According to the Huffington Post, the 10 best-tasting instant coffees are Starbucks Via Colombia, Jacobs Kronung, Starbucks Via Italian Roast, Bustelo Supreme, Mount Hagen, Giraldo Farms, Medaglia D'Oro Instant Espresso Coffee, Chock Full O'Nuts, Tchibo Family and Everyday Value. Honorable mentions include Starbucks Via French Roast, Mountain Blend and Sanka.
Although instant coffee is not known for being the best-tasting cup of java, the Huffington Post chose to do a list on instant coffee because it's something that most people can afford to drink every morning instead of buying coffee from a coffee shop. During testing, the Hufffington Post claims that the top five instant coffees on the list were not discernible from regular coffee.
Although the process for making instant coffee varies slightly between manufacturers, it starts with traditional coffee beans. These beans are dissolved in water to concentrate the coffee. Finally, the product is dried by either spray-drying or freeze-drying, which gives instant coffee its powdery, crystal-like look.
Instant coffee was first invented in 1901 by a Japanese scientist in Chicago. However, demand for the process did not increase until WWII because the same technology that is used to make instant coffee is also used to produce blood plasma and penicillin, which was developed by the military for war time.
