Blue Bottle Coffee Craft Instant Coffee Set

This is my pick for the BEST instant coffee out there! I have searched for years and tried so many brands of instant coffee, with a goal to find one that doesn't taste like "instant" coffee.

Blue Bottle instant coffee was a treat on the trail. I drank all of the Blue Bottle packets before the others. A full-bodied flavorful coffee with no sourness, no burnt taste, and no bitterness. I added a scoop of organic powdered heavy cream to my cup.

If I decide to not bring the AeroPress on the next trip, Blue Bottle Instant will be in my Bear Vault, it is simply the #1 pick for out on the trail. I highly recommend it to thru-hikers who can truly appreciate a great cup of coffee in the wilderness. Easy to make, easy to pack out the tiny packet. At 247mg of caffeine per serving, I had plenty of energy each morning to take on the miles and high elevations of the Sierras. 

I will start by saying that Blue Bottle coffee beans are my favorite! A friend turned me on to this coffee brand about seven months ago and I am hooked! I am on their monthly coffee bean subscription. I usually use the dark Espresso varieties to make lattes in the morning. "Hayes Valley" being my favorite beans. 

After buying seven different brands of higher end instant coffees for backpacking, I made all of them and my son and I taste tested them. He is a coffee connoisseur like me, and also a barista. We prepared them all the same way, with boiling water, no cream, and no sugar, so we can taste the full flavor of the coffee itself.  Except for the Nola, which we made over ice, because that is how "Nola" is meant to be consumed. 

After tasting all the instant coffees, we both thought that ALL of the Blue Bottle coffees were the best, coming in at #1 pick.  The taste was shockingly close to brewed, well in our minds, this is as good as it gets considering the way instant coffee is made.

Understanding how Instant Coffee is made

Instant coffee is made by making a thick liquid, then converted into a powder by freeze drying it, or spray drying the concentrated brewed coffee. As a result of this process the coffee has a very chalky consistency and a quite sour taste. The high temperature of this process can also destroy the flavor of the coffee and result with a burnt and bitter taste, and strips away the naturally occurring aromatic oils. 

The Process for Blue Bottle's Craft Instant Coffee

1. Sourcing and Roasting: Blue Bottle starts with carefully selected coffee beans from its partner farms, which are then roasted in-house.
2. Brewing: The roasted beans are brewed to produce a flavorful, concentrated liquid coffee extract.
3. Specialized Freeze-Drying: Instead of a standard or spray-drying method, Blue Bottle uses an extended freeze-drying process. This involves freezing the coffee concentrate and then using sublimation to remove the water, leaving behind delicate, flavorful granules. Blue Bottle states this slower process helps to capture the coffee's vibrant profile and improves the final flavor.
4. Aromatic Crystals: The result is dry, aromatic crystals that are ready to be dissolved in water. 

All three of these coffees taste great cold. The Bright Craft Instant we found to taste the best served hot. The Espresso was our second pick for serving hot. The Nola is in a class of its own due to the way it is made for over ice and adding milk or cream. It is absolutely delicious served over ice. 

The price was $42 for the three boxes of instant coffee. There are five packets in each box, making the price $2.80 per cup. For instant coffee some may say this is steep. Some of the other brands we have tried were actually more than Blue Bottle. Verve Buena Vista, which we both agreed was the most bitter/sour and did not finish a cup of it; 6-packets come to $2.83 each. Cafe Grumpy Instant Coffee/Heartbreaker Blend 6-pack,  which was our #2 pick comes in at $3.00 each.

Background

I am a coffee nut! I try all coffees, and tried several brands of instant coffees to take on the trail over the last 10 years. I have been making handcrafted espresso/coffee every morning for the last four years. I don't mind paying a little extra money for the best beans.