Voilà Coffee wants to reinvent the way we see instant coffee

By Ann Binlot August 12, 2016

instant coffee, voila coffee — Image used with permission by copyright holder

We don’t know about you, but when we think of instant coffee, images of crystalized grounds that come in containers with labels like Nescafé, Folgers, and Maxwell House. There’s just something about it that is watered down and doesn’t taste like the specialty stuff we brew at home and purchase on our coffee breaks. Kent Sheridan wants to change that with Voilà Coffee.

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“Voilà started out of a desire to drink amazing specialty coffee anywhere and anytime,” says Sheridan. “When you really care about a good cup of coffee, it can make traveling, camping, or even just fast-paced mornings difficult. Spending five to ten minutes making a pour-over isn’t always practical.”

So Sheridan went out on a quest to create a high-quality instant coffee that tastes just as good as brewing it. “Typical instant is always made using commodity grade coffee, roasted until it’s so greasy and charred that there’s absolutely no chance of sweetness or flavor left in the beans, then it is extracted by high pressure steam into a coffee goop before it’s freeze dried,” explains Sheridan. “Voilà is made with some of the world’s best coffees (typically 85 pts or higher on an exponential grading scale) and roasted by well-respected specialty roasters across the U.S. to bring out the unique characteristics and flavor of each coffee. It’s then brewed up to near-perfect extractions to highlight flavor, acidity, body, sweetness, and complexity. So that all you have to do is add water… & Voilà!”

Sheridan is trying to launch Voilà Coffee on Kickstarter and so far, the preliminary results have been nothing but positive. Its roasters are so impressed that they can’t believe that they are drinking instant coffee. Sheridan is sure that you’ll feel that way too. “I’m confident that no one would be able to point out that they are drinking a cup of instant coffee,” he said.

For more information, visit voila.coffee.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ann Binlot is a New York-based freelance writer who contributes to publications like The Economist, Wallpaper*, Monocle…

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