At $6 a cup, it had better be able to serve itself and project a holographic image that it's some pretty young lady bringing it to me.

I've often thought about trying to make good instant coffee. It's a huge market.
I once saw a stat that 30% of coffee grown in the world gets turned into instant.

It's a tremendous opportunity to both, turn people onto better coffees, and make money.

BenKeith wrote:At $6 a cup, it had better be able to serve itself and project a holographic image that it's some pretty young lady bringing it to me.

I've spent a lot of money on coffee in cafes that was terrible. I've thrown away many cups in fancy third wave establishments. Some espressos I've ordered from name brand places, after waiting in line for a long, long time, have just left me speechless with despair. It's not always like that but it has happened enough to make me wary.

So it's relative. I'm coming from a backpacking perspective. By the time I get to the trailhead I've already spent a fair amount of time and money. Gasoline alone dilutes many of the price comparison issues. I won't even tell you what I've spent on freeze-dried fruit or Cuben fabic shelters. It's ridiculous, but it's a hobby. People spend many thousands on espresso machines in search of that perfect cup. It's the same kind of thing.

Anyway, when it comes down to it, a few bucks here or there to have slightly better cup 'o mud in the morning is probably worth it. It's not like I'm doing it every day. There is a line to be drawn though. And, for me, $6 is too much. But... what is the line? I'm not sure. Depends on my mood.

When I was traveling in China for 2 weeks last fall, I would have LOVED to have had some of this along. Every hotel room was equipped with an electric teapot and bottled water. And except for Beijing and Shanghai (the hotels served real coffee there, but it wasn't particularly good), the only coffee around was this stuff called 3-in-1 that tasted a lot like International Foods Coffees powder. It was in hotel rooms in little packets, but the hotel restaurants served it in big pots. There may have been real coffee shops worth visiting in the bigger cities, but it wasn't a priority with my group (they were willing to go after ice cream, but not coffee), and I wasn't about to try to find one alone, for fear of getting lost.

So, I drank the 3-in-1. And no, I didn't bring any coffee with me - not enough room in my suitcase, and didn't want the complication.

Interesting, I wonder how it would taste just stirred into yogurt. I sometimes throw coffee ice cubes into the blender to add to fruit smoothies, it tastes pretty good.

Had some of this stuff recently. A Colombian by 49th Parallel.

It's good, but I can't help feeling like the process has some refinement to undergo. Obviously it's got to be less of a feat to nail the profile of what's basically commodity-level coffee, yeah, but I picked up some of Startbucks "VIA" yesterday and am pretty impressed with how spot-on it is relative to its fresh brewed counterpart. Can't help wondering what a good SO would taste like having undergone whatever Starbucks process is.

For innovation's sake, let's hope to see more players with skin in the SO instant coffee game soon.

Someone just sent me a link to another up and coming instant coffee company. Instead of a professional barista at the helm as with Sudden Coffee this company was founded by a professional climber. Their website says "Shipping in June" for the original blend and at a competitive price.

http://alpinestartfoods.com/

Thread bump

I saw a post on Craigslist earlier this summer sometime around May/June maybe, listing a complete liquidation of everything that seems to be the inventory of Sudden Coffee. Their Instagram has been quiet since early spring. I think COVID was a death nail in the coffin for them. Their domain doesn't open any longer.

They had dehydrators, grinders, powdered packaging machines, etc, listed in their liquidation auction. I watched a few but didn't bid. Overall, I'm a tad surprised, because the only real competition they had was Blue Bottle, and many people in the speciality coffee world avoid Blue Bottle.

I bought some a while back. It's quite good. Still have a box. Always good for emergencies. Guess it's a collector's item now I think it was a couple bucks a cup, 6 sounds high

I was put off by their subscription model. I do drink instant at times but I don't need a steady supply. I guess they needed to do that for their business plan to work.

A friend gave me a handful of vials to try and I was disappointed. It tasted weird to me and I couldn't drink it. Head to head I thought that Starbucks VIA was much better. I came across some of the unused vials the other day while cleaning out a cupboard and tossed them out. Maybe my friend shared a bad batch with me?