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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To serve guests instant coffee

588 replies

Drinkingpimmsinmygarden · 06/07/2014 17:57

DH and I aren't really coffee drinkers (prefer tea)so we just have a jar of instant coffee such as Nescafé. No real ground coffee.

Are we being unreasonable not to have 'proper' coffee in for guests?

OP posts:
MrsSchadenfreude · 08/07/2014 08:20

Wait, what? You can get instant tea? Shock

Iownafourinchporsche · 08/07/2014 08:20

As I already said a few posts above, I wouldn't pass comment on what people chose. My parents drink instant coffee (instant everything actually) but I never say I dicky bird. I do however think 'Blugh, how can they drink that stuff'

Iownafourinchporsche · 08/07/2014 08:23

Yes you can get instant tea!

EugenesAxe · 08/07/2014 08:25

Agree Nescafé is hideous. The end of the cup always seems to contain an oily, acrid residue... like drinking liquid tar.

But YANBU otherwise; although I would make it clear it's instant as I know someone that's allergic to the preservatives in instant and capsule coffee. Although she normally volunteers that info anyway.

JuniperTisane · 08/07/2014 08:30

This thread is bizarrely interesting and I keep coming back to read another 50 replies when I have a few minutes.

For the record, I have salad cream,
I do actually have mint Vienetta in the freezer.

I have instant whatever-is-on-offer coffee but I don't really like it unless I load it up with milk and sugar.
I have Yorkshire hard water tea.
I have a stovetop espresso maker which has never been out of its box.

I have a cafetiere which comes out every weekend and occasionally during the week. I've just made a jugfull now actually.

I tend to drink water at home mostly Bog standard tap water except its been filtered and comes out of the fridge nice and cold.

mrsnec · 08/07/2014 08:48

I don't see all food and drink as equal either but I do worry how I'd come across to others if I was so specific with my beverage requirements. My inlaws only drink pg tips, it must be in an oversized mug, with only semi skimmed milk and the sweetners must be hermesetas, my neighbour only drinks a specific brand of local coffee that has to be made on the stove, my mum drinks redbush tea or lavazza filter coffee, hence my bulging cupboards. It must just be normal to some people to be like this. If I'm offered a drink in someone else's house I normally reply with either something hot or cold and then choose from whatever I'm offered they're always going to have something to my taste.

Flipflops7 · 08/07/2014 09:06

SignYourName - donkey piss was coined by the instant fans as their own joke. Best to read the whole thread for maximum amusement and information value :).

You will also see that nearly all the real coffee fans will happily drink tea and aren't in the business of spitting the fake drink all over other people's kitchens!

JuniperTisane · 08/07/2014 09:10

Just came across a post somewhere in the middle of the thread about the messiness of scraping out a cafetiere and washing it. I didn't get the messy comment until I realised that all I do with mine is swoosh out the old coffee down the macerator with the tap running, hose down the filtery bits and give the glass a rinse for next time.

No scraping for me.

My mum drinks whatever tea is in the jar. My dad accepts a fresh coffee with pleasure but really doesn't care if its instant either. Nobody else I know drinks coffee really.

Nomama · 08/07/2014 09:18

That's cos you have a macerator, Juniper. I have a plughole Smile

motherinferior · 08/07/2014 09:20

I have a compost bin. Grin

Flipflops7 · 08/07/2014 09:27

Cheese again is a preference. I ate processed cheese until I had real cheese and preferred that. If offered Kraft in a sandwich I could eat it provided it was made with butter not marg. :) :)

SignYourName · 08/07/2014 09:28

Flipflops and someone immediately said "donkey piss would probably taste better".

unlucky83 · 08/07/2014 09:30

juniper that might have been me...if you don't have a macerator you should be wary of washing coffee grains down a normal plug sink...I have known them cause problems - but tbf it was in a professional setting (restaurant) so that probably got more grains going down it than the average domestic sink of even a heavy user - (they were scraped out first) but still I wouldn't risk it...
('problem' was solved by doing a first quick rinse into a plastic tub- so grains settled then scraping the bottom of that out at the end of the shift)

Instant coffee around the world - my sister has traveled extensively - to places like the West Bank, Burma, China, Russia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam etc etc. She found that instant coffee was usually Nescafe - it would be on menus 'Nescafe coffee' as well 'coffee' (local version) and Nescafe was expensive - seen as being posh - the snobs coffee!
(And I remember similar in a cafe in Cairo - and 'Nescafe' was the only coffee available on the sleeper train down the Nile)

JuniperTisane · 08/07/2014 09:31

A macerator is a thing of beauty its true Grin. I don't have a compost bin.

Flipflops7 · 08/07/2014 09:32

Yes Sign, the instant fans joked about different standards of donkey piss much further back. All I did was pick up their phrase ( because it 's funny).

Nomama · 08/07/2014 09:34

Did I seem to say I flush grounds down the sink? No... I too have a compost bin, 2 bangs of the filter and the grounds drop in a perfect circle of mashed coffee, then disintegrate and spread all over the floor Smile

JuniperTisane · 08/07/2014 09:36

I don't think many people are silly enough to chuck it all down the plugole are they?

SignYourName · 08/07/2014 09:38

Coffee grounds are supposed to help disperse cellulite if you rub them on your wobbly bits, apparently. Don't know how effective or otherwise it is.

unlucky83 · 08/07/2014 09:39

Juniper - in the restaurant they were scraped out first - it was the stuff that hadn't been scraped out that caused the problems
But a high volume...and I guess if it was busy they may not have been scraped out that well - and that sink was only used for hot drinks (next to urn) ...so not much other water going down it...

Clarabell33 · 08/07/2014 10:48

After coping fine with cafetieres for years, DH cracked and bought a cheap bean-to-cup machine (his mate had a big posh one and DH had Envy). I thought it was a waste of money but eventually worth it to stop the moaning. I now use it more than he does... Blush but to be fair we are both big hot drink drinkers so have all sorts of teas, chocolates and other hot drinks (including this peanut butter one from Sainsbury's - mix it with normal hot choc and you get a hot Reese's Cup, it is the best thing ever... ahem) including instant coffee, as that is what some guests (parents) prefer. Also my parents can cope with a kettle but not the big scary coffee machine with umpteen buttons and various drawers, so if they're staying, it's nice for them to be able to have a 'normal' coffee instead of a 'big fancy one'.

blubirdy · 08/07/2014 12:04

I don't think many people are silly enough to chuck it all down the plugole are they?

oops! pass me the silly hat, lol

For the last 25 years I have always just chucked it down the plug hole. Never had a blocked (or even slow emptying) sink though. After reading this thread I will make sure though in hotels not to do this anymore. I will fill my travel cafetiere with water and empty the used grounds down the loo in the future.

blubirdy · 08/07/2014 12:07

btw, to whoever posted the link for the Bodum travel press/cafetiere, thank you!!! My one-cup travel cafetiere is 10 years old, and looking decidedly worse for wear, and I couldn't find a new one-cup size anywhere, so thanks for that !

trikken · 08/07/2014 12:56

Tried real coffee yesterday but found ut faffy. Tried to tip out the remaining liquid so I could put the grounds in the food bin but ended up tipping half of them down the sink by accident. Will have to try another method!

writtenguarantee · 08/07/2014 14:14

I am pretty fussy about my coffee and like really good coffee, but I don't expect people to cater to my needs.

I'd prefer tea to instant coffee.

I don't think people need to have a set list of things "just in case" someone who wants it comes by. yes, it's odd if you can't offer anything, but if I was offered tea, instant coffee, juice, and water, I wouldn't think any worse of you. I'd just assume you aren't a coffee drinker.

moosemama · 08/07/2014 15:59

Off topic, but pertinent to the posts about what to do with the used grounds.

Coffee grounds spread on your borders will stop cats pooing there. We were having real problems with several local cats that adopted the flower border near our front door while we were on holiday last year. I was sceptical, having tried every other folk remedy under the sun, but my Mum brought round a bag a week for a while and sprinkled them around the border near my front door and we haven't had a problem with cats using it as their toilet since. They still go in the border at the bottom of the drive near the road sometimes, so I can only assume it was the coffee grounds that put them off.