Instant coffee - social suicide?

[MrsFogi]

Over a number of months I've seen many threads expressing horror at the idea of drinking or serving instant coffee. So….I've become a bit paranoid. So mners - if I have a mum in for a cup of tea/coffee when they pick up their dc from my house am I committing social harakiri serving up instant coffee if they opt for that instead of tea? If I want to have or keep friends should I be brewing/grinding/working out how to use the coffee machine etc with a flourish?

So those of you that would be polite enough not to comment on my instant coffee ……would you judge me though?

No. No more than I'd judge someone who liked Edam where I like Cheddar, or liked bacon crisps where I prefer salt and vinegar. It's just a preference thing.

notafan, at work we get bought ground coffee. We have cafetieres of varying sizes and we all take a turn at making a big pot for everyone, or a small pot for a small meeting, or whatever. I think there's instant as well but I'm not sure who drinks it.

There's a canteen as well if we feel like splashing out/fancy a frothy coffee for a change.

I have three acquaintances who won't drink it; two because of taste and one because of an allergy to the preservatives in it.

Of the taste people, one happily drinks Nespresso (surprised me as I find even the strong capsules not very strong). Don't know about the other.

I am fine with instant coffee and would not be at all offended if it was offered. Although I don't like Nescafé much; that's about the only brand I might get snobby about.

We don't drink coffee in my house so we have a jar of 50p basic Tesco coffee at the back of the cupboard for coffee drinker emergencies. Not a Kenco or a Millicano in sight. Many varieties of tea, but every coffee drinker gets Tesco Value coffee

I have a nespresso & love it, but I drink instant at other people's houses - doesn't bother me. I'm more fussy about tea as hate strong tea. Someone Brewed me something vile recently and I left it. It was undrinkable!! I'm a rubbish tea maker too so I usually get DH to make it if he's around.

To me instant is a different drink to filter/espresso drinks. I don't like instant, and have tried many. If someone offers me coffee I will ask for tea or water if I'm not sure as I don't want to offend and I wouldn't be offended if someone only had instant.

Notafanofwinter, good question!

Every office I ever worked in in the UK drank exclusively instant coffee. Or maybe things have changed nowadays (old icon)

First world problems..ashamed to be part of the human race...really??

Im not a coffee drinker - I drink tea, as does everyone else here.

I am also the worlds most awful coffee maker - I just cannot get to grips with the amount of grounds or the type of grounds needed for cafetiere or filter coffee, and I refuse to invest in one of those coffee machines with the pods because of the cost and the waste!

SO I use instant. I have a coffee once a week at most.

I have "nice" instant - one with actual coffee grounds in it apparently, Azera. I've also tried some filter bags (like tea bags) and little over the cup filter bags, but I think the coffee tastes weak and watery.

People who only drink proper artisan coffee ground by the powerful thighs of Columbian virgins and made with Himalayan filtered water in a copper lined coffee pot at precisely 98.4 degrees....Snore. As bad as wine bores.

Fanny, to be fair, not everyone who drinks real coffee goes to those lengths.

I'm a real coffee drinker but do not bore on about Colombian virgin thighs and the temperature of the water.

I really find it hard to believe, that in this day and age so many people have fallen for buying coffee pod machines that create landfill with every cup. And consumers are happy to pay through the nose for it too.

The inventor of the coffee pod has said how much he regrets it.

One in 3 American homes have a coffee pod machine, and the uptake all around the world is massive.

It just shows how little people really think about or care about the environment. Yes Nespresso capsules can be recycled - if you post them back to Nespresso, who don't reveal what the recycling rate is - I suspect it is extremely low.

Not to mention its Nestle-ness

I don't expect anything more than instant coffee and normal tea bags in homes, so I certainly wouldn't judge on that and think that people who do judge are being rather snobbish
It's down to taste, and that's individual - my favourite coffee is from a proper espresso machine with the group handles etc. but I also enjoy certain brands of instant and indeed prefer them to filter coffee which seems to bother my stomach. Regardless, I would never dream of complaining about what I'd been given... THAT is the rude thing!

I have a wide selection of tea bags but my friends sometimes bring their own if they want something specific. I don't mind at all.

I adore real coffee but consider the machines with the disposable plastic containers to be bad for the environment and a bit daft.

I only drink cafetiere coffee at home, because I prefer it.

If I visited someones house I would expect instant and be grateful!! Any other coffee would be a bonus (one friend of mine has one of those amazing bean to cup things, it makes me happy )

I hate most instant coffees, apart from Nescafé Cap Colombie - if that's what they call it here- but if I were at your house and you offered me instant coffee I would keep my gob shut and either accept or say could I just have a glass of water please if I'd already had too much caffiene

And water out of the kitchen tap is perfectly acceptable too when someone is being kind enough to offer their hospitality.

Wolfie grab a cheap stovetop mokka, Bialetti are good, but the most expensive. We spent about £10 on ours, they last about 20 years, and counting...

Just be sure that the little steam hole is not like this one, close to the handle, or you will steam your hand every time you use it. So, no buying online, go to Home, Tesco, wherever and screw one together to see where it is. Even Bialetti can be in just the wrong place.

I think instant coffee is disgusting. I've never had a brand that wasn't ghastly. I'm not trying to sound like a coffee snob, I just think instant is awful. But I'd never insult someone who served it to me, I'd just load it with sugar and milk and choke it down with a smile.

I wouldn't judge anyone who served me instant coffee - it would be ridiculous! Some of us like instant, others like to go through the whole palaver of making fresh coffee. I'm a bit of a tea fanatic - have a selection of English Breakfast, English Afternoon, Earl Grey, Indian Spiced, Green with Jasmine and plain Green - oh, and Tesco's Chocolate Tea, too - but if I go to see a friend and they offer me tea, I expect Tetleys or similar, and am grateful for it. If anyone turned down an instant coffee (because it was instant) at my place, then I'd be a bit judgemental, as in I'd think 'what a poncey person!'. Would never say anything though! :)

We recycle all of our Nespresso pods, but I know people who don't (and it is so easy!). Pods should have to be compostable or have a recycling incentive scheme I think.

Our Blanche - that is a thing of beauty!! I will get one

Carte Noire Espresso instant powder - I like it a lot. We've had various coffee machines and cafetieres over time but I simply cannot be arsed with the faffing around and the cleaning.

There is plenty of disgusting instant coffee out there but I'll drink it if someone's made it for me and I haven't had the chance to see the jar before I say yes!

But I don't trust anyone to make tea for me .

I like both instant and 'proper' coffee, but if I make just one cup for me i usually have instant. The worst coffee I've had was at an ex-neighbour's, where she bought the beans and had them ground at the local 'posh' department store.

We have a coffee machine but the pods are so expensive we don't always have them so sometimes we serve douwe egberts instant instead. I didn't know this was a faux pas. We used to have a caffetiere but it was such a bloody faff tbh it never got used.

The best part, Wolfie, is that it is simple to use, takes almost zero cleaning, makes espresso in minutes and you can buy good coffee, cheaply and easily.

Dad has a pod machine, he loves it but can't find a coffee that he really loves. He turned his nose up at the brikka/mokka, it couldn't be good it was old, cheap and has no moving parts

I've bought a few for people thinking about buying the pod machines. Some like it, some prefer the machine. At a tenner it might be worth trying before spending 10 times as much on a coffee penguin