How to soften coffee that's gone hard

crawley_girl

I keep my instant coffee in an airtight jar but when I opened the jar the other day, it had all lumped together in one massive.. well... lump!

I have tried breaking some coffee off to make a cup of coffee but it doesn't dissolve and I am left with floating chunks.

Why is this happening? What can I do to stop it?

Churchmouse

I've had this before:mad: I'm sure it's caused by moisture getting in. Sometimes I know the lid gets left off, other times I think it must be the seal goes ( I'm talking instant coffee in it's original jar here). Never found a way to remedy it Other than using boiling water and stirring like crazy!!!! ( even then, have resorted to binning it, but please don't tell anyone:o )

Quasar

Oh it has happened to me too! :mad: What I did about it might sound like desperate OS, but I did try it anyway.

I just boiedl the water, pourrd some in the jar, left it for a few seconds until it had melted a bit of coffee then poured it into the cup/mug and added the rest of the water.

The rest of the coffee in the jar remained a lump which I dissolved little by little with each cup. It tasted just as good anyway.

allIcouldwishfor

crawley_girl wrote:

I keep my instant coffee in an airtight jar but when I opened the jar the other day, it had all lumped together in one massive.. well... lump!

I have tried breaking some coffee off to make a cup of coffee but it doesn't dissolve and I am left with floating chunks.

Why is this happening? What can I do to stop it?

This used to happen to me when I kept my coffee in a brabantia canister - future proof, what a load of old knickers!!!

I have douwe egberts instant now which comes in quite decorative, but more importantly, AIRTIGHT jars that can be re-used when the coffee's gone.

RibenaBerry_2

Yup, water has got to it.

On a storage point, do you keep the coffee in a cupboard above the kettle? If there's a cupboard there, it gets quite a lot of steam, not the best place for storing coffee, etc. I had that problem a while back.

crawley_girl

No I keep it on the side next inbetween the kettle and the hob. But the steam/ heat rises and I am sure it is airtight. Maybe I should swap the coffee jar for the tea-bag jar and see what happens.

:heartpuls CG :heartpuls

Jayar

Remedy: Stop using instant coffee
Ground coffee is much nicer and works out cheaper too - specially at Lidl

crawley_girl

Jayar wrote:

Remedy: Stop using instant coffee
Ground coffee is much nicer and works out cheaper too - specially at Lidl

No Lidl's near me, plus I don't drink that much coffee anyhow and not overly keen on ground.

lil_me

Always use a dry spoon, even a little damp will make it icky. I also put a piece of kitchen roll inside which absorbs any excess moisture (tip stolen from a friend who puts it over the top before putting lid on)

Larumbelle

Sorry if this is already somewhere, I did do a search but couldn't find anything

My OH's instant coffee has gone hard. To be honest we don't use instant that often, but when he went to use it today it has gone hard. Is there any way to make it soft and powdery again? I can chip it off and use it, but I'd rather have a free-flowing powder again

If anyone has any ideas I'd be grateful

Pink.

Hi silvercharming,

There's an earlier thread with some ideas that may help so I've added your post to it to keep the suggestions together.

Pink