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?

Not me - I won't touch the stuff. It's real coffee or no coffee for me.

Instant coffee is the best thing for making coffee and walnut sponge imo. Camp is too sweet and real coffee too bitter.

Almost half the world likes Instant.

I drink instant coffee first thing in the morning when I'm on my way out before a run or to the gym. I make moka pot coffee to have with breakfast and my husband uses an areopress for coffee in the evening. None of them are any trouble or faff to make. I have a cheap and cheerful electric milk frother from Aldi which I use for any coffee except for instant. They're all fine. I'm not a lover of filter coffee and like the ability to try lots of different coffees especially from small producers, I don't think you can do that with those pod things.

I used deionised water imported from the Peruvian mountains and distilled in Venezuela at 27 degrees exactly, for a period of 21 months.
I simply will not compromise on the quality of water with my Mellow Birds.

(for the uninitiated, Mellow Birds is just about the worst instant coffee you can imagine)

I have Nespresso at home and coffee bags when I'm at work. OH drinks alto rica (bleurgh).

I tried a coffee bag for the first time ever last week.
Quite good!

Do they still make Mellow Birds? I did my Brownie hostess badge and remember some of the leaders wanted weak Mellow Birds when I was used to my parents liking strong Nescafé at the time.

WeAreTheHeroes unfortunately they do still make it.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/254889837

I don't know, OP. I find instant coffee disgusting. If there's only instant available, I'd rather go without or have a glass of water. Or preferably tea (with cold milk!). I only drink decaf coffee these days, but it still has to be proper ground coffee.

[quote speakout]WeAreTheHeroes unfortunately they do still make it.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/254889837[/quote]
Urgh - when I posted the Brownie leaders wanted weak MB I meant they wanted half a teaspoon. it would be more pleasant to drink hot water!

I used to love mellow birds when I was younger. Prefer nescafe now.

@WeAreTheHeroes

Do they still make Mellow Birds? I did my Brownie hostess badge and remember some of the leaders wanted weak Mellow Birds when I was used to my parents liking strong Nescafé at the time.

I remember doing that badge. You had to go to the testers house and do cleaning didn't you? I can't remember what else. Would have been late 70s or early 80s I did it

I liked the advert ‘mellow birds, will sale you smile’ :)

*make

m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ebnjO9XEpU

Most of my colleagues are Europeans and the corridors echo to the sounds of their personal espresso machines. They all despise our bog standard filter coffee. Except the Germans who all drink tea. So it surprised me to find a jar of Mellow Birds in the kitchen. It belongs to a Greek colleague who said “it’s not coffee, obviously, but I really like it”.

Most of my colleagues are Europeans and the corridors echo to the sounds of their personal espresso machines.

We user to use a cafetière until wegit a fancy bean-to-cup machine when we had the new kitchen put in last year, and I must say cafetière coffee tastes pretty insipid to me now!

I’d be interested to know whether it’s an age thing. I don’t know anybody my age (early 30’s) that drinks instant coffee. If it’s not decent coffee on offer I’ll just ask for a glass of water.

I only have one coffee per day but I do think people that have instant drink a lot more at work (office based).

I must live in a different word and different europe

@PinkYarrow - no, you just had to make drinks and we did ours in the kitchen of the church hall where our Brownie meetings took place. The same night I did mine another girl's mum brought a tray of hors d'oeuvres in which I remember thinking was not on as the mum had made them!

I never drink instant coffee, would rather go without.

Although I have to add that the worst coffee I’ve ever had has always been in America. Germany was the best.

I don't like the coffee in those small machines that use the pods, it doesn't seem to taste right, though I'm not sure they are for proper coffee just flavoured drinks that look nice in glass cups

@WeAreTheHeroes I think I'm mixing it up with the "House orderly " badge. I had to clean the tester's sink in her house, but I remember her saying she'd previously had 2 brownies over at the same time and one had cleaned the sink and one had cleaned the bath. My mum said the tester was on to a good thing