efficient - the secret lies in our instant flavoured coffees!

 

For regular content updates, recipes and more, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

Check out our product catalogue for a complete range of our products.