Why does coffee brewing often lead back to instant coffee?

Many coffee drinkers start with instant or freeze-dried coffee, move through pour-over bags, hand brewing, espresso and cold brew, and buy drippers, moka pots and semi-automatic machines, yet a share of them end up back with instant coffee. The return reflects time, cost, convenience and shelf life rather than a loss of interest.

For early-shift workers who need caffeine and for frequent travelers, stirring freeze-dried powder into hot milk makes a latte faster than a coffee machine and cheaper than chain shops, with the strength fully under their control. Equipment still gets used, but the daily cup often goes to whatever fits the schedule.

Many coffee lovers' journeys begin with a cup of instant or freeze-dried coffee. As their understanding of coffee deepens, people try pour-over bags, hand brewing, espresso, cold brew, and various other methods, and add equipment such as drippers, moka pots, and semi-automatic espresso machines to create their own coffee corner. However, after going around in a big circle, quite a few people ultimately return to the embrace of instant coffee. This is not a step backward, but a practical consideration of time, cost, convenience, and shelf life. For early-shift workers who rely on caffeine to perk up and for those who travel frequently, stirring freeze-dried coffee powder into hot milk quickly yields a latte—easier than using a coffee machine, more affordable than chain brands, and allowing full control over strength. This article takes you through the real sentiments behind this interesting phenomenon.

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Most coffee lovers probably became interested in coffee through quick and convenient products like instant coffee and freeze-dried coffee. After learning about various coffee brewing methods amid today's flood of information, whether out of a desire to experience the differences between coffees brewed by different methods or curiosity about various coffee flavors, friends may find themselves feeling their way step by step onto the path of coffee exploration.

Along the way, they drink their way through pour-over bags, hand brewing, espresso, specialty drinks, cold brew, ice drip, and more. Drippers, capsule machines, moka pots, semi-automatic espresso machines, fully automatic coffee machines, and other equipment are purchased and tried as finances allow. Ultimately, they choose their favorite coffee equipment to build a coffee corner of their own, buying beans they love every so often to brew at home.

Every coffee lover's path of exploration more or less involves similar experiences, yet the end of the journey differs for each. Some fall in love with the flavors hand brewing brings out, some fall in love with the latte art they make themselves, and some grow accustomed to the ease and convenience of capsules.

But many netizens also say their coffee exploration path is a circle—after going around in a big loop, they ultimately return to the starting point: instant coffee. "I've been drinking black coffee for years, but lately I really love that instant coffee with non-dairy creamer," "After all these years, I've really started drinking freeze-dried coffee again," "I used to buy beans too, but now I've sold all my gear on the secondhand market and gone back to instant."

Some netizens admit that making a cup of coffee themselves is indeed enjoyable, but as working people, there are times when they have no time or no mood to grind and brew on the spot, so in the end they choose convenient freeze-dried coffee to meet their daily caffeine needs.

Many netizens who have returned to instant coffee say that for early-shift workers who rely on caffeine to wake up and don't need to be particular about coffee flavor, heating a cup of milk and pouring it over freeze-dried coffee powder quickly produces a latte. Though it lacks pretty latte art, it's faster and more convenient than using a coffee machine, and more economical than buying a cup from a chain coffee brand.

Netizens who need to travel for work also say that compared with hand brewing and espresso, instant coffee requires no carrying of lots of brewing gear—just boil water, pour it into a cup, and you can soon drink black coffee. It also doesn't produce the extra waste that pour-over bags do. Overall, it saves time and effort, and you can have a cup anytime, anywhere while out and about.

In addition, some netizens say bluntly that they choose instant coffee rather than freshly ground hand brew because instant coffee's shelf life is longer than coffee beans' peak-flavor window. Though the taste differs, it's a shame to throw away good beans once they've missed their peak-flavor window, so instant coffee, which keeps longer, offers better value for money.

Netizens with stronger taste preferences say that besides being cheap and convenient, instant coffee also lets you control the amount yourself: "Want it milder? Use less. Want it stronger? Use more"—the whole point is doing as you please, easily and quickly. From this perspective, after exploring coffee for a long time, going round and round and ultimately returning to the starting point, falling in love again with one's coffee "first love" is not hard to understand.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.