To ask why Brits drink instant coffee?

[mediumbrownmug]

I’m an American and am genuinely curious. Every British TV show and article I’ve seen so far seems to imply that instant coffee is far more popular than whole or ground beans. Is it too nosy to ask why?

And also I love lattes/flat whites and so on but I'd be the size of a house if I were to drink several of them in a day. Then also the sleep thing again.

I went off instant coffee while pregnant in 1997 & never got the taste for it again.

I use a cafetiere (French press I think in America - correct me please if not) at home.

If I can't get proper coffee I have tea instead.

I actually prefer instant coffee because I drink my coffee black and I think that "proper" coffee has a bitter taste. Also it's quicker and more convenient.

Surely it’s just as easy to ask why American children are given powdered fruit juice with loads of E numbers rather than fruit cordial?

[quote mediumbrownmug]@MrsMaizel, tongue in cheek I suppose. I meant no offense with my post, but still your question is a fair one. Some of the coffee here (as is the case anywhere) is vile, I’ll give you that. I wouldn’t drink anything from a diner or restaurant really. It’s true that most breakfast places do food and don’t normally have a milk steamer for lattes, but a latte here isn’t too hard to get. Even some gas station chains carry decent lattes here (try Wawa).[/quote]
Yes Wawa is a treasure trove 😂 . It's always so disappointing though to not have the option of a decent drink with breakfast - and don't get me started on Liptons tea 🤮😂

@21Bee

Surely it’s just as easy to ask why American children are given powdered fruit juice with loads of E numbers rather than fruit cordial?

Mmmm Tang 😋

@21Bee

Surely it’s just as easy to ask why American children are given powdered fruit juice with loads of E numbers rather than fruit cordial?

I meant no offense with my original post, but I honestly can’t disagree with you at all on this. It’s just really, really a grim thing to give your kids. I’m very glad to say that powdered drinks aren’t common here at all anymore.

Instant coffee used to be vile, (some still are) but a good quality strong instant can easily stand up to "real" coffee for flavour. I do make real coffee sometimes, using a cafetiere, but second cups are never hot enough so it can be a waste.

Never use hotel kettles btw. I've heard...things about them.

@BrozTito

Never use hotel kettles btw. I've heard...things about them.

👀 … gotcha. Will remember that one.

@mediumbrownmug

I’m an American and am genuinely curious. Every British TV show and article I’ve seen so far seems to imply that instant coffee is far more popular than whole or ground beans. Is it too nosy to ask why?

Maybe because we are total heathens - I really don't like proper coffee, although I realize it's far better quality!! I love an instant, though.

Not in this house we don't - never buy instant coffee, it's rank. We both drink our coffee black so we buy the decent stuff

Because it’s quick and convenient and what you get used to. I’ve got a “proper” built in machine that grinds the beans and froths the coffee. I can’t be arsed with it.

I think tea is probably more popular in the UK as well.

I don't. It tastes like shit. I'm a coffee nut though and drink too much of it.

But a lot of folk I know are mostly tea drinkers, so coffee for them is an occasional pick-me-up and therefore they're fine with instant. Don't mess with their cups of tea though....

Marie Antoinette, is that you?

I'm a Brit and don't drink instant coffee. A small plunger thingy is perfectly sized for one person and I don't find it particularly time-consuming.
I was watching a Scandi drama recently and was scandalised to see a character offering coffee and then making instant I didn't know they even HAD instant in Scandinavian countries.

Americans cannot make tea. But neither can mainland Europe.

@EmbarrassingMama

Marie Antoinette, is that you?

Wrong country, I’m afraid. But no offense meant. Sorry if my post was clumsy.

I have just made myself an instant coffee and then saw this thread! I grew up with it so it feels a bit like comfort food to me.

Plus I don't always want a stronger cafetière coffee.

@mediumbrownmug
It would seem the Mumsnet Bitches are out in force today. They are quite pathetic really. There are a minority of downright nasty people on here that will do their very best to deraill a thread. This often happens when someone from USA asks a question. They think that they are better than you but usually just manage to show themselves up to be the biggoted idiots that they are.

In answe to your question, I think in all honesty we ar emore of a tea drinking nation so instant coffee is convienent for an occasional cup. Although coffee pod machines have increased in popularity in the last few years.

I wondered the same thing about tea, actually. Before I came to England, I thought British people normally drink leaf tea.
I'm from Asia, and we drink a lot of green tea through out the day, but leaf tea is way more popular compared to tea bags.
I guess it must be convenience and practicality?

I'm a coffee bean snob BUT I always have a jar of instant handy. It's great for shaking into some cold milk with ice.

I own a coffee shop and have instant at home!😊. It’s weaker, I can have more cups of it without getting overloaded with caffeine! I think I drink more in cold weather (I’m often outside).

I regularly travelled to America for 20 years. I found the coffee served in hotels far too strong. And the tea never worked out right either! I second the NEVER use a hotel kettle. I occasionally would, but I always boil it a few times first and pour boiling water over any cups or spoons I was using!

As for bacon sandwiches in America- the bacon is served ultra crispy over there, I’d almost say it was burned, so it wouldn’t be as good in a sandwich. I miss the granolas and the omelettes from American hotels though.

A real coffee snob here, I love my bean to cup machine. I take coffee bags to work and I have a cafetiere in my camper van instead of instant

@Nietzschethehiker

I think in fairness bac in the 80's and 90's mostly people around us in the UK drank instant coffee. It seems to me to be newer that more of us drink ground coffee or beans. We grind beans and drink from a cafetiere or we have a filter coffee machine (neither of us like the pods). However we do have emergency instant because frankly we have an unhealthy relationship with caffeine.

However I grew up in the states and when we moved back my DP were the odd ones out in the late 80's and early 90's that they drank ground coffee. DM was thoroughly supercilious about being posher than everyone else and DF was thoroughly embarrassed about being different and used to hide the cafetiere if people visited . Now of course DM is horrified that she is no longer extra civilised and loads of people don't drink instant coffee. Bless her. Its a bit like when drive thrus became more popular here and she couldn't get traction from "Well of course in America we didn't even have to get out of the car".

Poor DM this whole progress and globalisation is a real kick in the pants for her social aspirations

Well, we don't have drive thru dunkin donuts or banks here yet, so perhaps she could dine out in that one until they make their way over?! (I LOVED the drive thru dunkin donuts far more than I should have done 🤭).

One the subject of different teas in the US, when we lived there one of my American friends asked me if I wanted a (hot) tea (knowing that we love our tea). So I said yes and that I'd like it with milk. Well, I ended up with a green tea with milk. It was not good!

I don't drink instant coffee 🤢