What industrial processes remove water when creating instant coffee?
Answer
Spray-drying or freeze-drying
Instant coffee begins as fully brewed coffee that then undergoes significant processing to create a shelf-stable powder or granule form. This process involves the removal of the water component from the liquid brew using specific dehydration techniques. The primary methods employed industrially for this purpose are spray-drying, where the liquid is sprayed into a stream of hot air, or freeze-drying, which involves freezing the brewed coffee and then removing the ice via sublimation under vacuum. This intense processing is what allows for quick reconstitution with hot water later but is also the reason why much of the delicate volatile flavor complexity is lost compared to freshly brewed methods.
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