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'm a caffeine addict. Drink gallons of instant coffee- just to freak out all those people who said microwaving cold coffee is vile. I have just finished the cup I made an hour ago - stone cold...
I have had and have all kinds of coffee machines (filter, stove top, cafetiere, home cappuccino etc) but I think for me they aren't worth the fuss/mess. The only kind I haven't tried (and wouldn't) are the ones that use plastic pot things - I know there are recycling collections etc for them now -but reducing is much more important than recycling. I have had one of the coffee bag type pod machines though.
And honestly I can't really make/buy fresh coffee strong enough ...even a double espresso. (I can drink without milk but tend to have lots of cold milk to cool it down - don't like it too hot). I have 3-4 spoons of instant - do have gold blend version cos I prefer to nescafe style instant (I don't buy Nestle -so not Nescafe) but actually I'm not too fussy...I just need the caffeine.
I do agree they are different drinks really - there is one instant I have come across in a black jar - Cafe Noir ??? or something -that is actually iirc quite close to real coffee.
And I can't abide sugar in coffee -or anything sweet mixed in - flavoured coffees are beyond vile...I'd rather have the old style hot milky weak stuff you get in old fashioned cafe's than those...and that is really saying something. (I will order black coffee and add milk then I don't get one of those)
So was your colleague rude though? - yep! Each to their own - we all have our own tastes and preferences and your drink choice is none of her business

I don't think of tea or coffee as drinks to quench thirst, more as a comfort, warming on a cold day and for energy. And to dunk biscuits in.

I don't really like instant coffee. I'd rather skip coffee altogether than have instant, and I don't buy it, so don't ever have any in the house. I don't like my coffee blisteringly strong - I make it in a cafetiere at home. I agree that it's the height of twattery to sneer at someone's coffee preferences. But it's no worse than accusing someone of being a snob because of their coffee preferences.

People behaving the way your colleague behaved are not worth bothering with. Why should her opinions apply to you! She was VERY rude. Next time you see her laugh in her face. Or just say 'don't be ridiculous' in response.

DH and I are obsessed with coffee - he doesn't like any other hot drinks. Even during our poverty stricken times we have still gone for proper coffee, but we would never berate anyone else for using instant!!
I kinda skimmed through a few pages so not sure if it has been mentioned yet - but get an aeropress if you make lots of individual cups of coffee. No waste and it tastes amazing (does good espresso strength or normal) without the need of faffy machines. We take it camping

Get your rude colleague one of these for Xmas op

I agree Unlucky that real coffee isn't worth the faff. Some of the premium instants are very good imitations, I think Alta Rica is the best (but Nestlé, sorry) . My mum served it at a dinner party once and a guest thought it was amazing and asked her where the beans were from (she said 'Asda' ha ha).

PS your colleague is a twat.

I've been a self-styled 'coffee snob' for years now - since eldest was a toddler (he's now 25) so long beofre coffee snobbery was thing. But I consider it very rude of others - OP's colleague, for ex - to comment on the choices of others.

A friend of that time(stilla friend!) was on benefits but bought herself a bag of ground real coffee and made it last. It was a real treat for her. It was her attitude that made me think I would do that too. I now have cup or two of real coffee at breakfast, and really enjoy it. We use filter funnel and paper - truly not a faff if oyu are getting something you want. Later in the day i drink tea - coffee wakens me up; tea is more refreshing. If at someone's house I'd drink tea bt that's not nexcessarily due to the coffee being instant. It depends - last week i was guest of the NHS and I drank tea. That WAS because NHS coffee is often bilge.

Bilge - not heard that for such a long time! God yes, if the coffee is crap I have tea instead.

In the council house where I grew up we drank little else but Birds Mellow. However, now I'm a paid up member of the chattering classes, we drink nothing but REAL coffee - blame it on DW having spent her formative early adult years in France and Spain.

There is no such thing as DECENT instant coffee regardless of its relative expense - it's all disgusting.

And actually much that's sold as coffee in cafes isn't much better.

The new instants are amazing. Millicano, Azera and now Lavazza do one as well. Expensive but lovely. I prefer them to starbucks/costa/nero even my local independent place.

I wouldn't have commented but I only use instant coffee in cake recipes. The only time I've bought it to drink was the 2 years I was in university halls in the late 70s. My family didn't use instant coffee. I only use loose leaf tea as well.

What do you people who would rather have tea or water than instant coffee actually say to people when you go round to their house and they offer you a drink? Do you say 'If it's only instant I'll have tea thanks' in which case I'd say you're only marginally less rude than the OP's colleague?

Thinking about it, I have 2 friends who always offer me fresh coffee when I go round, adding that they don't know how to work the coffee machine but they can get their DH to do it - they always look really relieved when I say instant is fine, now I know why!

(And I agree that MacDonalds do the best fresh coffee - wish they did a decaff version).

Thecat, unless I know the coffee will be real coffee I opt for tea, or just water. I don't make a show of it or say 'If it's only instant I'll have tea thanks'; of course I don't. How rude would that be?

So can we at least agree on the coffee-snob hierarchy?

From >ahem< Best to Worst

Roast your own, grind your own, civet cat bean Gaggia pressed Espresso
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Normal espresso
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Cafetiere / French press
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Filter / percolated
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Instant

I drink all of them. Plus every kind of tea. I am a hot drink whore

We only have instant in the house. Last time I had a house full of guests they all started off the weekend saying they never drink instant and would have tea instead. Then one of them tried an instant coffee and was like 'hmm, this isn't bad' then one by one they all started drinking it and by the end of the weekend they were all raving about our instant coffee

Instant coffee is not an offense. Judging other people on their coffee choices most definitely is, however. YADNBU

What do people think instant is made of? It's coffee - real coffee - not cat poo and sawdust

I wasn't so clear. DH was talking at me - you'd think he'd know by now not to interrupt MN activity. My feeling is that,as I drink only about 2 cups of coffee a day, i want it to be coffee I like. In some cases that might well be instant. But i m hopeless on brands as I only purchase filter coffee in supermarket. At home it would always be not instant as that's what we have.