Hi,

I have been looking to get a more clear picture as to how ground coffee is processed into instant coffee?

Would anyone here have the knowledge as to what is the necessary process for instant coffee and if it is feasible to do smaller batches of instant coffee at home for personal use. Wouldn't really mind purchasing or fabricating the necessary equipment.

Thank you
Abhi

Ugh! Instant coffee ! While I can't imagine why anyone would want to make coffee powder the process is fairly simple. I've never heard of anyone attempting to do it at home, though. Ground coffee is not processed into instant coffee. First, you have to brew the coffee, more or less as you would if you were going to make a pot for consumption immediately. Then, you force the liquid coffee through a nozzle into a hot dry environment to atomize it. As the coffee droplets fall, they give up the moisture and, voila, coffee powder lands at the bottom of the apparatus. Alternatively, the coffee can be frozen and left to sublimate. The process uses the same natural phenomenon as the shrinking ice cube problem. Except, when coffee sublimates, once all the water is gone, one is left with just a brick of coffee...a kind of coffee rock if you will. It is then ground down into a fine powder.

There was a thread on instant recently...btw freeze spray drying is a common process for this type of product, not something very feasible at home....