Several people have told me that instant coffee tastes better if you mix the granules with cold water before adding the hot. I can’t be arsed testing it myself, but thought there will be someone on here who’s made the effort to find out! Is there anything in it or is it just one of those things that’s been said so many times it’s become ‘fact’?

Certainly tastes better if you add the milk before the hot water. Not sure if you could call it coffee though.

Its made by dehydrating real coffee so it is real coffee, as since it’s dehydrated then by adding water you reconstitute it into real coffee. But any coffee when cold doesn’t taste as nice as hot coffee.

This tastes like sour vomit no matter how hot the water you care to “invigorate” it.

I can’t be arsed testing it myself

You can’t be bothered to spend 2 seconds adding a drop of cold water before adding the hot?
Would have been easier and quicker than posting on here and awaiting replies.

I know the answer but won’t tell you because of your sheer laziness 🙂

I understood that pouring boiling water directly on coffee granules results in the coffee tasting bitter. Therefore, you should always either let the water cool down a bit first, or pour cold water or milk in the cup, before the boiling water.

I do find that coffee shops that produce the hottest coffee (the kind you need to wait for 10 minutes before it is drinkable), also produce the worst tasting coffee. Possibly a coincidence, but may be related.

Well i’ve had my fair share of vomit tasting – or dirty ashtray tasting ‘proper’ coffee. I don’t drink instant but tastes OK to me. A bit like a pint of Peroni. I can drink it occasionally. Rarely I might fancy a pint. But ultimately its not ‘beer’ by my definition, and not what I choose to drink most of the time, but it has its place.

In fact on the occasion I get presented with a ‘proper’ coffee from someone that appoints themselves an aficionado i’m rarely impressed. Maybe that’s my pallet or that they just make crap coffee.

Not tried putting cold in, but on a similar principal, I’d always let the water cool a tad before adding to instant coffee. Using boiling water definitely makes it taste even worse.
Before anyone criticises me, I would like to point out that I haven’t drunk instant coffee for a few years.

You can’t be bothered to spend 2 seconds adding a drop of cold water before adding the hot?

To do it properly I’d have to go to the shop and buy more instant coffee then make 2cups of coffee, one with a drop of cold water and one without and then compare the two!

To do it properly I’d have to go to the shop and buy more instant coffee then make 2cups of coffee, one with a drop of cold water and one without and then compare the two!

To do it properly, you’d need at least four administrations, to cover the four different possible orderings of the samples. It might also be useful to include some regular “burnt arseholes” tasting coffee as a control, so eight administrations or more. You’d need at least 30 raters, preferably 100 or more with careful attention to demographic sampling. Best to budget for 1000 administrations, plus some biscuits to reward the raters for their time and effort.

I always put milk in first with instant, and lots of it. Boiling water straight on to instant defo bashes the flavour and makes it bitter.

I like various ‘real’ coffees also but have not disappeared up my arse completely yet so have no problem with instant as long as it’s a reasonable one.

Yes, yes it does.
We had one of those water boilers at work.
It always leaves a “froth” & you could literally down the whole cup, it’s that tepid.
Delivery temp is about 80c, (we had many thousands of pounds worth of our lab kit tied up monitoring its temp…).
From the kettle all is good, no head & proper hot drink.

Yes, yes it does.
We had one of those water boilers at work.
It always leaves a “froth” & you could literally down the whole cup, it’s that tepid.
Delivery temp is about 80c, (we had many thousands of pounds worth of our lab kit tied up monitoring its temp…).
From the kettle all is good, no head & proper hot drink.

You’ve either misunderstood the OP or just forgotten to answer the question.

Certainly tastes better if you add the milk before the hot water. Not sure if you could call it coffee though.

I th9ught I was the only one who insisted on this.

It always leaves a “froth”

That’ll be the aeration as a result of the more turbulent pouring. Shame your lab equipment couldn’t explain that simple process to you.

My take – it makes no difference so long as the kettle is off the boil. In fact the cup makes more of a difference IMO (top tip – plastic travel mugs have a nasty habit of congealing milk at the liquid surface edges)

Drink instant all the time at work as I have no time to ponce about for five minutes just to make a marginally better tasting coffee. Mostly can’t be bothered at home either, I have better things to worry and/or care about than what some up their own arse “afficionado” thinks. Apologising for your own tastes only legitimises cockbaggery.

definitely does with fresh coffee, boiling water makes it bitter. Can’t say as I’ve ever noticed a difference with instant.

Mostly can’t be bothered at home either, I have better things to worry and/or care about than what some up their own arse “afficionado” thinks. Apologising for your own tastes only legitimises cockbaggery

When I grow up, I want to be as awesome as squirrelking.

Same as tea or any hot drink. Bit of cold water first if you’re using boiling (or just boiled) water. Instant coffee tastes a little less shít if you do this.

what tamp for instant coffee?

what tamp for instant coffee?

the heel of a tramp’s shoe.

My kettle has a 95 degree setting for Coffee

If your attempts at non instant coffee are only marginally better than instant you are probably doing coffee the wrong way.

The worst non instant coffee I can remember as still more palatable than instant . Ive have gone cold turkey on coffee rather than drink instant when I’ve forgotten to take it with me.

But then I like the taste of proper coffee rather than the cafiene stimulus.-in as much that with or without it I don’t really crave it or get withdrawal symptoms. Bit like beer. Would rather 2 nice beers and enjoying drinking them than 10 tennents and being hammered

I’ve tried and tested this on instant and ground beans and can’t spot a difference.

Don’t mind instant (as long as it isn’t mellow birds) but the taste isn’t remotely like real coffee. That’s what I meant when I said “if you can call it coffee”. A pleasent enough drink, just not really coffee. And as for tea, it absolutely must be fresh from the boil or it doesn’t work properly.

(as long as it isn’t mellow birds)

Quite the connoisseur aren’t we 🙂

My kettle has a 95 degree setting for Coffee

At least you can die happy now 😉

Instant coffee….. it’s like asking should I microwave my steak for 3 or 4 minutes. Some things are meant to be done properly.

If your attempts at non instant coffee are only marginally better than instant you are probably doing coffee the wrong way.

Depends on the roast, crap in = crap out. (Lavazza for instance). I’d take a medium roast any day over that filth. Azera isn’t bad but you pay a premium for it.

I developed a tolerance at sea, I’ll drink Nescafe straight before I put UHT anywhere near my lips. Once you’ve gone to those depths a Dowe Egberts is fairly pleasant by comparison.

Marginal is probably unfair, it is better but usually I’m running about doing something else or the press is dirty or some other reason.

When I grow up, I want to be as awesome as squirrelking.

No need to wait, just drop the snobbery. Because that’s all it really is. I don’t see why anyone needs to apologise just because they might like something considered inferior.

I find milk or cold water in first makes quite a difference in terms of removing bitterness and I do it by default. Very noticeable in black instant coffee.

Some coffees are more resistant to scorching than others. Gold Blend and Kenco Decaffeinated (default old office coffees) ime and to my taste buds scorch really badly. The Douwe Egberts stuff I had while away over the weekend and plain Nescafe, less so.

For cafetiere (only other coffee making tool in our house) definitely needs to be off boil.

I’m struggling with this water giving a bitter taste given that beans are dry roasted at around 200c and you are only adding water 95-100c a wet heat.

Instant coffee is no more than a 2nd hand drink. Coffee that has been made up then dehydrated for you to “enjoy” later on.

The bitter taste from the coffee is probably from the over roasting of cheap robusta beans that it is made from.

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