In a world of fancy espresso machines, gourmet blends and cold brews, instant coffee has often been considered to be at the bottom of the proverbial coffee barrel. But the powder is getting a glow-up, thanks to better quality, social media trends and advancements in instant coffee technology.

"It's having a moment," said Joey Pittoello, general manager of the coffee roaster Just Us! in Halifax. "I think people have discovered that instant coffee can be of much better quality now."

More brewers are choosing to highlight instant coffee, from big brands such as Starbucks, to smaller roasters like Just Us!, in part because they are seeing an increased demand for it.

At Just Us!, which has been selling instant coffee for over 15 years, instant coffee sales have grown around 15 per cent in the last two years, says Pittoello, with other coffee companies such as Eight Ounce Coffee and Canadian Heritage Coffee Roasters in Calgary reporting similar increases in recent years.

According to a 2025 Agricultural Canada report, instant coffee sales totalled $330 million in Canada in 2024, up 10 per cent from the previous year.

"Instant coffee is undergoing the same transformation as a lot of coffee drinks," said Robert Carter, a food industry analyst and the president of the Coffee Association of Canada.

"There's more premiumization that's taking place. And I think that's resulting in an increase in consumption."

Social media trends are also improving instant coffee's rep. There's the Dalgona coffee trend, popularized during the pandemic, which is a whipped drink made by whisking instant coffee, sugar and hot water, then putting it over milk.

People are also using instant coffee to make lattes or iced coffees at home. Additionally, Pittoello says people use it in baking, or in seasoning when barbecuing.

"It's easy to make interesting sweet milky drinks with instant coffee. You just have to add it, right?" said Pittoello.
A change in quality and technology

Instant coffee isn't anything new though. Big brands like Nescafé and Maxwell House have been selling instant coffee for decades.

"I don't think it ever really went anywhere," said Pittoello.

What has changed, though, is the quality of instant coffee. Pittoello says the robusta bean, which has a simple flavour profile compared to arabica, had commonly been used to make instant coffee.

"You're enhancing the level of low quality by turning it into instant coffee and that's really what defined instant coffee for decades," said Pittoello.

Now more specialty roasters are using better beans to make their instant coffee. Just Us! uses arabica, as does Starbucks.

But that's not the only reason you're seeing specialty coffee shops selling their own instant coffee. Josh Hockin, head of coffee at Eight Ounce Coffee in Calgary, says it's easier than ever to manufacture it, thanks to advancements in technology.

Mainstream brands like Nescafé and Maxwell House make large amounts of instant coffee through a process called spray drying, which involves brewing coffee as strong as possible, then spraying that coffee into a heated chamber, creating the instant coffee powder.

But Hockin says a better quality coffee can be made by brewing the coffee then freeze-drying it instead. Years ago, the machine to do so would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and was as big as a shipping container.

Now, he says the machines cost about $3,000 to $4,000 Cdn, and can plug into the wall.

"It's not cheap to do, but it's certainly way less expensive than it would have been in the past," said Hockin.

According to Robert Carter, it's not that people are replacing their at-home set up with instant coffee. Rather, Carter says, instant coffee is giving people another option to enjoy one of the most consumed drinks in Canada.

"We're not seeing a cannibalization taking place. We're seeing an expansion of the types of coffee products being consumed that are different than just your traditional brewed coffee.”

And people are willing to pay a premium for that, says Hockin. He says it's the equivalent of buying a cup at a coffee shop, with some packets of four selling for $11, while some varieties sell for $42 for a six-pack.

But, he says, the quality is just as good, and it's as convenient as it gets.

"It's not their everyday cup of coffee, obviously. But they are very willing, very very willing to pay that money.”

Thought this was timely as some of us were discussing instant recently.

The last time I had instant, it was way too bitter for my taste. And I often drink my coffee black.

I only use it in mixed drinks, usually sweet, and I drink my coffee only black, or corrected. Corrected = boozy.

My favourite thing about coffee as a hobby is actually making the coffee, more than drinking it. Of course, drinking it is nice too, but making coffee, using my equipment, that’s what I enjoy most. So I never personally got the appeal of instant. I don’t think adding boiling water to some granules and calling it a day would be particularly satisfying to me, but I get it for people who don’t care about the actual making of their coffee and just need some caffeine.

I'm a purist too for my coffee. But when guests come over, as the only coffee drinker in my home, my one cup v60 and flair signature aren't up to handle volume specialty drinks. Thus, there is room for instant. The coffee flavour gets drowned anyways by bailies, amaretto, steamed milk etc... no one has complained. ;)

I see instant as a solution to a problem: lack of facilities to make proper coffee.

And when traveling it would be nice to have a solution for the crappy coffee in restaurants and hotels.

Or camping

Fair enough. The only times I ever have people come over for coffee would be my parents, and they’re okay to wait a minute for their drinks. My dad is really into coffee too, so I’ll usually let him make his own pour over, and my mom just likes Americanos and isn’t picky so she’s easy to serve. Anyone else that comes over for drinks, it’s usually beer.

I put instance coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time. ~ Steven Wright.

I've been using Medaglia D'Oro instant espresso for years now. It's quite good when you don't have an espresso machine.

If you don’t have any proper equipment to make coffee with, it’s definitely the most accessible. But for me, it doesn’t make any sense to buy. It would just be a waste of money.

I only use it for camping

people who don’t care about the actual making of their coffee and just need some caffeine.

What about people who don't get into the cult[ure] of making coffee and would like a cup of coffee without all the work?

also the time commitment to make "special coffee" and the cost. most people dont want to spend the money or time to make good coffee.

Backpacking/camping, all kinds of other travel where the only other option might be hotel or crappy office coffee.

Isn’t that the appeal of the AeroPress though? I mean, I’ve never personally used one, but that’s what I’ve read anyway.

Nobody in my hiking crew uses an areopress, myself included. Not that I WOULDN'T, per se, I just don't. Extra weight and hassle to haul out with you.

Now some of that crew will do "normal" camping, where your car is nearby. And for that they bring an areopress, or moka, or one guy even brings a perculator.

Heck, I've got a post on here where I brought my entire espresso machine.

People do what they wanna do, and sometimes instant is just the way to go, for some people 🤷‍♂️

Yeah, for some travel, I'll bring an aeropress and a hand grinder, but that only works if I'm somewhere i can heat up water. I'm not going to carry my setup down to a hotel lobby or something to get hot water. Likewise, I'm not going to cary that extra weight backpacking when a packet of instant coffee is like 5 grams, and my grinder is 100 times that.

Totally fair, and no disrespect to anyone doing anything different. I just personally look for alternative ways to get my coffee, rather than instant. But everyone’s different.

Fair. I don’t really go backpacking, the most “wilderness” I usually go is renting a small cottage off the grid and I’ll bring a portable stove and heat source and do day trips from there. Moka pot is great for that.

There are a lot of good travel options. Coffee sock is fun and makes excellent coffee camping with really low footprint for example.
Instant isn't a bad option for camping necessarily, but certainly not the only option.