to think serving instant coffee in a cafe is not on?

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

My Greggs is closed for remodeling all week, so I have to go elsewhere for my bacon roll and coffee.

I went into a nice looking independent cafe and ordered a bacon roll and a white coffee.

I then paid and popped over to the newsagents to pick something up while they prepared my order.

When I came back, she was making the coffee.

It was instant! She said unless someone orders a cappuccino or something like that, they serve instant coffee.

I had already paid and didn't see the point of making a fuss, so I just took it and left.

It's dreadful.

I know a lot of British people drink instant, but don't you think a cafe should have proper coffee?

Go ahead and give me a biscuit to dunk in it. I'm ready.

In America, at least, McDonald's is indeed renowned for their coffee. And Americans are pretty fucking fussy about coffee.

I run a cafe and serve both and lots of people still drink Instant! I would say it is probably 50:50 especially a lot of older people who just want a normal cup of coffee and not all these new fancy things

Instant is fine IF it is really cheap and you are made aware that it is instant. I like both real and instant coffee.

Sorry, it's just Greggs and McDonalds wouldn't be my first stop for good coffee. I imagine it is different in the US.

The coffee out of push button machines is probably instant anyway.

I prefer instant coffee tbh.

In the US, standards for coffee are quite high. We don't have Greggs, but many people who just want regular filter coffee will go to McDonald's drive through on the way to work for the coffee. It's excellent.

For fancy espresso based drinks, of course, they go elsewhere.

Oh FGS wont someone give the OP a (she did ask nicely!)

LEM I wasn't sure if our 's would be up to the OP's standards

DW broke our cafetiere (coffee snobs in this house) so we've had to make do with 'instant' since Saturday.....It's really a very poor substitute IMHO however I would never pass judgement on others drinking it.....

I would however expect an decent indie cafe to serve real coffee - how much were they charging for it.... Maybe 30 years ago it would have been the norm to serve instant but surely not in an era where coffee shops are everywhere.....

Needlessly slack I would say - take your custom elsewhere!

Katy, when I lived in the US and when I've visited I thought the coffee was pretty average by European standards and people were very happy with a mediocre but not bad coffee - they wouldn't tolerate a bad coffee though, and rightly so.

Might be a regional thing though? In the areas I've been /people I know well, they tend to value getting a consistent, fair-quality product more.

There are obv exceptions (Seattle, I'm looking at you...)

If you know you're getting instant, fine. But instant and freshly made from beans/per ground coffee are two distinct drinks. I don't particularly like instant and would then probably choose tea.

Oh, and OP, YANBU. How much did they charge for it?

YANBU! Instand coffee is not proper coffee. If you're buying a "coffee" it's a treat and should be the real thing!

I can make an instant coffee myself for next to nothing and no effort, I'm paying for a proper coffee and someone else to do the hard work and clean up the mess after, YANBU

Instant coffee gives me really painful stomach cramps and an urgent need to poo within the hour I have to check before accepting a coffee in someone elses house which makes me look like a royal coffee snob so I'd be really hacked off to pay cafe prices for it. Most of the cost is in the overheads to serve it anyway, and not in the cost of the fresh stuff.

gazzalw You don't need to drink instant! Just make up your coffee in a pyrex jug and pour it through a sieve when it's brewed. You can stand a plate on top as a lid to help keep it hot.

It wouldn't bother me that it was instant if it was gold blend or similar but they never make it strong enough.
If in doubt I order tea which I don't like but can drink, whereas I can't drink the hot water that most people serve as instant coffee.

Being a tea drinking, I would love it if they served instant coffee. It's so boooooring waiting behind someone who is getting a decaff skiiny espress whotsit.

drinker

I haven't seen instant coffee being served in a cafe for about a decade, so YANBU.

Totally agree with the posters who say that there is no comparison between instant and proper coffee. I went off instant coffee when I was first pregnant 26 years ago and it is undrinkable bilge (in my humble opinion). Still love a daily cup of the real thing though. In fact we've just bought a Nespresso machine and it is lovely stuff!

Coffee snobbery is boring too. Once got dragged halfway round a town with friends in search of a top coffee establishment.

I find a lot of real coffee too strong for me, so at work and often when I normally have instant, or tbh, when out tea. At home I buy the less strong pods for the Nespresso.

If I was paying a lot for coffee though I would expect it tp be real coffee, unless instant was asked for.

YANBU though OP

I rarely buy coffee in cafes,it's all expensive.
I prefer instant,Douwe Egberts,don't like Nescafe.

I think it depends on how much you are paying in a greasy spoon i would be most disappointed if it was not instant