Instant coffee on a spoon spilling into a cup of coffee

What Is Instant Coffee Powder Actually Made Of?

NEWS

BY LAUREN DOZIER

Instant coffee on yellow background
Before you even buy it, instant coffee has already undergone a series of steps to reach its current state. Believe it or not, it has already been brewed.
Pile of Robusta beans
Instant coffee comes from coffee beans that have been roasted, ground, and brewed. The granules are then stripped of water to make the fragments of instant coffee.
Instant coffee in spoon above mug
Typically, instant coffee is either freeze-dried or spray-dried, meaning that liquid coffee is sprayed into the hot air, drying it into a fine powder.
Person preparing instant coffee
Since it’s already been brewed, instant coffee tends to lack the robust flavor and potency of ground coffee beans and has lower caffeine levels than regular coffee.