they were horrified by how comparatively awful instant is “It’s a different drink, it’s disgusting” 
I've had just about every coffee making device ever made and even went through the bit of roasting my own green beans from Costa Rica. At the end of the day it's a dark roast, with chicory, from Community Coffee going into a $13 French press from Temu...
This is also interesting to me, because I was surprised to find out that my usual everyday cuppa, PG Tips, has recently been reformulated to allow for a brew/steep time of a mere 90 seconds (up to 2 minutes), as opposed to the long-accepted standard of 3-5 minutes, because impatient drinkers couldn’t wait that long for a proper cup.
I think that is very true.Interesting topic - I’m on another forum (not cooking/food), and instant coffee came up there as a subject of discussion not long ago.
The gist was, someone from the US posted how nasty instant coffee is, and how could anyone drink it, and then several of the European posters commented that that’s because instant coffee in the US is a horrible, inferior product, whereas the instant coffee produced for the discerning palate of the European, is an utter delight and, while not as good as the fresh ground coffees made there, was indeed superior to the finest fresh-ground US coffees!
Back in the ‘70’s, when I was a kid, there was a real push for instant coffee, and it was marketed as being “better than” brewed coffee - especially Sanka, and it was seen by a lot of people (including my otherwise plain-as-dirt grandparents) as a sign of sophistication to ask for a cup of Sanka instead of a cup of coffee.
I do keep instant coffee on hand…for using in recipes, like cakes.
I know there were some numbers published a couple of years ago that showed coffee had overtaken tea as the more popular drink in the UK, with the real divide between younger versus older drinkers - the hepcats preferred the bean by a wide margin. I wonder if that’s still the case?
This is also interesting to me, because I was surprised to find out that my usual everyday cuppa, PG Tips, has recently been reformulated to allow for a brew/steep time of a mere 90 seconds (up to 2 minutes), as opposed to the long-accepted standard of 3-5 minutes, because impatient drinkers couldn’t wait that long for a proper cup.
Ahhh, progress. I think I need a cup o’ tea to contemplate that for a bit…
Interesting topic - I’m on another forum (not cooking/food), and instant coffee came up there as a subject of discussion not long ago.
The gist was, someone from the US posted how nasty instant coffee is, and how could anyone drink it, and then several of the European posters commented that that’s because instant coffee in the US is a horrible, inferior product, whereas the instant coffee produced for the discerning palate of the European, is an utter delight and, while not as good as the fresh ground coffees made there, was indeed superior to the finest fresh-ground US coffees!
Back in the ‘70’s, when I was a kid, there was a real push for instant coffee, and it was marketed as being “better than” brewed coffee - especially Sanka, and it was seen by a lot of people (including my otherwise plain-as-dirt grandparents) as a sign of sophistication to ask for a cup of Sanka instead of a cup of coffee.
I do keep instant coffee on hand…for using in recipes, like cakes.
I know there were some numbers published a couple of years ago that showed coffee had overtaken tea as the more popular drink in the UK, with the real divide between younger versus older drinkers - the hepcats preferred the bean by a wide margin. I wonder if that’s still the case?
This is also interesting to me, because I was surprised to find out that my usual everyday cuppa, PG Tips, has recently been reformulated to allow for a brew/steep time of a mere 90 seconds (up to 2 minutes), as opposed to the long-accepted standard of 3-5 minutes, because impatient drinkers couldn’t wait that long for a proper cup.
Ahhh, progress. I think I need a cup o’ tea to contemplate that for a bit…
it’s a competitive area so that would have improved things but still not even close to the real thing, even the expensive semi soluble micro grind ones aren’t in the same arena.