Try a new Gourmet Instant Coffee!

We are always looking for new products in the Instant Coffee class. Instant coffee in Asia is nothing like what we grew up with here in the States (move over, freeze-dried Sanka!). It is actually possible to create a gourmet instant coffee that is not brewed and dried and doesn't get bitter and flat-tasting.

G7 was the brand created by Trung Nguyen years ago, using a totally dry roasting process similar to the way Macha Tea is made. The green, unroasted coffee beans are powdered and roasted in the same operation, meaning the coffee does not go through the depleting process of brewing before being made into powder.

The process is now being imitated by makers like Starbucks in products like Via, but of course, they are charging 6 times or more what the original costs. Many people feel that G7 is still the landmark and best gourmet instant coffee in the world.

However, some people do prefer the taste of 100% Arabica in their instant. G7 is primarily Vietnamese gourmet Robusta, which for decades has been considered to be the best base for instant. Arabica tends to get tangy and bitter when you try to convert it into instant. However, new dry processing methods have greatly improved results with Arabica coffee.

Q Cafe is a brand produced by one of the largest coffee companies in Vietnam, Nhan Minh. We enjoy dealing with the people at this company, they are super. Q Cafe is a second-generation gourmet instant that really has nailed the process of eliminating the bitters in Arabica instant.

It's very hard to describe the differences between G7 and Q Cafe or any gourmet instant in words. You really have to just taste it. To make that possible we have purchased a starter quantity of Q Cafe 3-in-1 (coffee, sugar, non-dairy creamer), brought in by air cargo, for our customers to try. It's available in small trial packets of 4 sachets of 20 grams each for just $1 . Each sachet makes one 7-ounce cup of coffee just by adding hot water.

There are two blends. "Good Morning" is milder, sweeter and creamier. "Strong Taste" is bolder.

Try some today!

Battle of the instant(s)

A few years ago, Starbucks attempted to displace a number of indigenous coffee shops and brands in Vietnam and other regions of Southeast Asia. Due to a number of economic and societal factors, they were mostly unsuccessful. Not to be outdone, they decided to copy the success of the indigenous coffee companies and try to beat them at their own game. One result: Starbucks Via, the new instant that "tastes just like our brewed coffee". As to whether that is a good or bad thing, we will leave it up to Starbucks fans.

We purchased some Via to see what it was all about... reviews are really not enlightening because people don't usually understand the process technology or have much frame of reference for instant coffees.

Basically, the process uses roasted beans, and they simply powder them to make them soluble. That is why they really can claim that the instant tastes like their brewed coffee, to some extent, it's pretty much the same beans, just powdered.

They have an Italian Roast, which is totally mislabeled. It claims to be "Extra Bold" but it's actually much milder than the Columbian, which claims to be "Medium". In short, the Italian Roast is quite good, to my tastes, but the Columbian had all the worst that Starbucks has to offer -- it tasted like charcoal, and even a few sips produced indigestion in our tasters, due to the acids and indigestible burnt elements. They need to go back to the drawing board on the Columbian, at least, in the samples we tried. Who knows if the formula changes from batch to batch (another Starbucks specialty!)

Why is G7 Instant different from Via? It uses a proprietary technology to create powder from green coffee beans, roasting them in the process. When you capture the powder at the same point as roasting, apparently you eliminate loss of flavor and aroma and create an instant free of the typical bitterness and acidity of instants made from brewed coffee, as most are.

In our taste tests here at open coffee hours, people preferred the G7 to Via by a sizable margin. Many found the Italian Roast Via to be a good cup, but found it weak or too light a roast for their tastes.

Considering that the cost of a serving of G7 Black is about 1/6th that of Via, well.... what can we say. Pick your best value.

We also have brought out a new entré in the 3-in-1 genre, a brand called MaqRoma. We did this because we have learned through all our testing that some people really do have a palate taste preference for Arabica freeze-dried, as long as it is not bitter. There is a "tang" to it that is not in the G7, which could be better described as rich and mellow.

The MaqRoma is a very high quality coffee mix produced by Reviva, one of Southeast Asia's leading manufacturers of coffee for dispensing machines. In these countries, dispensers deliver truly gourmet quality. Some of the machines actually grind and brew a cup of coffee from whole beans while you wait! And the instant machines do not get a following unless people really like the cup they get. MaqRoma has been very successful, so we tested it here and liked it, and now offer it as the best Arabica freeze-dried instant we can find (out of over 40 brands).

Here's a fun thing to do: Mix a packet of G7 with a packet of MaqRoma and get a Robusta/Arabica mug-size brew that has the best of both worlds. Many people in our testing declared this truly the best instant cup of all.

Watch for a whole plethora of new instant coffees as the world discovers the potential of truly gourmet instant coffee!