Preparing Coffee on Shabbos
Question: How does one make a cup of instant coffee [or instant tea] on Shabbos?
Discussion: The well-known halachic principle, ein bishul achar bishul, means that once a food has been cooked before Shabbos, it cannot—in halachic terms—be “cooked” again. In other words, a food which has already been cooked cannot be subject to the prohibition of cooking on Shabbos.
Regarding making a cup of coffee on Shabbos, one could reason that since coffee beans are first roasted and then cooked while being processed into instant coffee, it would be permissible to pour boiling water from an urn directly onto the [already cooked] instant coffee powder.44 But there are two good reasons why this is not so simple a matter:
While it may be true that generally, coffee beans are cooked before they are made into instant coffee, it is possible that a method other than cooking was used in the manufacturing process.45 If, indeed, a process other than cooking was used, then it would be strictly prohibited to pour water directly from the urn over the coffee, since then the coffee would become cooked for the first time.
Some authorities maintain that instant coffee is not considered a solid food since it disintegrates completely and melts upon contact with hot water.46 Thus it would be classified halachically as a liquid. The rule regarding liquids is that even if they were fully cooked, if they are no longer warm47 it is prohibited to re-cook them.48 If so, then water may not be poured directly from the urn over the instant coffee, since cooled-off liquids are subject to bishul.
Practically speaking, are these two issues a concern? While there are dissenting opinions,49 the general consensus among contemporary poskim is that it is proper to be stringent. The poskim advise, therefore, that one first fill the coffee cup with water from the urn, and then put the instant coffee into the cup; this way the instant coffee is being put into a kli sheini (a “second vessel”), which does not have the power to re-cook liquids which have cooled off.50 Some poskim go even further and advise that one pour the water from the first cup into another cup51 and then put the instant coffee in.52 This way, the instant coffee is being put into a kli shelishi (a “third vessel”), which has even less cooking power than a kli sheini.53
The rules regarding instant coffee [or tea] apply also to processed sugar and artificial sweeteners.
44. The procedure is as follows: After roasting the coffee beans, the beans are ground and brewed. Then the cooked beans are spray dried with hot air to remove all of the moisture from the beans. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-16 rules that both the cooking and the spray drying procedure renders the coffee powder as completely cooked and the rule of Ein bishul achar bishul applies. [See also Igros Moshe, O.C. 2:85, why we are not concerned with bishul achar afiyah in this case, even though the spray drying procedure “bakes” the instant coffee powder.] Some manufacturers remove the moisture from the brewed coffee through a freeze drying procedure; see Sefer Hilchos Shabbos, pgs. 297-299.
45. See Meor ha-Shabbos, vol. 1, 5:25, that possibly this is current technology in some plants.
46. See Machatzis ha-Shekel 318:31 and Mishnah Berurah 318:71 concerning sugar. The halachah regarding instant coffee may be even stricter, since it is used exclusively in a liquid state.
47. “Warm” means that it is warm enough to be enjoyed as a “warm drink.”
48. Rama, O.C. 318:15. But it is only prohibited to re-cook cooled-off liquids in a kli rishon; Mishnah Berurah 318:23.
49. See Yechaveh Da’as 2:44 who is lenient. But as stated earlier, the technology of instant coffee preparation is constantly changing and it is possible that a method other than cooking is being used.
50. Minchas Yitzchak 1:55; 9:27; Chelkas Yaakov 2:116; Rav S.Z. Auerbach (Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 1, note 155). [In addition, see Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74, Bishul 18, who debates whether or not coffee and tea—even if previously uncooked—have the halachic status of tavlin, spices, which do not cook altogether in a kli sheini.]
51. Another method is to place the instant coffee in a cup, and then pour the water from a kli sheini over it. Using this method will satisfy the concern of the Sha’ar ha-Tziyun 318:65 concerning the Coloring of the water.
52. Rav A. Kotler (quoted in Sefer Hilchos Shabbos, pg. 299); Rav Y.S. Elyashiv (Meor ha-Shabbos, vol. 1, 5:25); Shevet ha-Levi 8:63.
53. Rav M. Feinstein (Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74, Bishul 16) writes that though the halachah permits pouring hot water directly over instant coffee, he himself–for his personal use–was particular to put the coffee in a kli shelishi.