There is nothing that does not exist.
Honestly, I had to smile a little when I saw a post from The Barn on Instagram. I first thought of coffee-flavored cigarettes – but the new product is actually specialty instant coffee. Already offered by many roasters in the USA, The Barn is now venturing into it. It should be an alternative for traveling if you don’t have any coffee equipment with you and you don’t want to do without your specialty coffee. The coffee is roasted in small quantities, brewed according to the specialty coffee standard and then gently freeze-dried.
Before I tried the coffee, I was very skeptical. Because The Barn stands for the Third Wave, which is about transparency, fairness and the best quality. So why freeze-dry the coffee after all? Additionally, it is also about the experience of preparing coffee, freshly grinding the beans, then brewing with a hand filter while enjoying the coffee scent and the blooming of the coffee and then enjoy fresh.
It is not entirely clear to me how much in which distress a coffee lover must be to drink instant coffee. Admittedly, on the train, plane, rest areas or at business appointments you have bad cards to get good coffee at least in Germany. The question is, can’t you brew coffee in advance at home and take it with you in a thermos? How about homemade cold brew or cold drip coffee to go? Do you have to drink coffee in such situations?
If you are traveling for longer, there are other alternatives that you can also carry in your hand luggage and promise fresh coffee enjoyment. And if you can’t make the coffee yourself, it is also a lot of fun to discover coffee shops in other cities and countries.
In terms of taste, however, I had to test the coffee.
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Specialty Instant Coffee Test
In a direct comparison I compared the organic fair trade instant coffee from Mount Hagen with the specialty instant coffee from The Barn. The Single Origin coffee offered changes. Unfortunately, Ivory Estate coffee from Kenya was already sold out. I bought “Mohamed Ali natural” from Jimma, Ethiopia for € 15. For this I got a small cardboard box with 5 sachets. That’s € 3 for a cup of coffee – pretty high price! But hey, the beans were processed elaborately and the coffee tax for instant coffee is also more expensive in Germany than that for coffee beans. For comparison, a Mount Hagen instant coffee only costs me € 0.15.
Visually, the specialty coffee is much more stylish and the packaging is compostable. The Content: At Mount Hagen there is a 2g coffee crumb blend from Papua New Guinea, Honduras and Peru. At The Barn you get 4g Single Origin coffee powder from Ethiopia. In terms of taste, there will be definitely differences due to the coffee growing areas.
The preparation of both coffees is just as simple – pour 320 ml hot water at approx. 80 ° C on the crumbs or powder and stir.
There is no difference in appearance after preparation, but I am very surprised with the smell and taste! While the Mount Hagen instant coffee has the typical, too dark roasted, musty instant coffee taste, The Barn’s specialty instant coffee actually has a full body and a distinctly fruity taste. A barista may recognize that this is not freshly brewed filter coffee, but the coffee is actually quite tasty and you would definitely not suspect that it is instant coffee. However, 3 € is too expansive for me. You can find my recommended alternatives for traveling in my linked article.
Coffee Recipes
If you don’t just want to drink the specialty instant coffee as a filter coffee substitute, here are a few recipes from around the world that are traditionally prepared with instant coffee.
Cafe Frappe from Greece
- Add 2 slightly heaped tsp instant coffee in a glass.
- add 1-2 tsp christal sugar and fill a cold mouthful of cold mineral water into the glass.
- Flare with the blender: a good 5 cm high, fine, caramel-colored foam is the goal.
- Add 4-6 ice cubes and fill the glass carefully with cold, still mineral water to avoid damaging the foam.
Phenti Hui from India
- Beat 2-3 tbsp instant coffee, 2-3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp cold water until it is creamy and fluffy foam.
- Add some of the coffee foam to a glass and fill up with cold or hot milk.
- Stir and add another tbsp of coffee foam on top.
Dalgona coffee from Korea
- Beat 2 tbsp instant coffee, 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp hot water until it is creamy and fluffy foam
- Add cold or hot milk in a glass and top the coffee foam
Specialty Instant coffee
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