Anyone else going down the internet rabbit hole and learning a lot of cool, interesting facts, but also a decent amount of useless ones too (if we're being honest)? On today's deep dive made possible thanks to COVID's stay-at-home restrictions and our attempts to postpone going insane as long as possible, we found an article about coffee consumption in outer space. Please enjoy the following facts from the Daily Coffee News.

Did you know...coffee is not considered a mandatory supplement for astronauts? However, most request it and have enough room in their beverage containers for up to three cups per day. Coffee in space dates back to Apollo 11 when American astronaut Michael Collins said “Behind the Moon, I was by myself, all alone but not lonesome. I felt very comfortable back there. I even had hot coffee.”

Coffee consumed in space is always of the soluble, instant variety and if astronauts want to include milk and sugar, the mixture must be concocted on earth prior to take off. This is because if you were to combine these ingredients outside of the sealed coffee pouches while in space, they could cause damage by floating inside of computer modules and ventilation systems. The coffee pouch design involves a ventricle-like configuration that prevents detrimental spillage or waste. The pouch is injected with hot water using a needle, which is then replaced with a straw to sip from.

This method of consuming freeze-dried coffee dates back to 1964 and only in recent years has NASA experimented with other coffee brewing methods in space. In 2013, NASA created a water recycling system that would allow for a much larger water supply and therefore more opportunities for brewing coffee. In 2015, Italian engineering firm Argotec teamed up with Italian roaster Lavazza to create an espresso machine capable of brewing in space. It was named the ISSpresso and was decommissioned 32 months later. In 2016, Mark Weislogel from Portland State University designed the zero-gravity cup which allowed astronauts to sip rather than suck from a pouch. This also allowed drinkers to smell the brewed coffee for the first time. In that same year, astronaut Kjell Lindgren invented the zero-gravity hand brewer. This utilized a k-cup pod placed inside of a plastic brewer and screwed onto the bottom of the zero-gravity cup. Hot water is forced through the K-cup via a syringe. However, these cups require cleaning.

Instant is still the way to go for brewing coffee in space, but this is not the end of researching other, more palatable and enjoyable ways to brew coffee outside of Earth’s gravity. If you didn't get enough facts about coffee in space from the above, please head on over to check out the full article here.

Source: Batory, Craig. “One Giant Slurp for Mankind: 50 Years of Coffee in Space.” Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine, 21 August 2019, https://dailycoffeenews.com/2019/08/21/one-giant-slurp-for-mankind-50-years-of-coffee-in-space/?utm_source=Roast+Magazine+%26+Daily+Coffee+News&utm_campaign=7a8d4a41cd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_6_14_2018_8_20_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8f24fab631-7a8d4a41cd-193708137.