Here’s How to Make Strong Instant Coffee [The BEST Way]

Yes, we live in a very fast-paced world and yes, we need some caffeine in our lives, now don’t we? Well, instant coffee comes to the rescue by providing us with a quick and easy way of making that nice, hot cup of morning coffee. And that’s what the best selling instant coffee offers really. But sometimes it might be lacking that caffeine kick, so how to make strong instant coffee then?

You can make your instant coffee stronger by simply adding it more of it, without changing the amount of water that you’re using.

So for instance, let’s say that you’re mixing 1 teaspoon of your instant coffee in 250 ml (8 oz) of water (which is the size of a standard mug).

If you want to give it more oomph you can do so by increasing that by adding more instant coffee powder – e.g. 2, 3 or even 4 teaspoons.

This will make for a pretty powerful cup of coffee, so make sure to start low and slowly add more of the coffee powder until you find your sweet spot.

Oh, and if your coffee starts to taste bitter when trying to make it stronger, you can tone the bitterness down by simply adding some milk and sugar.

This will practically mask any bitter taste that the coffee might have due to using more of it.

Or in other words, once you nail down the desired strength of your coffee, do this:

Just play around with the milk and sugar amount to reduce any bitterness.

How Do You Make The Best Instant Coffee?

Well, you can treat yourself with some amazingly tasty instant coffee by making sure that you focus on 3 key factors.

And the best thing about it?

You can make your own strong coffee without a coffee maker!

1. Get Yourself Some Quality Instant Coffee

Clearly, the type of instant coffee that you go for will determine the taste of the coffee that you’ll be drinking.

So when you’re buying instant coffee, look for the freeze-dried kind since it generally provides a more pleasant taste than its spray-fried counterpart.

How to tell the difference between the two?

The freeze-dried type of coffee typically comes in granules, while spray-dried coffee mainly comes in the form of powder.

Nonetheless, that might not always be the case so just make sure that you’re buying freeze-dried coffee by checking the packaging label.

2. Use Fresh And Clean Water

Always use fresh water when preparing your instant coffee and never use water that’s been boiled more than once, since water loses its taste during repeated boiling.

However, if your tap water tastes bad, to begin with, then consider using a filter or even bottled water for making coffee.

Basically, don’t underestimate the significance that water has on the quality of your coffee.

And remember that the ideal water temperature for making coffee is 195 F to 205 F.

3. Always Use The Same Mug To Measure Your Instant Coffee

This is essential if you want to pinpoint an exact coffee-water ratio to ensure that the coffee isn’t too strong or too watery for your own taste.

And apart from relying on the same mug, try to use the same spoon (preferably a teaspoon) as well.

Or simply read the instructions on the instant coffee label, if there are any of course.

If not, keep in mind that one teaspoon per 8 oz (250 ml) should suffice.

However, you can always adjust that ratio (e.g. add more spoons of coffee), depending on how strong you want the coffee to be.

How Can I Make Strong Coffee At Home?

The simplest way to get more oomph out of your daily cup (or cups) of coffee, then you can do one of the following things, depending on your definition of strong coffee…

For A Coffee That Packs More Punch:

Use light roast coffee beans.

Basically, a light roast indicates a higher caffeine content.

If really want to feel that typical caffeine kick associated with a strong cup of coffee, then your best bet would be to go get some light roast beans and make your coffee with them.

Alternatively, you can go for a longer brewing time if you wish to make your coffee punchier.

In essence, the longer the coffee grounds are left to brew, the more caffeine will be extracted during the brewing process.

For A Coffee That Has A Stronger Flavor:

If your wish is to just have a more prominent flavor, then you can tweak the coffee grounds-water ratio.

However, there isn’t a cookie-cutter approach here since the ideal ratio will be entirely subjective (i.e. depending on your own taste).

Just start by adding slightly more coffee grounds when preparing your coffee or using less water and be careful not to skew the ratio too bad as the coffee might become too bitter.

Otherwise, you can just buy dark roast beans., since they provide a flavor that’s both bolder and richer.

A word of caution though – don’t forget to check the flavor notes on the label.

Imagine if you hate peppermint with a passion and the dark beans that you’re getting have a peppermint note to them… not good!

The same way you would prepare a regular instant coffee.

However, the twist here is that instead of water, you’ll be using only milk to make a cup of instant coffee.

Here’s a step by step guide on how to actually prepare instant coffee with milk:

1. Heat some milk (around 8 oz or 250 ml) in a pan or in the microwave, but don’t boil it
2. Add one, two or more teaspoons (depending on how strong you want your coffee to be) of the instant coffee that you’re using to a mug
3. Pour the heated milk into your mug with the instant coffee in it
4. Add some sugar into the mix (if you want to)
5. Stir the coffee, milk and sugar mix well
6. Enjoy

And no, don’t worry whether or not the instant coffee will actually dissolve in milk without any water.

Milk consists almost entirely of water anyway, so the coffee will dissolve just fine, particularly when the milk is hot.

On a side note, coffee made with milk (instead of water) will give it a very latte-like taste.

Especially if you prepare your instant coffee plus milk without using any sugar.

But that’s not very surprising after all since latte is basically exactly the same thing, coffee and milk!

Don’t have a bag of instant coffee at home?

No worries, you can make your own instant coffee at home.

All that you need is coffee grounds and a coffee grinder (any coffee grinder would do really), which you’ll use to fine-grind the coffee grounds into a powder-like substance.

Alternatively, you can also use a blender to achieve the same, but here’s how to make an instant coffee powder using a coffee grinder:

• Add 1, 2 or more (depending on how strong you want your coffee to be) teaspoons of your favorite coffee grounds to the coffee grinder
• Begin grinding the grounds until they start to clump at the bottom corners of your coffee grinder
• Put the now powdered coffee into a tea strainer
• Sift only the finest powder of the coffee grounds and place it into an airtight storage container
• Put the remaining coarser powder back into the grinder and repeat until it turns into a finer powder (or simply put it all back to your coffee can)

Now, something that’s worth mentioning is that prolonged grinding generates more heat (via friction) and this can diminish the flavor of your coffee.

That’s why your best bet is to make several small batches of instant coffee powder, instead of going for one huge and lengthy grind that could potentially mess up the flavor of your coffee.

Also, it’s best not to grind too much coffee because a fine-grinded coffee will lose its flavor quicker than whole coffee beans.

To avoid that, simply grind an amount that you’ll be consuming in a day or two.

And on top of that, always store your instant coffee powder in an airtight container!

If you want to make your own home-made 3 in 1 coffee powder, you’ll need 3 things – instant coffee powder, some creamer and sugar.

And this is how you use each of these to create a tasty and convenient cup of 3 in 1 at home:

• Put one tablespoon of instant coffee into a mug (around 12 oz)
• Then add one tablespoon and one teaspoon of creamer (preferably powdered)
• Now add one and a half teaspoons of sugar (any kind of sugar works)
• Pour 8 oz (250 ml) of hot water (not boiling) into the mix
• Stir well until all the ingredients dissolve properly
• Your home-brewed 3 in 1 is now ready to be enjoyed!

Yeah, preparing 3 in 1 is quite easy as you can see.

However, I’d personally stick to buying conventional, individual packets of 3 in 1.

My favorite ones are the Jacobs 3 in 1 instant coffee stick , since they’re quite affordable and in my opinion, the taste is way better than Nestle’s 3 in 1 instant coffee.

How To Make Instant Coffee Nescafe?

If you fancy Nescafe instant coffee powder , then you’d be probably glad to find out that making a nice cup of coffee using the Nescafe instant coffee is dead easy.

Don’t believe me? Check this out then:

• Add 1 heaping teaspoon of Nescafe to a mug and adjust to taste
• Pour 8 oz (~ 236 ml) of hot water
• Stir a few times
• Drink

It really doesn’t get any easier than that.

And while this might not provide you with the most optimal coffee taste-wise as many coffee fanatics will agree, it’s still quite good.

Above all though, I think that the convenience factor associated with instant coffee takes the cake, hands down!

Conclusion

So there you have it folks, making a strong cup of instant coffee at home is all about tweaking the amount of instant coffee powder that you’re using.

In essence, if you’re used to preparing your instant coffee with only 1 teaspoon of powder, try adding a teaspoon or two and you’ll have a pretty strong cup of coffee sitting in front of you!

How many scoops of instant coffee powder do you use for making a nice, strong cup of coffee though?

Feel free to leave your answer in the comment section below!

Last update on 2023-09-23 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API