How to Store Instant Coffee-The Best Way Depends On...

The main reason people use instant coffee is for its convenience and speed of preparation. Add a spoonful of instant coffee into hot water and it dissolves instantly so that in seconds you have a cup of hot coffee ready to drink. Of course you want to keep your instant coffee fresh and close by on hand, but what is the best way to store instant coffee? I will get to the answer soon.

Instant coffee has a long shelf life and could last past the expiration date on the container if it is kept in optimum conditions. The shelf life of instant coffee is longer than that of coffee beans, and  even longer than for ground coffee. Time is the enemy for coffee beans and ground coffee beans because they lose flavor as the coffee essential oils evaporate over time. Instant coffee does not have this problem due to the manufacturing process of dehydrating coffee into granules or powder form.

Instant coffee does however have a different enemy and its name is Humidity. Instant coffee will quickly spoil if not kept dry. When this happens you will see the instant coffee grains stick together and start turning into a gooey mess, and it won't taste the same, meaning it will taste terrible.

Instant coffee usually comes packaged in glass jars, vacuum packed resealable bags, and tins. You may need to transfer your instant coffee to a smaller air-tight jar with a screw top lid as you use more coffee and the volume of instant coffee goes down, while the air in the empty space of the bottle increases. When this happens there is a chance of introducing more humidity into the container's environment.

Always remember to tightly cap or close the container after taking a portion of your instant coffee out.
Another tip is to always use a clean and dry spoon when measuring out your instant coffee.

How to Store Instant Coffee

Instant coffee was made to be stored pretty much anywhere. This usually means in the pantry closet, kitchen counter top, or dining table. This way of storage works for most dry environments. When we lived in California and even Honolulu, Hawaii--we had no problem with our instant coffee going bad.

However, if you live in an area with high humidity, such as the east side of the Big Island, Hawaii where we now live, than I recommend that you store your instant coffee (tightly capped) in the refrigerator. Other people may insist that you do not need to store instant coffee in the refrigerator and that it defeats the purpose, but they probably live in a dry area so that don't know any better.

If you want to give or drink the best tasting instant coffee, give our 100% pure Kona instant coffee a try. Our freeze dried instant Kona coffee is highly aromatic with a smooth flavor. It is much harder to find pure Kona instant coffee--the majority of Kona instant coffee is actually a blended Kona coffee product of 10% Kona coffee beans and 90% cheaper inferior beans. The price may be cheaper but it does not taste the same.

Check out our Kona Coffee blog category where we have Kona coffee recipes using brewed coffee and instant coffee, & other interesting things about Kona coffee.