To serve guests instant coffee

[Drinkingpimmsinmygarden]

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?

Dotty sums the thread up nicely

It's about taste, not class.

Well it is more of a faff, yes. Depends how much trouble you want to go to for your guests really. Some friends have home made scones and such like when I visit them. I can barely rustle up a rich tea biscuit, but I will get out the espresso machine if someone fancies one. Each to their own. You're not running a restaurant.

Oh actually YABU having nescafe as it is disgusting, try Kenco Milicano or Douwe Egberts, they are good ones as far as instants go.

I love espresso or stovetop coffee but instant is fine too. Maybe your host is just too knackered to start faffing around. When I'd just had DS I only offered instant to people. I thought it was a bit rude when guests turned down coffee when I said it was instant - who really expects a new mum to start making cappuccinos? It made me feel really embarrassed.

I secretly think cafetiere coffee is a bit wrong and a sad halfway house between instant and proper. If you're going to the effort of making real coffee make it properly with steam and pressure. You can't just brew it like tea! I drink it happily though if that's what's on offer - i just like to have a nice hot drink

Douwe Egberts Espresso is lovely and instant

Nescafe is pretty grim tasting

Tea is just tea

'proper coffee' is an utter ball ache to make for little reward - infact I find it a bit disappointing

Mintyy

I'm not even middle class ya posh bitch

Things like this are probably why nobody ever wants to visit me

Instant donkey piss or council pop only

'real' coffee can sometimes be very rubbery and make your teeth squeak. Donkey piss doesn't do that. All depends. I'd take donkey piss over the rubbery stuff.

Nescafé is grim (never mind the political implications of supporting Nestle "let's privatise water and force the developing world onto,formula with the dirty leftovers" bastards) and really not worth it, but most of my friends have Kenco/douwe/carte noire type for instant and a machine, so they usually offer a choice, as do I. Kenco Millicano is pretty good, esp with a drop of cream instead of milk.

I love my jolt of real coffee from a proper steam machine in the morning but can't drink it all day so have to ask for decaf in the afternoon, if they have decaf either instant or machine I will drink it whatever as I don't want to be more of a pain than already am by asking for decaf!

I would probably assume it would be real coffee at a dinner party but a pop-in cuppa during the day could be either. I wouldn't really be too fussed for a quick brew. I go to see them, not their beverage range.

I just don't drink fake coffee. It's not coffee. Britain is the biggest consumer of fake coffee

I have two of these but in plastic and use them with filter papers. Put over cup, chuck in filter, lob in a spoonful of ground coffee and pour on boiling water. 2 minutes later you have real coffee but really quick. Then chuck filter and grounds in the bin on the compost heap.

We also have a coffee pot but I can't be arsed if it's just for me.

I used to drink instant at work. Not Nestle though cos of the baby murdering stuff as mentioned up thread. Thankfully I work from home for myself now so I can have a proper cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich any time I like :)

I am always polite and have whatever's offered at other people's homes and I have a vast collection of tea and nice coffee but apparently I am very rude for not having decaffinated tea. I have red bush which is decaf and herbal teas and milk, squash and eau du tap... but a recent guest rolled her eyes when I confirmed I did not in fact have decaf tea. Apparently I shouldn't have said I have "all sorts of teas". She's not invited again.

God, this thread really is MN in summary

I forgot that in MN world you are supposed to ensure that your house is permanently ready for anything your guests might want, regardless of whether you use it yourself.

Everyone I know in RL who doesn't drink coffee just has a jar of instant in the cupboard for any guests who do want coffee.

Are there people out there who really have the time and money to have a cafetiere and 'proper' coffee (always fresh and not stale, of course) just in case a guest wants coffee

I have instant tea, coffee, or peppermint tea. I don't have earl grey, lemon and ginger, roibos or chai latte in the cupboard 'just in case'.

Epic fail...

I have instant coffee - decaff and non decaff, ground coffee - decaff and non decaff, PG Tips decaff and non decaff, Earl Grey, peppermint, fennel and Chinese green tea.

If I have friends round and two or more want coffee I will make up a cafetiere. If everyone but one wants tea I will ask if the coffee drinker would mind drinking instant.

Don't sweat it Thurlow. I had 11 different kinds of tea including herbal and home made cake and Miss Pain-In-The-Arse still humphed. She hadn't even brought biscuits or cake, just an uninvited toddler.

Rude is rude regardless.

Someone actually eye rolled you in your own house over decaff tea hahaaaaaaaaaaaa thats fantastic. The strangest things single out the arses in life

Bloody hell - only on mn!

Instant all the way in my house and the vast majority of my friends and family. .. we bought a fancy coffee machine and haven't got round to unpacking it (4 years after we moved in)

We buy Douwe Egberts - it's really nice. I agree, nescafe is a bit minging but if I was served it I'd drink it.

I have to confess that until this thread I truly didn't know instant coffee was still so popular. Even in hotel rooms they seem to have those ground coffee bags which look like sanitary towels. I assume no-one would be offended if they expected instant and I gave them proper coffee? Or are there people out there who actually prefer instant coffee?

I wonder how far you should go?

I mean, we don't have fizzy drinks in the house, or squash, or mayonnaise, or fresh juice, or salad dressing, or sweetner... Not health freaks, just stuff we don't use.

I might buy some of them for a proper dinner party but the rest of the time - well, tough.

I'm not filling the house full of stuff we don't use on the off chance someone turns up who would prefer that to what we have!

"Even in hotel rooms they seem to have those ground coffee bags which look like sanitary towels."

Not in any hotel I have stayed at recently. You must stay in a more expensive better class of hotel than me.

Even in hotel rooms they seem to have those ground coffee bags which look like sanitary towels

I must stay in really crappy hotels, because they only ever have sachets or Nescafe.

Of Nescafe. sorry.

It's just the same with wine. Don't tell me you have "red wine" and then plonk something in front of me which isn't a 1er cru!

I mean, they are completely different drinks. If you're going to pour some sub twenty quid bottle of Chateau Headache at least have the common decency warn me that I'm about to drink the stale piss of a vinegar drinking donkey so I can have a plastic bag to hand in case I vomit all over your nylon tablecloth.

For the record, I enjoy going to some of the est coffee shops London has to offer but that doesn't stop me having instant at home sometimes. Thread is full of princesses in search of peas...

Poshest person I know (and I do know my fair share of proper toffs) drinks instant coffee and offers it to me when I go to his flat, and I say yes please, that would be lovely!