Meet White Horse Instant Espresso...
30g jars, each containing 10 serves of our Organic Blend in freeze-dried instant. The same beans we use for our regular Organic Blend - PNG for chocolate notes, an Indonesian for body, and a Honduran for brightness. The flavour profile holds: you’re getting that familiar bounty chocolate with milk character, just without needing a $3000 espresso machine.
Instant Excellence: The 12-month Journey to Specialty Coffee Convenience
It’s 5am on a Tuesday morning at our roastery, and I’m holding something that twelve months ago seemed impossible: a cup of Instant Coffee made in house, from coffee that our team roasted, that tastes like it could have come straight from our the baristas at one of our cafes.
Over the last 16 years, we’ve done our best to build a reputation on obsessive quality, no genuine, unpretentious community connection. But there was always a nagging gap - what happens when our customers can’t access a proper espresso machine? When they’re camping, stuck in a hotel, or your just don’t have the time in the morning to make their own brew.
We refuse to accept that convenience means compromising on everything we stand for.
The Convenience Compromise
Let’s be real about instant coffee for a minute. The stuff you find in supermarket aisles is basically coffee-flavoured disappointment powder. spray-dried into submission, stripped of the great flavour that makes coffee actually worth drinking. We’ve all been there - desperate times, instant measures, immediate letdown.
Dom’s been carrying a portable espresso maker in his luggage for years because drinking hotel instant made him physically ill, but watching other travelers struggle with bad coffee while we obsessed over perfect extractions felt… elitist?
Our “obsessive quality and desire to provide ‘Coffee for the Community’ couldn’t accept that convenient coffee had to be terrible coffee.
The technical challenge was BRUTAL. specialty coffee beans contain volatile compounds that make them taste good - oils, aromatics, all the stuff that disappears the moment you apply heat or pressure in the wrong way. Most instant coffee production destroys these completely, So we needed to find a way to preserve what makes our coffees special, while making it dissolve instantly.
From Roastery Experiments to Freeze-Dried Mastery
Early 2024: Our first attempts did not fill us with confidence. Working with an external instant coffee manufacturer, We tried everything - different brew ratios, extraction methods, even roast profiles specifically designed for instant processing. We lacked the control to manage the variables ourselves, and these attempts turned our coffee into expensive brown dust more times than we care to admit.
The breakthrough came when our R & D team explored ways we could produce this instant in house. We connected with some experts in Freeze Drying, and things started to look promising. Unlike instant production that utilises spray-drying (which basically cooks your coffee to death), freeze-drying removes water through sublimation - straight from ice to vapor without a destructive heat phase.
We knew this was the way we needed to go, and before we knew it, Matty had organised us our very own Freeze Dryer to experiment with!
Even with the right technology, getting it RIGHT took months. We had to completely rethink our approach. What works for a home espresso machine doesn’t necessarily work for freeze-drying. Every batch meant recalibrating, retesting, usually followed by Dom muttering curse words at a good coffee that just wasn’t quite great yet.
The testing process was obsessive even by our standards. Blind taste tests with our regular customers comparing freeze-dried versions against fresh shots from the same beans. We measured everything - extraction rates, crema formation and flavour retention. Our palate’s hadn’t had a workout like this since we first designed White Knight.
Then it happened, twelve months of failures, and suddenly there it was - a cup of instant coffee that we were happy to call ‘White Horse Coffee’. The room went quiet, then in classic form, Dom started yelling in delight because it seemed so impossible.
How We Preserved what makes White Horse Coffee Special
Freeze-drying works by freezing the extracted coffee, then placing it in a vacuum chamber where the ice sublimates directly into vapor.
We’re talking about preserving compounds at the molecular level here. coffee contains over 1000 different aromatic compounds, and most instant coffee processes eliminate 80-90% of them. The science gets nerdy quickly, but basically: lower processing temperatures + vacuum environment + controlled moisture removal = actual coffee flavour survival.
The brewing specs are simple: 3g instant + 200ml hot water = proper espresso strength coffee in 30 seconds. no grinding, no tamping, no temperature surfing. Just coffee that doesn’t suck when you need it fast.
The 30g format gives you enough serves to properly evaluate whether this works for you without committing to bulk quantities. We’re not trying to replace your daily espresso ritual - we’re trying to eliminate the times you have to compromise on coffee quality because convenience wasn’t available.
Breaking Instant Stereotypes with Premium Reality
We know what you’re thinking about instant coffee. We had the same skepticism. but this isn’t supermarket instant coffee any more than our espresso is supermarket coffee. Different category entirely.
The ingredients are identical to what we put through our espresso machines - same organic certified beans, same roasting approach, same quality standards that won us golden bean. The only difference is the final processing method that makes it water-soluble without destroying everything good about it.
Beta testers have been… enthusiastic. Comments range from “this is actually coffee” to “how is this even possible” to “my travel coffee game just got SIGNIFICANTLY better.”
We’re confident enough in the quality to offer the same satisfaction guarantee we put on everything else. If it doesn’t meet your expectations for what coffee should taste like, return it. Our reputation depends on every cup being worth drinking, whether it comes from our cafes or a hotel bathroom kettle.
Milk coffee: use 3g instant + 150ml hot water, then add steamed/frothed milk for instant cappuccino or latte. ratios work the same as regular espresso.
Creative Application: Affogato over vanilla ice cream, coffee cocktails without needing to brew cold coffee, baking where you want intense coffee flavour without liquid volume. also works dissolved in cold water for quick iced coffee.
Travel Tip: The 30g jar fits easily in carry-on, and security doesn’t care about coffee powder. Ask the flight attendants for some hot water & Happy Days.
Storage: Keep sealed, cool, dry place. once opened, use within 6 months for optimal flavour retention, though it’ll stay good longer.
This is Just the Beginning
Our product development pipeline has… things happening. We won’t say much yet, but if freeze-drying works this well for our Organic Blend, imagine what else becomes possible.
We’re committed to solving coffee convenience problems without compromising quality. Customer feedback drives everything - if there are use cases we haven’t considered or improvements that would make this more useful, let us know.
Quality will keep evolving. This is version 1.0 of what our premium instant coffee can be. We’ll keep improving the process, refining the technique, probably driving ourselves slightly mad in pursuit of the perfect convenience coffee.
Experience it Yourself
Available now in our Sutherland and Kirrawee cafe locations. 30g jars, $17 each, or grab a few if you’re the type who panics about running out of good coffee.
Try it. Honestly evaluate it against your coffee standards. If it doesn’t measure up, return it. We’re betting our reputation that it will.
- Alex, Head Barista
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