Brewing Guides
How to Make Cafe Quality Coffee When Travelling
No grinder, no scales, no compromise. How to carry a proper cup of specialty coffee with you, wherever you're going.
The best instant coffee today starts where good coffee starts, with carefully sourced beans roasted for flavour, and then gets out of the way. It weighs almost nothing, asks for no equipment and, done properly, tastes surprisingly close to a good filter.
Here's the short answer to making cafe quality coffee when travelling: pack freeze dried specialty instant, dissolve it in a splash of just-off-the-boil water, then top up. Common's Instant Coffee Jar is built for exactly that. What follows is how instant coffee is made, why the difference matters, and how to get the best from it wherever you land.
How is instant coffee made?
All instant coffee follows the same three steps. The coffee is roasted and ground, brewed into a concentrate in large scale extraction equipment, then dried into soluble powder or granules. It's the last step that separates a good jar from a poor one. The concentrate can be dried in two main ways, and they behave very differently.
| Method | How it works | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze drying | The concentrate is frozen, then the ice is removed under vacuum | Slower and costlier, but keeps more delicate aroma |
| Spray drying | Fine droplets are dried in hot air | Fast and cheap, and used for most instant coffee, but hot air can flatten delicate flavours |
Producers of both types often recover aromatics during the process and add them back to the finished product. Most of the difference is in the starting coffee and in the drying.
Is specialty instant as good as filter?
Not quite, and it'd be dishonest to pretend otherwise. Instant coffee still loses some of the volatile aroma that makes a freshly brewed cup, so it narrows the gap rather than closing it. But specialty instant starts from a better place, which is that specialty grade, traceable coffee roasted for flavour rather than anonymous blends, and freeze drying then keeps more of that character. On a morning when the alternative is a station vending machine coffee, that's a very good trade.
What's Common's instant coffee?
Common's Instant Coffee Jar is brewed and freeze dried, with 20 servings per jar. The coffee is 100% Arabica from Brazil, and it also comes as single serve sachets in the Instant Box, which suit a bag or a pocket better than a jar. You can find them in the coffee collection.
The jar has tasting notes of chocolate, nut and red apple. Use 3g and add hot water, as recommended on the product page.
How do I make it on the go?
- Start with the dose on the pack. Strength varies between products.
- Dissolve in a mug of just-off-the-boil water (around 90 to 95°C), stirring until fully dissolved. It's a gentler start than a rolling boil, though a kettle hot cup is fine if you prefer it.
- Top up with hot water, or with steamed or warm milk for a latte.
When is instant the best coffee for travel?
On a train, in a tent, at an office desk, in a holiday cottage whose coffee machine is a mystery: anywhere without a grinder and a brewer. It's also the gentlest way to introduce friends and family to specialty coffee, since it asks nothing of them. Pack a few sachets and the Air kettle loses its power over you.
FAQs
Is instant coffee real coffee?
Yes. It's brewed coffee with the water removed.
Is freeze-dried instant better than spray-dried?
Generally it keeps more aroma, though quality still depends on the coffee underneath.
Does instant have less caffeine?
Typically a little less per cup than filter, though it depends on how much you use.
How should I store it?
Keep it sealed, dry and out of heat. Soluble coffee absorbs moisture and can harden into a block if left open.
Try the Common Instant Coffee Jar, or browse the full range.