Freeze-Dried Vs Spray-Dried Instant Coffee: What's The Difference?

Every coffee lover wants the best for their morning brew. It's common knowledge that beans and roast levels vary, but did you know it's also important to evaluate whether products are freeze or spray-dried? Instant coffee has been around longer than you think, dating back to the streets of Britain in 1771. Yet since its early days as a "coffee compound," production techniques have branched off in very different directions. Next time you grab a jar of instant coffee, check the label: Freeze-dried and spray-dried beans are the two main options.

The clue is in the name. Freeze-drying involves vaporizing frozen coffee through sublimation, while spray-dried beans are roasted then blasted with hot air. Drying methods should always be a deciding factor when ranking instant coffee brands. It impacts everything from price to lifespan and taste — serious knock-on effects. It's in your best interests to learn the difference between freeze-dried and spray-dried coffee; luckily, the two are worlds apart.

Freeze-dried beans are the definition of high-quality instant coffee. Flavorsome and preservative-free, it's the sort of product you'd jump to add to a morning cup. The process is simple: A concentrate is frozen and then dried in a vacuum chamber, where lingering moisture vaporizes. Any ice transforms almost instantly into gas. It sounds extreme. However, the meticulous freezing-then-vaporizing route ensures the bean's valuable qualities — like taste and aroma — remain intact.

It's ultimately a preservation-focused strategy, just like you see with dried and freeze-dried fruit. Instant coffee was invented in 1771, but the product underwent a series of further inventions over the 19th and early 20th centuries. Amidst these flurries of caffeinated developments, Satori Kato had released an early freeze-drying technique in 1901, and by the 1930s, Nestle chemist Max Morgenthaler connected the dots to launch freeze-dried coffee. Fast forward to the late 20th century, and freeze-drying was deemed the popular solution for corporate giants like Nestle to achieve better-tasting coffee.

Flip a coin, and you've got spray-dried coffee. There's an air of mistrust around this technique. Ask any expert about the mistakes to avoid with instant coffee, and purchasing spray-dried beans will be mentioned. Let's break it down into facts, though, setting preconceptions aside. To spray-dry, you initially roast beans, then create a liquid concentrate before blasting droplets into dry residue using hot air. The moisture evaporates, but here's the kicker: So do some of those prized tasting notes and nutrients. The process itself imparts a woody flavor to the leftover coffee. However, it creates a blanket flavor rather than letting any bean-specific uniqueness shine.

Spray-drying really took off during World War II, with military provisions demanding quick and budget-conscious production methods. Instant coffee had already gained traction in World War I, and by 1939, companies like Nescafe were mass-producing goods to sell in bulk to militaries. It's easy to see how the fast and effective spray-drying approach fit that bill. For many people, spray-dried coffee remains the superior choice from an economic perspective.

Instant coffee is made through dehydration. In fact, the whole purpose of adding water is to rehydrate the powdered crystals. Whether producers utilize freeze or spray-drying techniques, the same premise stands: Dehydrating the beans until future use. However, from there, there's no denying that the production processes take polar opposite approaches. 

Spray-drying is fundamentally a wet process; the concentrated liquid atomizes and is then intensely dried by hot air. In contrast, freeze-drying skips that liquid phase altogether. Freeze-dried coffee enters the vacuum as a frozen solid, with ice transformed straight into gas. It utilizes a dry strategy, aka sublimation.

The wet versus dry approach is a fundamental contrast between the two; understanding this difference is essential to grasp the non-destructive benefits of freeze-drying. While both provide brilliant strategies for bulk production (hence why instant coffee is usually cheaper than fresh beans), undergoing fewer state transitions is less destructive. Freeze-drying is perfect for helping coffee retain its natural qualities.

A key differentiator between the two is their production timelines. No shock here: Freezing is a slow process.Spray-drying coffee is faster as it skips this time-consuming demand, while freeze-drying takes longer and, therefore, racks up additional costs. This difference doesn't just impact manufacturers; the cost is passed on to consumers. Generally speaking, the longer it takes to prepare the beans or coffee concentrate, the higher the final price tag will be for customers. That's why freeze-dried coffee is more expensive — companies raise the rates to reflect the increased production costs. 

Many brands use spray-drying and freeze-drying; watch out for tell-tale variations in rate. For instance, Nescafe uses spray-drying for its Nescafe Original Instant Coffee, subsequently retailing at around $12.99. For its Nescafe Gold Original, it utilizes freeze-drying, selling it as a premium product at $24.99. Understanding that spray and freeze-dried coffee have different production costs and timelines is key. Keep it in mind when you're next analyzing Nescafé instant coffee varieties.

Spray-dried and freeze-dried coffee have huge variations in shelf-life, which goes to show cheap purchases aren't always better investments. At face value, spray-dried products are initially cheaper, but freeze-dried coffee lasts longer. The difference is easily explained. Freeze-drying preserves the natural nutrients of the beans, leaving them less vulnerable to mold growth. Structurally speaking, it also ensures the coffee remains more intact, resulting in higher stability than spray-dried coffee.

It's important to know how long you can store instant coffee before it goes bad; nobody gets a bargain out of unexpected spoilage. Nescafé generally recommends consuming their products within 12 to 18 months once opened. However, spray-dried products jump through extra hoops just to reach this stage. While freeze-dried coffee doesn't even require preservatives, spray-dried relies on nitrogen atmospheres in packaging to maintain basic quality levels. As a slower-paced user, freeze-dried instant coffee is often a better choice.

Freeze-dried coffee doesn't just offer a longer shelf-life. Did you know it also has better flavor retention? Picture it as the beans being frozen in time; manufacturers press pause on all those nutrients, tasting notes, and wafting aromas. This savvy preservation translates to more intense strengths. Ultimately, freeze-dried products contain a higher concentration of actual coffee than spray-dried.

Spray-drying coffee really sucks the life out of them, and the harshness of the process means many manufacturers resign themselves to lower-quality blends to start with. In worst-case scenarios, the high temperatures actually risk burned or bitter-tasting results.  Spray-dried products wind up with a milder (although hopefully still pleasant) flavor. 

Each to their own, but if a strong cup is your go-to, it's easy to see why people sway towards freeze-dried coffee. Got a spray-dried container sitting near the kettle? Perhaps it's time to research the best ways to use instant coffee other than brewing it.