Instant Coffee. Is it an offence now?

[CrazyBoo]

...or I would have thought so this morning in the staff tea room. There I am, making my coffee, when in sashays a female colleague i barely know. "Oh! You're not drinking THAT are you?" she sneers, making hers with the machine that produces coffee that tastes extremely strong for me like monkey shit mixed with diesel oil.

So, my question is, is instant coffee a BAD THING now? Do you drink it? Has anyone commented on your caffiene intake preferences in this pretentious twatty way?

I drink instant at work. Its convenient. Its not right though. But I do enjoy it as a hot drink and not for its coffee flavour.
Your colleague is a twat.

My personal position is that I much prefer fresh, properly-made coffee (which isn't hard or expensive to do - and doesn't have to be strong/taste of diesel oil!) and do think the UK is a bit behind the times with its preference for instant HOWEVER.....

......your colleague is a twat. Irrespective of your own tastes (in coffee or anything else for that matter), it is extremely crass to publicly pass comment on someone else's' choice - you would have been within your rights to point out she clearly hasn't been brought up very well. So absolutely ignore her - just give her your most insincere smile if she passes comment again.

And to clarify - YANBU - drink whatever coffee you like! (And I'd rather have instant than a badly made "fresh" coffee!)

yes a bit twatty of her - I am an instant coffee snob but would not think to comment on a colleague's choice, it is just rude.
Instant is fine for making frappes.

Twattery is everywhere. Wait till she's got the caffeine jitters later on in the day, then creep up behind her and pop a balloon.

Instant coffee is a crime against humanity. But even worse is being rude about someone else's preferences.

Tomorrow do a double take when you see her and say "Oh you're not wearing THAT are you?"

spatchcock and 1way

She has been known to wear boob-length imitation fur jackets that look like her granny stole them from her granny. And wears them like they are the height of fashion.

Anyway! I love a good coffee, like Sweary, but if I can't get it, the instant will do the job. I would never question anyone else's choices, even hers.

I wouldn't drink instant personally but it wouldn't occur to me to care about what someone else was doing.

I don't have instant in the house (and do wouldn't serve it to guests), and even my employer (money conscious public sector) doesn't expect us to drink it (not in the UK).

Your colleague was being a twat, though.

I prefer instant coffee to any other type. I don't even mind which brand it is. Like gaggiagirl, I see it as a different drink to "real" coffee.

I'm just seeing a real snobbery around coffee-drinking now. Why is it so?

Crazy I think it's because when you really love the real deal, instant just tastes like shit to you...it does to me but I'm not rude enough to sneer at other people's choices. Some people are just rude!

I don't mind a cup of instant at work, or even at home!
It's not like I opt for Mellow Birds from a tartan flask.

I have noticed in recent years some people choosing tea over instant when at my house. I think it is a snobbery that has arisen as a result of the rise of coffee shops!
Even though I am half italian and drink espressoas an English person may drink tea, sometimes I actually prefer instant as a drink.
I d have instant over a Starbucks any day!
It should come down to personal preference, not snobbery!
But this probably now will become another British way to subtly place people in a social class!

I'm not sure choosing tea instead is snobbery. I love coffee but don't like instant coffee. They taste very different to me so in order of preference it goes filter coffee, tea, instant.

A former colleague of mine used to drink instant coffee. The worst thing was that if she got called away to a meeting or something and the coffee went cold at her desk, she would just reheat it in the microwave. Bleurgh.

To me, instant coffee tastes the way my pee smells after I drink real coffee i.e. vaguely coffee-like but mainly just ick. Reheated instant must just taste like pure piss. I have to say I did judge this woman for that - just make a fresh cup FFS, it's instant!

I drink instant because I'm skint and I'm not a snob.

I drink instant all the time. And I reheat it in the microwave because I can never sit long enough to drink it. Tastes ok as long as you don't over heat it!

I have lots of assorted real coffee makers (espresso/filter/cafetiere/Nespresso) but more than one cup of real gives me the jitters. Too much caffeine.

To my taste buds instant tastes fine. Tea on the other hand makes me gag!

Patrick I admit to reheating my coffees in the microwave because I can only drink them hot - if they go anywhere near lukewarm the taste changes dramatically for me. Don't recall it tasting like pure piss . I won't reheat totally cold ones though!

I'm in a hotel in a country in which coffee (strong, dark, aromatic) is a big thing. In this hotel, the coffee arrangement is a jar of Nescafé, a jug of hot water and a pot of milk with a wonky lid. It's not what I'd choose, but it's drinkable. Similarly, if I go to a friend's and am offered coffee, I'll drink it, whether it's the fainest artisanal blend, hand-roasted by red-headed Colombian nuns, or the cheapest instsnt going.

I think that coffee snobbery has come about because it could. I can remember when coffee was cheap and far from cheerful, usually blended with chicory, or milder than gnats'. The coffee chains (love them or hate them) have opened up what a cup of coffee can be, and wherever you have choice, some people will be opinionated and judgemental about other people's choices.

Oh and your colleague sounds like a rude fuckwit.

I love fresh coffee, but drink instant at work. We do have fresh but I don't like what they buy.

Your colleague was an ass.

It's not snobbery. People have just got used to the good stuff.

Instant shouldn't be called coffee imo. Coffee flavoured drink perhaps.

I would choose tea over instant every time.

I drink a lot of coffee.

I love real coffee, but, at home, I drink instant as it's quicker to put together and doesn't taste bad at all.

DP mocks. When he's about, the coffee machine is put to full use.

I am surprised so many people hate instant. It wouldn't even occur to me to "warn" a guest that they were getting instant, though I do have a coffee machine too but it's fiddly compared to just using the kettle. Do you all make percolator noises in the kitchen when you have to make instant, to pretend?
I like drinking multiple cups of coffee to add diversions to my day. If I drank as many of "real" coffee I would be in serious caffeine overload.

I much prefer instant. I don't find proper coffee at all thirst quenching and that bitter aftertaste is not nice IMO.
I do enjoy a proper coffee occasionally but a bit of Douwe Egbert's is my go-to hot drink.