Making My Own Instant Coffee: Can I Make It Taste Good?
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- Опубликовано: 23 апр 2024
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Check out Roaster Kat's video about making instant coffee: • Instant Coffee at Blac...
Need more instant? Here's a video from Lance Hedrick: • WHY YOU SHOULD CARE AB...
We rented one of these freeze drying machines from Used Lab Machines Ltd in the UK: www.usedlabmachines.com
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Развлечения
'These are skull ice cubes of pure espresso' is the most metal thing that I've ever heard James say.
And utterly wonderful - I have got to get some. Who knows James may as much a metal head as any of us - I can well imagine him in the mosh pit. Or maybe just chilling back to some old skool AC/DC or Metallica.
What sort of metal does the Hoffman listen to? To be honest I would think he's into progressive metal like Animals as Leaders as Tosin really shreds
@@annakissed3226Polyphia seems to fit his personality. But as for what he enjoys in music? And if it even is metal? Certainly interesting questions.
"skull of pure espresso" its James rock band
Thought it was a Meshuggah lyric for a second.
But does it top “Personally I don’t like rubber in my brewing area” ? “ Or even “I enjoy a bit of violence in my basket” ?
Slurp-free audio track is the kind of innovation I expect from this channel.
I was hoping for "Slurp" to be read out instead of silence, sadly.
I’m tempted to do this in future
@@jameshoffmannyes!!
And maybe a B roll audio track of only slurps for us, weirdos. :D
@@jameshoffmannit's a clever use of the feature and greatly appreciated.
Ben from Hasty Coffee in Canada here - Seems like specialty instant is trending on RUclips 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!
The amount of coffee nerds happily exchanging thoughts in the comments is the whole reason for internet existing. You guys are awesome and Canada is my favourite American country.
So what you're saying is, we shouldn't expect James to give away the freeze drying machine to a patron?
Do you freeze it first? I always thought the benefit of a freeze dryer was how fast it freezes. If you leave coffee to sit to come to room temp, the exposure to air gives it a lousy taste. So if you do that first, aren’t you just gonna end up concentrating that flavor?
@@hopegold883 If you have an industrial freeze dryer you could freeze it in the machine. Harvest Rights like in the video on the other hand are pretty much useless for coffee production. If you freeze in the machine you’re on track for a big mess.
Hello from a coffee Canuck in Nova Scotia! ...S'cuse me while I go scour the internets for your stores/socials/etc. 😂😅❤
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.
Write it down so the next generation can improve it 😂
I hope your biosafety department does not read this!😅
what about extracting the coffee straight into the liquid nitrogen and putting in freeze dryer?
@@marcelbuhler1157 they would autoclave me.
I'm guessing that you lose quite a bit of the tasty volatile aromatics in the freeze drying process despite all efforts to preserve them by freezing the liquid as fast as possible. It's not just water boiling off at those low pressures.
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!
Hi Dan, Lorenzo from Loric Coffee here. Your BTS vid was one of our faves as you share many of our approaches. On freezing time, we found it absolutely makes a big difference in FD time, which then impacts final flavor. The reason for this (and there's whitepapers on this) is that getting the right crystalline structure in the frozen product affects FDing results. I'd be happy to send some product samples to you or James too!
Hi Dan and Lorenzo, BadDoge from "The Internet" here. I have some samples of brown crystals I could send both of you, no guarantee it's instant coffee though.
Did you ever try freeze drying cold brew? I wonder if it might retain its flavors without as many bitter compounds compared to heat extracted coffee.
@@iankrasnow5383 I had the same thought!
Hey Dan - Ben from Hasty Coffee in Canada here. I'd love to exchange some samples if you're interested. I haven't tried your instant before. We use a home-made extraction system but it would be interesting to compare profiles.
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!
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.
Never clicked so fast. Missed you James.
I didn't realize how much I missed him until he came back!
Ditto. Absolutely! There simply are no words to describe how brilliantly and delightfully entertaining he is. BTW, this means I don't have to second guess my decision to pass on the purchase of a freeze dryer. They are ridiculously expensive.
"If you dont know Bovril, well done.
If you do know Bovril, good times!"
I know Bovril only trough James May / Top Gear ^^
And the thought of Bovril'esque coffee makes me shudder a bit.
"Indispensable for invalids and weak persons- You can't say that!"
Edit: lest I anger the God of citations and plagiarism, Hbomberguy, "Woke Brands" video
He likes to paint himself all over in it. It's like baby oil to him. That's what he does. Him and his lorry driver friends all bovrilled up and then they slip about, that's what they do.
Good times indeed. Must be a James thing.
Think of it like instant beef soup😅
Bovril is not bad on toast- a close second to marmite. As a drink tho it’s rancid.
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?
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.
Thoughtful care for the misophoniacs in the audience. Nice.
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.
We did actually brew the instant with distilled but figured this detail was too much for the video!
@@jameshoffmann I think you might be underestimating your viewership's tolerance/hunger for such detail. Maybe create a second channel with the bits that don't make it into the more polished main content? 😊
@@LiveFreeOrDieDH I second this idea.
I feel like brew with prefered water reconst with distilled is the play, just because the extraction would be what youd be expecting already
@@jameshoffmann Would it not have been better - purely for the best cup of instant question - to have brewed with that water you think is best for brewing coffee (since the salts/metals are important for extraction) and then make your coffee using the freeze-dried coffee but with distilled water, which is just because you don't want double the salts/metals? Oh also, it would be very cool to potentially use liquid nitrogen to speed up the freezing process.
Not freeze-drying the coffee in skull form might be the greatest missed opportunity this channel has ever experienced
I think that would sell itself.
I wish I could have but they wouldn’t fit in the trays…
Do all the tray slots have to be occupied for the machine to turn on? Maybe put the tray with skull ice in the middle tray and leave the 2 tray spots above it empty, ie not put the trays inside at all
@@minibeefcakeOr put the one above in upside down to increase space
@@minibeefcakeor maybe put the one above upside down
THIS GUY IS A FREAKING LEGEND FOR FITTING AN AUDIO TRACK WITHOUT SLURPING OMG
Will I ever do this? No.
Did I watch the whole thing? Yes.
Ditto!
James Hoffman colluding with his son Lance for an instant coffee revolution
I came here exactly for this comment, salute!
Just what i thought when I saw this
Exactly this
he has a son called Lance?
Was about to comment this
Highly disappointed that this didn't end with liquid nitrogen to flash freeze espresso before freeze drying. Amazing sweater game as always.
Liquid nitrogen is easily available and I am also slightly disappointed
Yeah, after seeing Nigel do it in NileBlue I missed the liquid nitrogen shenanigans
It's annoyingly hard to access in the UK. In the USA it feels like you just roll in with your dewar and fill up...
@@jameshoffmann yes please try
Proper lyophilization requires the liquid nitrogen shenanigans. Otherwise it lacks the fun in science. 🎉
As someone who has suffered from misophonia their entire life, thank you so much for making a separate audio track available.
Me too. Slurping is ok but talking while chewing makes me unbearably enraged. Cheers, I agree that this is thoughtful.
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' face after tasting the dried espresso is exactly what the doctor ordered for all our woes. Bless him! (it's at 10:24)
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."
The weird pseudo-orientalist post-Victorian racial fantasy stuff that people like Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft dipped into in this time period is so absolutely fascinating, if occasionally depressing.
For the sake of completeness, the first syllable is from Latin "bos" = ox, bull or cow. The description "English beef drink" is not entirely accurate: it seems it was originally made by a Scotsman living in Canada to provision the French army.
@@chriswalker2753 Provenance like, “originally made by a Scotsman living in Canada to provision the French army,” is the sort of thing that usually leads to our declaring something A Canadian Invention, but it seems that for this one, we’re letting the English take the hit.
@@ericssmith2014 "... letting the English take the hit." 🤣🤣
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.
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.
🙏🙏🙏
My guess, the rubber flavor was from the presumably silicone lined ice mold you used.
Yep, the release on them is nasty.
With cold water they might be fine, but not with coffee.
We thought about that. But there was still a tiny bit of it in the better batch that froze faster that never came into contact with the molds. (It’s also a different kind of rubber taste.)
@@jameshoffmann Could be something to do with your freezer? If you had access to a commercial chiller to cool it down really quick and then stick it into a freezer that would be ideal.
@@z_nar349 Or try liquid nitrogen to flash-freeze the coffee
James is always instant gratification.
I see what you did there 😏
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.
Sounds like a local version of Camp coffee, an instant coffee in a bottle now used more in cooking than for drinking.
I simply love these experiments you do here, it’s always so fulfilling to see someone talk about something they care. Thank you
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
Good choice resisting the urge 😂
Same with me. This machines are somewhat mystical!
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!
Could it not also be coming from the silicone ice cube moulds
That was my thought. Silicone food molds often leave the food with a weird taste/smell.
Agreed, those silicone ice moulds should probably be dishwashered a few times if they were new. Putting warm liquids in probably wouldn’t help with the rubberiness!
I thought the exact same thing about the ice cube molds
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 😍
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!
"If you don't know how freeze dryers work, it's very cool."
Yes, yes they are. 😉☕🤘
I'm going to start incorporating the phrase "domestic best efforts" into my vocabulary.
First Technology Connections, then ElectroBoom, and now James Hoffman? RUclips really is giving us all the greats today.
Technology Connections published?? .... I'll be right back
Through the magic of watching two of them
James' somewhat joyous delivery in explaining he'll be BLENDING his frozen espresso skulls was honestly beautiful
"English beef drink, Bovril"
words I did not expect to hear in that sequence
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. 😊
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! 😊
I'm very glad that you ate it straight. Sign of a man who knows his audience.
Literally just finished watching a video Sir Lance put out on instant coffee, and here you are! What a time to be alive!
Sir Lance 😂
Same thing happened with me lol
@JamesHoffman loving the new video drop time for those of us on the West Coast of North America! We can watch you as we brew our first cup of the day
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.
Even dry ice would work.
Another experiment would be to see if there is any difference between dropping directly on Liquid Nitrogen or Flash freezing it in a Liquid Nitrogen Bain-Marie recepient. In theory Nitrogen should be Inert and not react with coffee. But it's worth the experiment.
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 RUclips, unfortunately.
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.
Justice for Hames Joffmann!
James, our favorite joke channel needs your help.
Justice for Hames Joffmann!
Wait what happened?
@@paradise_valley the parody channel, Hames Joffmann was terminated.
@@BizarreBear By the YT gods or by the channel owner?
YT- the owner has come out and said that they’ve already had an appeal to bring it back denied, too
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
I 100% agree, it very likely is and I have also experienced this. While freezing time and oxidation could play a part, it has to be the molds. Low quality coffee is associated with rubbery flavors but considering he knows his coffee, occam's razor applies.
I concur
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. 😂
Lowering the budget instead of starting his own streaming service. Truly a man of the people.
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 !
it's a myth that hot water "scorches" the coffee. What very hot water does is to extract more efficiently from the ground coffee, which may be desirable or undesirable depending on the coffee and the drinker preference, but that does not apply here since the freeze-dried coffee already is the result of extraction.
@@feanaaro8652 Just try it, you'll be surprised!
@@myopiczeal Just thinking aloud, but is it more that by drinking it at a lower temperature you're able to taste more flavours anyway? I had a cup from my Aeropress earlier, and the last part of it cooled down quite a lot before I drank it all - and if anything it tasted better than the initial few sips of much hotter liquid. Could be the same with the instant - though I have to admit I'm not about to do a taste test on it....
your exploration of homemade instant coffee is fascinating! It's a great example of experimentation and pushing the boundaries of traditional coffee-making methods. ☕
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!
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.
My thoughts exactly re: cold brew concentrate.
About using distilled water, removing all of the minerals is detrimental to flavour (as a master craft beer brewer once told me, he uses reverse osmosis, and then adds minerals back in to mimic water sources from around the world).
You can actually buy packets of minerals meant to condition your water to make better coffee.
It is a specialty coffee making product, for making espresso.
Run the coffee through a line chiller then freeze with liquid nitrogen. That should be fast enough.
Or one of those instant ice cream freeze plates like they have on iron chef.
My brother has a freeze dryer and I’ve wondered this as well!
Thanks for making this video!
What a joy it would be to happen upon a James Hoffmann meditating on a bench.
English Beef Drink was a grouping of words I didn’t know I needed to hear today. But I did.
What is soup but meat drink?
@@ClanWiEthank you! This is what I’ve been saying for years. No one listens to me.
You’re both so right
10:05 James giving a giddy like a little girl is the absolute meme I needed.
James, how about a video on “coffee pairing”-coffees particularly good with certain foods and flavors.
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!
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.
@james hoffman ; since you are adding hot water at the end maybe a cold brew could be good for thid experiment?
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!
We bring instant coffee while backpacking and while I’m never going to make freeze dried coffee myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this 😊
Justice for Hames Joffmann! Bring him back!!!
Amen brother!
Hames Joffmann would be a bovril fan I think
We’ve been trying but RUclips have been deeply uncool about it all.
What happened to hames joffman?
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 :)
Canadian here, Bovril on a nice cold winter day out ice fishing .... great memories.
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 RUclips
Could the rubberiness be from the silicone molds?
Great episode. I never knew just how much goes into the freeze dried coffee process.
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.
Interesting effect of dry ice is that it can wind up carbonating what it comes in contact with - fizzy espresso?
@@nylesnettleton88 Interesting idea - seen that on a chefsteps video back in the day with carbonating fruit. Then again, i am sure you can find carbonated coffee in Japanese vending machines?
I'm just waiting for the "freezedryers are cool" merch to drop?
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!
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. 😂😂😂
Greetings from Switzerland :)
Probably never tapped RUclips notification this fast. Wasn’t disappointed. James is still wearing suberb knitwear
So you clicked on it INSTANTLY? * ba-dum-tss *
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.
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!
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.
There are lessons in failure. You can say you failed something and still say it was a positive experience, you shouldn't think of "failure" as a scary word and avoid using it.
@@cdgonepotatoes4219 The point of an experiment is to learn what happens when you do X. They learnt what happens so they didn't fail; experiments can fail if they're too inconclusive to draw any conclusions, but that's not what happened here. What you're describing is attempting to make something and failing to make it, but if you attempt something with the sole goal of reaching a particular outcome then what you're doing is no longer an experiment, at least in the scientific sense, but rather a manufacturing trial.
An adage I once heard: Every experiment turns out right. But not necessarily the way you expect it to. And there's no guarantee that you understand it.
@@cdgonepotatoes4219 It's not about failure being a scary word, it's about understanding what an experiment is. An experiment is a way of learning - if you learn, it succeeded. experiments can definitely go wrong and fail to teach you anything about what you were testing, but that's not what happened in the video. If you're trying to get a specific results then it's not really an experiment in the first place, at least not in the scientific sense I was using, but something more like a manufacturing trial or a prototyping a method.
I appreciate the slurp free audio track.
I love freeze driers :)
Pro tip, you can microplane/grate your frozen product onto the tray to get a beautifully small pieces!
Edit: could always pull the shots of espresso with filters below the puck! A popular technique these days and would save a step in this first pass process :)
I'm really impressed by your slurp-free track. Incredible
James is the only person that could make me worried that I don't know Bovril
It's like a disappointing miso soup.
@@benjaminm4702 It's essentially a combination of beef bullion and Marmite, but less interesting than either one alone.
We use Bovril frequently here and to us it's nothing more than concentrated beef broth. Nothing special, to us anyway ;)
The slurp-free audio track makes me so happy. Always glad to be a patron
Thank you so very much for the slurp free audio track
This might be the best part of my day. This is spectacular. Thank you!
THANK YOU FOR THE SLURP FREE AUDIO, IT IS WONDERFUL
I don’t have any tricks for making freeze dried coffee, but I do have a trick for drinking it. My friend taught me not to think of it as instant “coffee” but instead to think of it as a “coffee drink”. Comparing it to fresh brewed coffee will always leave you disappointed, but thinking of it as its own drink and it leaves room to enjoy it for its unique characteristics.
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!
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.
I have this freeze dryer. It is the source of that rubbery taste. It adds that taste to everything.
Hi, quite interesting. I have worked in an industry that used freeze drying. The concentrated product was poured onto the trays and frozen. Surface area is important for the process to work efficiently. Freeze either in the dryer or a separate - 20° freezer. The carrier was demineralised water, this could also be important in your experiment. Demineralised water is not to be ingested, though it's the purest and it's sublimed off during the warming. When opening the door and extracting the powder , it will pull in moisture from the room or environment. It's easy to contaminate the end product. Also, the powder is extremely likely to dust off. Simply put, you can easily breath in the dust particles. Free drying is an exact process, and protocol should be followed for the best results. I know first hand, home made freeze dried coffee is pleasant. We did freeze dry produce in down time. Fruit was a particular favourite, and now we see freeze dried fruit powder available for the the food industry at at very high cost. Berries and bananas are exquisite when freeze dried. I have considered a home built freeze drier, once you understand the principles the rewards should be worth it. Great channel, and all the best to you.
The world isn't ready for a James Hoffmann x NileRed collab
I agree. I appreciate each of them and I don't think combining them would go well.
Oh man, there's a new Map Men video, and a new James Hoffmann video. What a great Wednesday!
Excellent video as alway. Thanks for the video james
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.
I don't even like coffee but I occasionally stumble upon this channel and always have a great time 🤘
a number of notes, from someone who likes to just make things, and cook up experiments. (I've made my own coffee hard candies before, even.)
---if you really want to freeze quickly, it's all about surface area- pouring onto a frozen ball is the smallest surface area you'll get- if you were to freeze a bunch of ball bearings and run it through them you could potentially get near-instant freezing, and don't forget freezing is more than just frozen water. you can set a freezer to get VERY cold. You can even run salty water through a brass coil, and have a cup of coffee interact with multiple gallons of below freezing water. but that method can be automated and probably approaches industry tech.
---if you want to get more extractables, simply grind it far finer, and don't be afraid of the espresso solids. that stuff making it thicker is a part of the drink too! if it's closer to a molecular powder, then basically all of it will be able to dissolve if possible. note that this would need a rather wide and thin press, lower temp water, and grinding super fine can induce heat into the coffee.
---scientists recently discovered that if you increase the surface area of water, and hit it with green light, it sublimates much more readily even at pressure! how would you use this? no clue!
---there's a reason it gets stored in nitrogen. I have a feeling it will oxidize or decompose readily, and that if you could sort of press them into spherules and in the fridge in a jar(not freezer), it would degrade in storage much slower. It may even be worth it to make your own custom instant coffee packets, so you can take it on trips.
---I find that I can get much better flavor in coffees used to make other things, with lighter roasts at lower temps and overpacked shots. it's a little wasteful, but it really does hold up better to processing. I think darker roasts have more volatiles that would escape with sublimation, as the volatiles can break down into a gas, and in vacuum. if you were to pull shots into an already air-filled, airtight container, and freeze that, those volatiles will be less inclined to escape. perhaps you could hold onto something else that way?
---...so I guess what I'm saying.... pour shots into an airtight cup or box (you'll need to add more pressure to overcome it, if you're filling half the empty space) filled with frozen ball bearings, freeze it, then crush and freeze-dry the puck and pick the ball bearings out later for reuse. or leave em in, I'm not your boss. Then use a pill press to turn it into pellets with less surface area for storage. "would you like one, two, or three portions of espresso?"
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!