On more than one occasion, I guess I’ve whined about the lack of availability of ground coffee in several places to which I’ve traveled. My IFESH teammates are all serious coffee drinkers, so much of our early conversations focused on finding and brewing the stuff. Barbara had given more thought to the process than the rest of us. She brought coffee filters and a little green plastic cone shaped thing in which the filter rested in order to ‘brew’ her coffee. We just needed to find more of the ground stuff-- not an easy task.
Anyway, I suppose my ranting about the sachets or jars of freeze dried Nescafe everywhere I go finally go to my dear cousin, Loretta. She responded with some realities about the use of this beverage and others like it in the developing world:
“(Freeze dried and or - spray dried coffee) As a chemist with the Nestle Company for 30 years with the main product the first 12 years strictly coffee research, that person who responded is correct about convenience being one of the reasons but one needs to also be aware of storage problems in countries without good sanitation. Many countries do not have the luxury of owning coffee brewers. They do have the basics of boiling water available. They know tea preparation, Maggi soup preparation etc. Since they boil water first to make it safe to drink, it is then purified and ready to prepare their cup of instant coffee. Instant coffee has been used in other countries much longer than in this country (USA) although the process of freeze drying was developed in central Ohio by the Nestle Company. It is getting more acceptable due to the increase in quality due to continuous aroma research. You also have to realize that tastes differ across the world and having been exposed to instant first, the strength and notes of brewed do not appeal to everyone. In this country (USA) it has become more convenient as a base for many other drinks (more versatility), hot and cold. Keep in mind that a real cup of coffee to many would be Turkish coffee. That's about the closes to non- altered coffee as one can get. Enjoy the love of the region. “
Spray dried coffee? I’d never heard that term, so I asked…and she replied:
“To make a long story shorter:
“To make a long story shorter:
Typically the coffee beans chosen for instant coffee production are from the lower end of the quality scale, since many of the subtle flavors and aromas of the more expensive types are lost in the production process. Of, course the aroma is contained and captured to add back to increase its quality. Spray dried coffee is considerably cheaper to produce than freeze dried coffee, the latter of which is considered the more higher quality product. You can usually tell as it says on the package which process is used and spray-dried appears darker with softer granules and powdery.”
Every morning from now on, I will pour the water from the hot pot, into a cup filled with a teaspoon or so of granulated coffee and sip it with a greater appreciation for its convenience and determination to find some Turkish coffee the next time I’m in Kano.
More about our requests from Steve who traveled from Seattle this week in another post.
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