bed bath and beyond beyond section.
Once you have a nice frothy layer on top, just pour in the remaining milk and you’re all set. This is a sweeter drink that tastes like you’re drinking coffee ice cream.
### Recipe 2: The Blended Coffee
The next drink is going to be made using a blender, and this is a way that you can make a blended coffee using any syrup that you’d like.
I’ll put the ingredients on the screen so you can screenshot it, but it’s two teaspoons of instant coffee, a teaspoon of sugar, about 3/4 cup of ice, 3/4 cup of milk, and then any type of syrup that you’d like. In this case, I’m using butterscotch and I’m gonna just weigh it out with my heart; I don’t really care at this point.
is it weird to go to the mall alone just for coffee, but this saves you the trip.
### Recipe 3: The Shaken Espresso
Now the third recipe that we’re going to be doing is using a shaking method which is going to be very similar to those brown sugar shaking espressos that you’d get from Starbucks. This recipe is also pretty easy and simple on ingredients; you don’t need too many things.
We’ll do two teaspoons of instant coffee, about two teaspoons of brown sugar, and then we’ll add a little bit of water, about an ounce or so, just to mix everything together and to dissolve the instant coffee as best as we can. Once everything’s dissolved as best as you can, I would add two more ounces of water. I would do hot water for this because this is going to help make the foam with the ice when we start shaking.
I like to use a little under a cup of ice. If it seems like a lot of ice, don’t worry, some of the ice is going to melt so it’s just about the perfect amount. Oh, and before I forget, I like to add a dash of cinnamon to mine too and even a pinch of salt. Not a lot, a little goes a long way with this.
Then just put the top back on your cocktail shaker and shake it pretty aggressively. You want to shake it hard on this because this is what’s going to create that foam. You know you’re done shaking the drink when you stop hearing the ice hitting the sides of the cocktail shaker. When you’re done, you just throw it into a separate glass and top it off with some milk. Your choice of milk, oat milk or whole milk, and then some cinnamon if you want to, and you’re all set. You don’t need to worry about lying about guests to enjoy a drink this good by yourself.
I think it’s safe to say that instant coffee is the most popular type of coffee in existence, but there are still some people that don’t know how to make instant coffee properly. I know this because of all of the complaints surrounding instant coffee: it’s bitter, it tastes burnt, and it tastes terrible.
Many people think cold coffee bad people dislike, sucks, but often, the issue isn’t the temperature itself—it’s how the coffee was prepared before it ever hit the ice. If you make it correctly, it does not taste like any one of those three things. So, I’m going to show you how to properly make instant coffee, and then once you know how to make it properly, you can make recipes that taste really, really, really good.
The “Weak” Coffee Complaint
The first complaint that I’ve got on instant coffee tasting bad is that it tastes weaker than regular coffee. The main reason for that is that you’re not using the proper cup.
In traditional measuring for cooking or baking, a cup is eight fluid ounces, but in the coffee world, it’s only six. So, make sure that you’re using six fluid ounces instead of eight. Just by doing this alone, your coffee is going to taste better and it’s gonna taste a little bit stronger than what it was before.
This simple adjustment can change your entire morning routine, much like realizing you’ve been overpaying for amenities or stressing about lying about guests in a hotel room when you didn’t need to. Small details matter.
Why Does It Taste Burnt?
Okay, so your coffee doesn’t taste weak now, but it still tastes bitter or burnt. How do we fix it? It’s actually very, very easy.
All you got to do is before you put hot water on your instant coffee crystals, add a little bit of room temperature or cold water and dissolve those crystals. Then, when you’re done with that, add your hot water on top. This is going to prevent you from burning the coffee crystals by just pouring on a bunch of boiling water.
If you’re still finding after all of these tips and tricks that your coffee still tastes bitter or burnt or weak, it might just be time to switch to a different instant coffee. A few favorite instant coffees to use include Juan Valdez and some sort of craft instant coffee that you can get from Blue Bottle.
The Versatility of Instant Coffee
One of the best things about instant coffee is all of the possibilities and all of the drinks that you can make. You can make ice drinks, hot drinks, whipped coffee, and Frappuccinos. It’s really endless.
Just like wandering through the bed bath and beyond aisles finding gadgets you didn’t know you needed, exploring coffee recipes can reveal surprising delights.
Here are three different ways that you can use it to level up your game and prove that the idea of cold coffee bad people dislike, sucks is a myth.
1. The Indian Cappuccino
The first drink is called an Indian cappuccino. It only requires three ingredients: instant coffee, sugar, and some milk.
Instructions:
- Into a cup, add one teaspoon of instant coffee and a teaspoon of sugar.
- In a separate glass, add about six ounces of milk.
- Throw that in the microwave and heat it up for about a minute; do it on 50% power so it doesn’t burn the top of the milk and still heats everything in the middle.
- Once it’s completed and out of the microwave, throw one ounce of your heated milk mixture in with the sugar and the instant coffee.
- Mix it aggressively until it becomes a little foamy. Admittedly, this is going to require a bit of elbow grease, but if you don’t want to put in the time and effort and you have one of those electric hand mixers, these things work just as well.
- Once you have a nice frothy layer on top, just pour in the remaining milk and you’re all set.
This is a sweeter drink that tastes like you’re drinking coffee ice cream.
2. The Blended Coffee Hack
The next drink is going to be made using a blender, and this is a way that you can make a blended coffee using any syrup that you’d like.
Ingredients:
- Two teaspoons of instant coffee
- A teaspoon of sugar
- About 3/4 cup of ice
- 3/4 cup of milk
- Any type of syrup (e.g., butterscotch)
An ingredient that is optional but helpful is xanthan gum. Only use about an eighth teaspoon of this, but it’s going to help keep the consistency of the blended coffee together as it melts.
Instructions:
- Put the lid on, shake it up, and then put it on your blender.
- Let it blend on high until everything is completely blended.
- Feel free to top it off with some whipped cream if you’d like or some caramel drizzle.
You’re all set; it’s just like one of those blended coffees that you’d get from Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s perfect for those days when you might feel it is wired to go to the mall alone just to grab a pricey drink—now you can make it at home.
3. The Shaken Espresso
The third recipe is going to be doing using a shaking method, which is going to be very similar to those brown sugar shaken espressos that you’d get from Starbucks. This recipe is also pretty easy and simple on ingredients; you don’t need too many things.
Instructions:
- Add two teaspoons of instant coffee and about two teaspoons of brown sugar.
- Add a little bit of water, about an ounce or so, just to mix everything together and to dissolve the instant coffee as best as we can.
- Once everything’s dissolved as best as you can, add two more ounces of water. Do hot water for this because this is going to help make the foam with the ice when we start shaking.
- Use a little under a cup of ice. If it seems like a lot of ice, don’t worry; some of the ice is going to melt, so it’s just about the perfect amount.
- Add a dash of cinnamon and even a pinch of salt—not a lot, a little goes a long way with this.
- Put the top back on your cocktail shaker and shake it pretty aggressively. You want to shake it hard on this because this is what’s going to create that foam.
- You know you’re done shaking the drink when you stop hearing the ice hitting the sides of the cocktail shaker.
- When you’re done, just throw it into a separate glass and top it off with some milk (oat milk or whole milk) and then some cinnamon if you want to.
Recipe Quick Reference
Here is a handy table to help you remember the ratios for these upgraded instant coffee drinks.
Instant Coffee Upgrade Table
| Drink Name | Coffee Base | Key Add-in | Method | Flavor Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Cappuccino | 1 tsp Instant | Sugar + Hot Milk | Hand Frothing | Sweet, creamy, ice-cream like |
| Blended Frappe | 2 tsp Instant | Ice + Xanthan Gum | Blender | Smooth, icy, customizable syrup |
| Shaken Espresso | 2 tsp Instant | Brown Sugar + Ice | Cocktail Shaker | Foamy, bold, cinnamon-spiced |
Conclusion
So, whether you’re looking to make instant coffee that’s hot or if you’re looking to make one of these recipes that are a little bit sweeter, there are tons of good ways to make instant coffee actually taste really, really good.
The notion that cold coffee bad people dislike, sucks is often just a result of poor preparation. By dissolving the crystals in cool water first to avoid burning them, using the correct water-to-coffee ratio, and experimenting with textures like blending or shaking, you can transform a cheap pantry staple into a café-quality beverage. It is also really, really, really cheap, which is a bonus we can all appreciate.