By Jane Black / Photographs by Elizabeth Coetzee/WSJ; Prop Styling by Amanda Lauro

If you're of a certain age, you probably remember the Folgers coffee commercials where instant crystals secretly replaced freshly ground coffee. The duped consumers professed astonishment at a flavor "rich enough to be served in America's gourmet coffee houses."

How history repeats itself! Decades later, in my own at-home taste tests, I was similarly wowed by the sophisticated flavor of modern instant coffee. This is no longer your caffeine of last resort.

I'm not talking about pods filled with ground coffee that you need a special Keurig or Nespresso machine to make. With the new convenience coffees, you just add water. They come in a variety of formats, each brand claiming its technology makes the ultimate no-fail cup of joe.

Swift Coffee most resembles traditional instant: freeze-dried granules, to which you add hot water. Nate Kaiser founded the company in 2016 when he set up a lab in his basement, determined to discover "if it were even possible to make instant coffee that actually tastes good."

Sourcing specialty beans and skillfully roasting them gets Swift "about 80% of the way there," Kaiser said, setting the brand apart from other trendy freeze-dried coffees. But the brewing and dehydrating methods matter, too. Swift brews its coffee into a high-extraction concentrate and freezes it to sub-zero temperatures. Next, the coffee is placed under vacuum to gently remove the water while preserving nuances of flavor.

I did a blind tasting: a cup freshly brewed from my go-to beans, Coava's Ethiopian Kilenso, side by side with Swift Coffee's freeze-dried version of the same beans. (Swift, like many convenience brands, makes an instant version for well-known roasters that those roasters sell as their own.) I identified the instant, but it differed only subtly from the fresh-brewed. Convenience is compelling, especially before you get your morning shot of caffeine.

Flash freezing is the technology that Cometeer chose to tackle the convenience conundrum. The firm raised $100 million in venture capital -- then publicly stumbled. After layoffs and an executive shuffle, the company appears to have stabilized. The coffee? Extraordinary.

One reason: Alex Kaplan, the 25-year-old wunderkind who oversees coffee quality for Cometeer. He started roasting beans at 14. At 19 he became one of the youngest certified Q Graders, the coffee equivalent of a master sommelier.

After flash freezing, Cometeer's concentrated brews are flushed with nitrogen to avoid oxidation. The coffee is never dehydrated, which, Kaplan says, protects volatile aromas.

I found some of Cometeer's blends a revelation -- Kaplan's Stellar Series, in particular. But I disliked that the coffee was delivered on dry ice, which seemed wasteful, and that it demanded space in my already-packed freezer. Cometeer also costs more than other instants, starting at $2 a cup and going up to $7.50 for the Stellar Series.

Steeped Coffee has reinvented the tea bag as a coffee delivery system. Ground coffee goes into a compostable film that is "ultrasonically welded," says CEO Josh Wilbur, and then "triple nitro-sealed" to "stop the clock on the coffee aging process."

The hype didn't quite deliver. I tested Steeped's blends and found the flavors much less vibrant than Cometeer's or Swift's. I also found the 5-7 minutes it took to brew too long for a convenience solution.

In the food world, convenience usually comes with a trade-off, but, for the most part, that's not true with these new instant coffees. The quality is there, and the price is far lower than what you'd pay to have a barista make your coffee. A win-win.

How the new instant coffees -- far more affordable than your typical $5 barista-made brew -- measure up

Swift Coffee: from $1.40 per serving

A pioneer in high-end convenience coffee, Swift has updated the freeze-drying process. It uses top-of-the-line beans to make a concentrated coffee liquid, then gently removes the water at low temperatures to help preserve flavor. The coffees are all but indistinguishable from a cup brewed with freshly ground beans. Swift makes its own coffee and co-manufactures for a number of well-known brands. A great option for both at-home and travel caffeinating. (I recently packed some in my suitcase and happily drank it in -- gasp! -- Italy.)

Cometeer: from $2 per serving

I was skeptical about Cometeer, which built a business shipping its frozen capsules to consumers on dry ice. It seemed wasteful and overcomplicated. But Cometeer's frozen pods, which you melt under hot water, make an absolutely terrific cup of coffee. Plus you can defrost the pods and use them for iced coffee or lattes, which is harder to do with freeze-dried coffee or "coffee bags." Cometeer is beginning to show up in grocery stores, though at a higher price than if you purchase online.

Steeped Coffee: from $1.65 per serving

The "innovation" that Steeped Coffee brings to convenience coffee is, effectively, a tea bag. In theory, you're getting a "fresh-brewed" cup, since the coffee in Steeped's compostable bag -- "ultrasonically welded" and then "triple-nitro sealed" to keep it fresh -- is neither freeze-dried nor frozen. Like Swift, Steeped sells its own coffees and produces versions for popular brands. But the coffee tasted flatter than competitors. It also took up to 7 minutes to brew, about as long as it takes to grind beans and make a fresh cup.

The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers frequently are not the sole retail outlets.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2025 15:15 ET (20:15 GMT)

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