Substitute for Instant Espresso Powder

Our answer

Nigella's One-Step No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream (from Nigellissima and on the Nigella website) is flavoured with instant espresso powder. This powder is made from coffee gounds that have already been used once to brew espresso. The grounds are dried and then ground again into a very fine powder. So the powder contains both very finely ground coffee and also some dried crystals of coffee. The crystals will dissolve in liquid quickly and the finely ground powder also adds extra flavour. Usually espresso powder is quite strong.

Greek, or Turkish, ground coffee is made from beans that are very finely ground. This ground coffee is usually mixed with hot water and then left to stand in the cup to brew and to allow the coffee grounds to settle to the bottom of the cup. We have not tried to use this coffee ourselves in the ice cream and we are uncertain of whether it would be a good substitute. One problem is that the coffee may not be as strong as the espresso powder (we understand the strength can vary according to the beans used) so you would need to use a greater volume and it may not flavour the ice cream quite as well. Also the coffee is fine but still not as fine as the instant espresso powder and there is a risk that some of the grounds would sink to the bottom of the mixture before it froze fully. We suspect that if you wanted to use the Greek ground coffee then it would be best perhaps to use a mixture of 1 tablespoon of the Greek ground coffee and 2 tablespoons of instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons of hot water.