Frequently Asked Questions

Instant coffee is brewed coffee that has been dried into soluble crystals. Add water and it's a cup of coffee again in seconds.

Most instant coffee is mass-produced from low-grade, often stale beans using aggressive methods that strip out flavor. Swift Coffee does the opposite. We start with high-quality, ethically sourced specialty coffee, brew it with care and freeze-dry it to protect its flavor and aroma. Our mission is to make quality coffee more accessible, and if we won't drink it, we won't sell it.

Yes, Swift Coffee is freeze-dried, and we make it ourselves in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Some of our methods are proprietary, but here's the short version.

We brew high-quality, ethically sourced coffee into a flavorful extract using only roasted coffee and water. Then we freeze it and dry it under a vacuum, so the ice turns straight into vapor without melting. It's slower than other methods, but it best preserves the coffee's flavors and aromas. Getting it right has taken us 10 years of trial and error, and we're always refining.

We make Swift Coffee ourselves in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and have since 2016.

We buy high-quality, ethically sourced specialty coffee from Latin America, East Africa and beyond. A few examples: Ethiopia - Agaro comes from the Nano Challa Cooperative in western Ethiopia. Burundi - Heza is from the Long Miles Coffee Project. Peru - Cusco is a community blend of 75 tiny lots from 36 farmers in La Convención.

Each product page lists the coffee's origin and tasting notes.

No. Our coffees are not certified organic and don't carry other third-party certification seals. Certification can be costly and out of reach for many small farms, and it doesn't always reflect the sustainable practices they already use. Instead, we focus on buying some of the best, ethically sourced coffees available.

Start with Mainstay - Blend, our flagship medium roast blend of Latin American and East African coffees. It earned a 9/10, the top score in Food & Wine's instant coffee taste test.

Want to explore? The Essentials - 3 Coffee Set pairs Mainstay with Ethiopia - Agaro and Colombia - Cafe Paraíso. Prefer dark roast? Try Twilight - Dark Roast.

We offer light, medium and dark roasts.

• Light: our African coffees, like Ethiopia - Agaro, Burundi - Heza and Fresh & Fruity - African Blend. Bright, fruity and best black.
• Medium: Mainstay - Blend, Decaf - Latin Blend, India - Bhadra, and our Latin American coffees like Colombia - Cafe Paraíso and Peru - Cusco. Balanced, and great black or with milk.
• Dark: Twilight - Dark Roast. Lower acidity and a fuller body, without the burnt taste of many dark roasts.

Yes. Decaf - Latin Blend is a medium roast blend of decaffeinated Latin American coffees with notes of dark chocolate, caramel and toasted nuts. Every coffee in the blend is decaffeinated using either the sugarcane (E.A.) process or the water process. It comes in single serve and bulk sizes.

Just coffee. Every Swift Coffee is 100% instant coffee, made from only roasted coffee and water. No additives, sugar or creamer.

About 140mg per serving. Each serving is 4.5g of instant coffee, and the USDA estimates instant coffee has about 31.4mg of caffeine per gram. Caffeine varies a little from batch to batch.

This applies to our caffeinated coffees. Our Decaf - Latin Blend is decaffeinated.

Just add water. Empty one single serve sachet (4.5g) into a mug, add 8 to 12oz of hot water and stir. Use less water for a stronger cup and more for a lighter one.

Using a bulk pouch? Stir in about 4.5g (roughly ½ tablespoon) per cup.

Yes. Stir a sachet into 8 to 12oz of cold water, then pour it over ice. You can also use milk instead of water.

Every serving is 4.5g (0.16oz) of instant coffee, which makes one 8 to 12oz cup.

• Single serve packs: 6 cups (27g), 18 cups (81g) or 48 cups (216g).
• Bulk pouches: up to 25 cups (113g) or up to 50 cups (225g).
• 3 Coffee Sets: 18 cups (6 each of three coffees).
• Subscriptions: 10, 20 or 30 single serve cups, or Mainstay bulk pouches of up to 25, 50 or 100 cups.

Single serve sachets are pre-measured 4.5g servings, handy for travel, the office or busy mornings. Bulk pouches are resealable, use less packaging and are our most economical option. You scoop about ½ tablespoon per cup, so you can make it as strong or as mild as you like.

Shop bulk pouches or the 48 cup single serve box.

Swift Coffee is very shelf-stable. Stored in a cool, dry place (ideally below 70°F), it can stay stable for years. Heat and moisture shorten shelf life, so check the Best By date on your package and reseal bulk pouches after each use.

Yes, it's made for it. Each single serve packet holds just 4.5g of instant coffee, so it's light and easy to pack. There's no gear to bring: just add hot or cold water and stir.

Yes, and subscribers save 5%. Choose "Subscribe and save" on most coffee pages and pick delivery every 2 weeks, every 6 weeks or monthly.

We also have two subscription-only options: the Mainstay Blend subscription and the Variety Pack subscription, which mixes coffees from our current menu with limited off-menu coffees. Browse all subscriptions.

Yes, anytime, no questions asked. Visit our Manage Subscriptions page, enter the email address you used for your subscription, and we'll send you a one-time login link.

From there you can pause or cancel, change your next order date (handy for skipping a delivery) or change how often your coffee arrives. Need a hand? Email us at hello@swiftcoffee.com.

Most orders are fulfilled the next business day. We try to ship orders every day except weekends, mostly with USPS.

Delivery times vary based on how far you are from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the shipping service you choose at checkout.

Yes. Shipping is free on U.S. orders of $40 or more with USPS Economy, and you can still choose a faster service at checkout if you want it sooner.

Not right now. Swift Coffee currently ships only within the United States.

Because our coffee is a food product, we don't offer returns or refunds. That said, if you're not satisfied with your purchase, please reach out. We genuinely care about your experience and will work to help.

You can read our full refund policy.

If there's an issue with your order, we'll work swiftly to make it right. Email us at hello@swiftcoffee.com or reach out through our contact page, and include your order number and a short description of the issue.

Email us at hello@swiftcoffee.com or use the form on our contact page. For order questions, include your order number so we can help faster.

Yes. We supply hotels and resorts (in-room coffee), offices and corporate events, and cafes and restaurants. Our single serve packets make it easy to serve great coffee without brewing equipment.

Learn more on our Wholesale, Swift for Offices and Swift for Hospitality pages, or email us at hello@swiftcoffee.com.

Yes. We co-manufacture instant coffee for specialty coffee roasters. If you're a roaster interested in turning your coffee into instant, reach out through our Roasting Partners page or email us at hello@swiftcoffee.com.