Sophie and the endless quest for instant coffee ☕️

Could I survive without a Nespresso machine in an apocalypse?

Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we test some magically freeze–dried products. Read past posts here, and please follow my Instagram, @fivethingsiate.

Blue Bottle Instant iced NOLA at home

You can buy it in store or online.

Longtime readers of the ‘letter will know that I have a pretty big obsession with instant coffee. At first this may seem contradictory, as a gal who loves freshly ground beans, but I’m weirdly obsessed with replicability and the idea that I could survive without a Nespresso machine in an apocalypse. So I was very excited to drop some dollars this week at Blue Bottle Coffee and try out all their instant offerings, which have received good press. I started off with the Instant Iced NOLA, which is the only reason I visit Blue Bottle and also the reason every time I leave the house I spend $7 on coffee. At $12/5 sachets ($2.4 each), plus the price of oat milk at home, it’s far cheaper than $7, but is it as good? You can definitely taste the chicory, which is a taste I only like sometimes, and while nowhere as good as the in-store shaken iced nola, for instant it tastes like real cold brew (albeit a flat and charcoal-y one), which is better than any other instant I’ve tried. Used 4oz water, 4oz oat milk, and added ice. Froth it up with an electric whisk, and it’s pretty damn addictive! Very drinkable.

Blue Bottle Bright Craft Instant Coffee at home

You can buy it in store or online.

Next, I had to check out the “bright craft” instant coffee, which seems like an emulation of a standard brewed cup. At $14/5 sachets ($2.8 each) — I really, really wanted to like this one, especially since the iced NOLA was so great, and I hate hate hate to say this, but I feel like it had a slight note of cat pee? I mean, I also live in constant paranoia of cat pee, but whatever the aftertaste is, it’s not my favorite. A bummer because I really had high hopes for this. I love light roast but I do feel like it’s generally hard to capture in any form except for fresh beans. I did make this as an iced bev, and maybe it’s meant to be a hot bev only? For a slightly better price, I’d just go with the iced NOLA.

Blue Bottle Instant Espresso at home

You can buy it in store or online.

I was the MOST excited for the instant espresso, because I’ve heard great things and seen several influencers use it, and I am very easily influenced! While I wouldn’t drink this on its own, as it definitely had a sour instant aftertaste, it was pretty damn great in an iced latte with oat milk. Blended with milk and a splash of vanilla syrup, all instant aftertaste disappeared. Very drinkable. $14/5 sachets ($2.8 each), but you can buy a jar for $25/15 servings ($1.6 each) making it a very affordable travel option. This one’s a repeat buy.

Iced matcha coconut water at home

I used the “Once Upon a Coconut” brand.

I’ve been seeing this very aesthetic combo (of matcha and coconut water) pop up all over my IG reels and I finally got around to trying it this week. I actually had very low expectations for this beverage, but it was excellent! I was expecting the worst (highlighting the bitter notes) but the coconut water actually brought out the best in the matcha. The resulting combo of just matcha and coconut water was delightfully mellow, even creamy in mouthfeel, and perfectly Not Too Sweet. The recipes I saw called for combining matcha with heavy whipping cream and sugar into a kind of foam top, but I just whisked plain matcha (about 3g hibiki-an) with 1-2oz of hot water, cracked a cold coconut water and poured it over a tall glass of ice, and streamed the matcha over the top. Very pretty, too. A perfect warmer weather bev without any dairy or nondairy milk.

EMH House Blend Coffee by Devoción

You can buy it at Eleven Madison Park in person or online.

Let’s round off the ‘letter with some decidedly NOT instant coffee, to get the coffee snobs off my back. (Bye, haters.) My husband, who does not drink coffee at all, bought me a bag of this fancy coffee because he loves pebbling me and I love getting little treats! I thought it was a very sweet gesture and even better than that I absolutely loved it, because I love coffee beans, and I was even happier to see these beans were freshly roasted within the month. I’ve actually never tried Devoción coffee in store, because the closest location is in Dumbo, so I really enjoyed trying the beans at home. I freshly ground it and then brewed a shot in my fave tool, the moka pot, and made an oat capp from it. The beans were very flavorful (especially after I drank all that instant coffee) and I’d definitely buy it again. So that was a very Good Pebble I thoroughly enjoyed, 10/10 Nice Pebble.

XOXO,

Soph

P.S. Do you have more instant craft coffee brands you recommend? Holler at me, aka reply to this email or comment your suggestions.