How Does Drip Bag Coffee Compare to Instant Coffee?

Coffee Aroma Guide: The Magic of Drip Coffee Bags

"Drip coffee bags" -- who isn't familiar with these magical and convenient coffee pouches?! Whether we're traveling, working, or relaxing, these simple yet convenient "drip coffee bags" are the favorite of coffee enthusiasts.

Let's first talk about instant coffee. Instant coffee is produced by grinding roasted coffee beans, extracting the effective components into water under certain temperature and pressure conditions, and then drying it through vacuum concentration to facilitate the drying process. Drying is the forming process of instant coffee powder and also the process that most significantly affects the quality of coffee powder during processing. Currently, spray drying is generally used, but because coffee's aromatic substances are highly heat-sensitive, they easily volatilize at higher drying temperatures (some volatilization has already occurred during extraction and concentration), which is the main reason why instant coffee lacks the rich aroma of freshly ground coffee.

I once read in a foreign article that the chemical composition of instant coffee is no longer actually coffee. Instant coffee is an industrialized synthetic product, and in specific environments such as long-distance travel on trains and airplanes, it serves as a decent coffee substitute rather than coffee in its original sense. This is because traditional coffee enjoyment, from grinding coffee beans, brewing, filtering, to the selection of equipment and different brewing techniques, is very sophisticated. During the synthesis process of instant coffee, the original nutritional and health components of coffee are destroyed and disappear. When drinking, although it has a coffee taste, it has lost the rich nutritional components and health benefits of coffee, as well as the profound cultural taste and atmosphere.

Are Drip Coffee Bags Good? Let's Discuss from Two Perspectives

1. Convenience of Use and Portability

I estimate that many friends who don't understand might think that a pour-over kettle is actually unnecessary. Perhaps instant coffee gives everyone the impression that you can just pour boiling water from high above onto the coffee powder, which has led to this misconception.

So how much does a pour-over kettle actually affect the output of a cup of coffee? It can be significant or minimal. Some current electric kettles have outlets without mesh screens, and their spouts are relatively slender and long, offering decent water flow control. However, many water boiling kettles don't meet these two conditions of fine and stable water flow, making it nearly impossible to achieve. So let's answer what exactly the role of a pour-over kettle is.

First, I believe it's to control the flow rate and speed of water. Pour-over requires 20 seconds of blooming to open up the coffee's flavor, allowing the coffee powder to absorb water and form a burger-like bubble to achieve the blooming effect. Next comes extraction. If your water flow directly hits the filter paper, this portion of water will flow directly to the bottom of the pot without participating in the extraction process, which is like diluting with water and greatly affects the body of a cup of coffee. More importantly, extraction requires time, and controlling water flow size means controlling time. Therefore, without controllable and stable water flow, there's no extraction, and without extraction, it won't be a cup of coffee.

The second point is water temperature preservation. Generally, pour-over brewing 15g of beans takes one and a half to two minutes. Pour-over has relatively high requirements for water temperature. If you've determined to use 88-degree water, but the temperature drops rapidly during brewing, dropping to 80 degrees in one minute, then it will greatly change the output of a coffee. This is like, for example, the silver kettles that cost thirty or forty yuan each - they look nice, have slender and controllable spouts, but lose temperature quite quickly. Most Japanese brands, however, do very well with temperature control in their kettle materials, and the price difference is also significant.

Well, current drip coffee bags are square. This means their extraction is somewhat different from pour-over, even more similar to French press. It's like making French press extraction rate coffee using pour-over methods, so the importance of the pour-over kettle becomes relatively higher. Carrying a pour-over dripper and a small pour-over kettle is much more convenient than carrying a bunch of equipment. Portable drip coffee bags were developed as a patented design by the Japanese. The coffee powder inside is packaged in filter bags, with cardboard clips on both sides that can hang on the edge of a cup. After brewing, they can be discarded, allowing convenient enjoyment of ground coffee similar to drip brewing. Drip bag coffee is a ready-to-brew and enjoy type of freshly ground coffee. It completes coffee brewing through drip extraction, perfectly expressing the acidity, sweetness, bitterness, richness, and aroma in coffee. As long as you have access to hot water and coffee cups, you can conveniently enjoy it. It's especially suitable for home, office, and travel.

2. Taste Quality

If the output of drip coffee bags is extremely poor, then instant coffee would be better for its sweetness. So let's temporarily set aside its applicability.

Compared to instant coffee, it's made by grinding fresh single-origin coffee beans into powder and brewing directly, which maximally preserves the aroma and flavor of the coffee beans. Each drip coffee bag contains about 10 grams,恰好 the right amount for a 150-200ml cup. The design of drip bags gives coffee powder as much "breathing and tumbling space" as possible, allowing it to bloom out deep aromas when brewed with hot water. Its design可以说 encompasses the functions of beans, grinders, electronic scales, filter cups, and filter paper. When brewing, you only need a pour-over kettle and a cup.

According to experts, drip coffee bags with floral and fruity aromas are the most popular, with soft acidity on the palate. When pairing with such coffee, it's recommended to choose desserts with equally prominent fruity aromas, such as durian crepes, coconut ice cream, mango mille crepe cake, etc.

Of course, if you find even brewing drip coffee bags troublesome, you can go directly to professional pour-over coffee shops in the city, such as FrontStreet Coffee, Wo Chao Cafe, Bank Cafe, etc., and let the staff personally serve you.

Drip coffee bags help more people find the balance between busy lives and specialty coffee. This is very important. We want to let more people understand and enjoy single-origin coffee through better methods. Single-origin coffee demonstrates your attitude toward life. A person who loves coffee, especially someone obsessed with single-origin, must be a master of life, with dreams and direction.

Some materials are sourced from the internet, edited and modified by Coffee Nation. Please indicate the source when republishing!

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473