Is Instant Coffee Unsafe To Drink?
Coffee is full of magical powers (okay, not magical, but definitely mysterious) and instant coffee makes the perfect mugful in the afternoon. But instant coffee doesn't need to be brewed, so what is it? Instant coffee is made by either spray-drying or freeze-drying liquid coffee. The granules this creates can then be mixed with hot water for a super-quick and convenient pick-me-up. It's come to light that all coffee (but especially instant coffee) contains acrylamide, a naturally forming carcinogen. So what gives, is instant coffee unsafe to drink?
As dangerous as ingestion of acrylamide is — and it is, quite — and despite its presence in instant coffee being double that of regularly brewed coffee, the evidence linking the substance with cancer in humans remains inconclusive (the tests which earned acrylamide the title of carcinogen were animal trials). While it did cause cancer in animals, those creatures were exposed to 100,000 times more acrylamide than what any normal human living their life would ingest.
More research is needed to understand whether the substance causes cancer in humans, so it's really up to you whether or not you continue to drink instant coffee. Bear in mind that acrylamide is produced wherever the Maillard reaction is taking place — for example, searing a steak in a pan, brewing beer, or roasting potatoes. So if you're willing to eat roasted potatoes (or basically anything cooked), you're already consuming acrylamide. In that sense, no instant coffee isn't unsafe.
Why you might want to swap your instant coffee for fresh-brewed anyway
If you're especially cancer-conscious, and you love a cup of joe, that might be enough reason for you to skip instant coffee and only drink the fresh-brewed kind (despite how fancy instant coffee has become), but there are more reasons why fresh coffee is considered healthier. For example, brewed coffee contains more chlorogenic acid and phenolic compounds. The former may be useful in controlling both high blood pressure and blood sugar levels, while the latter helps our bodies fight inflammation.
If you like controlling how much sugar is in your coffee, you should know that some instant coffee brands add it to their granules while others include preservatives — so make sure you read the label. Or you can avoid that issue altogether by brewing your own and adding as much or as little sugar and cream as you want. If you're drinking coffee to perk yourself up, instant coffee only has about half the amount of caffeine as fresh-brewed.