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?

I like real coffee. I can afford instant.

I think it must be historic - the French drink coffee, much of Europe does, I think coffee was originally from S America, Spain had missions in S America as early as 15th/16thC (guess). British adopted tea drinking after trading with China.

@mediumbrownmug - I hope you've had your answer about instant coffee

Could you tell me why, if you order a cup of tea in an American restaurant or cafe, they'll bring you a mug of barely hot water, with a teabag on the side? And they always forget the milk...

@BadgerB

Do American really make tea in the microwave? And are kettles not a thing in the U.S. kitchen?

Yes, most Americans do make tea in the microwave. Kettles are uncommon here because hot tea isn’t as popular a drink. That said, my house does have a kettle and we had a kettle growing up, because my family are tea drinkers.

Whenever I asked for tea in Florida they would always ask ‘hot tea ?’, I assume they guessed from the accent !

[quote AlCalavicci]@mediumbrownmug
I drink ground coffee and have done for years ( so not a fad thing )and I prefer the taste but the instant we get in the uk is good quality there is no chicory in it and is generally freeze dried so keeps its flavour well .

@habibibibi
I have seen that clip before , I think it is a joke / set up it can not be how she makes / think we make tea , and what ever that other concoction is that is not tea .[/quote]
I'm not so sure although I've had my doubts too!!!

Some of my kids are (officially at least) American and I would disown them if they ever did such a thing. They've been warned!

I don't, but I've always viewed them as completely separate things. I don't like instant coffee, but surely it's all just down to choice?

I’ve got a B2C machine, best of both worlds put pricey

@CrouchEndTiger12

Why do Americans refuse to dry clothing outside on a line even when it's 30c outside?

It was the weirdest thing ... of the view that it us what poor people do and use a tumble dryer with no thought for the environment even in states that have really good weather

Washers and dryers are generally bought in pairs here. As a pretty “young” nation, I suppose our houses are mostly newer and can be designed to house the units as a convenience. Our house came with them already installed when we bought it. That said, energy efficient ones are fairly standard here, even in apartment buildings. I’ve never known anyone to use a clothes line, but they do exist here. Good point about energy though.

We bought a tassimo coffe machine. It's a faff to use, pods are exoensive and produces a ton of plastic waste. I preger instand. I have my cafetiere.... Still prefer instant!

@DinosaurDiana

Whenever I asked for tea in Florida they would always ask ‘hot tea ?’, I assume they guessed from the accent !

This made me laugh, because it’s so true. Iced tea (some states call it sweet tea) is a very common drink in the South. If you don’t ask specifically for hot tea, you’ll get iced black tea, probably with sugar!

I don't have time to make proper coffee.

Given the opportunity, however, of course I'll drink the stuff. I miss being in Italy.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Pod coffee - can the pods be recycled or are you generating plastic waste?

I have one strong cafetiere coffee a day. The grounds go in the food caddy. Then it's instant decaffeinated. Both with a bit of cold milk. If you use a lot of milk, syrup etc coffee becomes a high calorie option.

We have a Lavazza pod machine, the pods are compostible.

I didn't realise this meant 'needs to be taken to a collection point then sent away to an industrial composter' not throw in your own home composter, but as the nearest collection point was some miles away, I was able to set up my own Terracycle collection point and now I can send away our pods, along with those dropped off by other people for composting and they make a donation to a charity of my choosing.

@Weebleweeble

Tea was the main drink in the U.K. for historic reasons. Just requires a teapot (or now a mug) and kettle. Coffee required paraphenalia. So Workplaces and homes have a kettle not percolator.

Not sure about that one. Lots of coffee in quite poor places. You don't actually need fancy paraphenalia to make coffee.

Part of my family are from the middle east. They drank what was known as Turkish coffee or 'mud coffee'. Just ground coffee boiled in a pot. Or even sometimes just boiling water in a mug. My Dad drank that until he became more gentrified and ended up with a Nespresso machine (although he'd still sometimes sneak in a mug of mud coffee if he was nostalgic :) )

Instant coffee is a different drink really. I mostly drink aeropress coffee, but I do keep a jar of Alta Rica instant in the house, and every so often it's a mug of instant that I'll fancy instead.

But for many, ground coffee is just too expensive, not to mention the cost of the equipment to make it. So though the consumption of ground coffee has grown exponentially over the last couple of decades, for many, instant is what they grew up with and what they can afford.

I'd rather drink good instant, than have most things I eat filled with unnecessary corn syrup.

Apart from my inlaws I actually don't know anyone who still drinks instant. Most people I know have a coffee machine or a cafetière.

I only drink ground coffee, I have a little filter that sits over a mug and I can just make one mug at a time ... easy. People laugh at me because I always used to take my filter camping so I could have a decent coffee and do the same at work . It's not difficult to just make one cup/mug of real coffee. Probably more expensive than instant coffee but it's one of my luxuries in life.

I have a pod machine which is good for a "treat" drink, but prefer instant as I like the taste of coffee but it doesn't agree with me, so I have to drink it quite weak (a milky coffee with the milk warmed up in the microwave then a spoon of coffee added is what I drink when I'm feeling fancy ). DS only drinks coffee and prefers instant as it is what he grew up drinking, he does like the filter coffee in America though.

[quote FlowerArranger]@mediumbrownmug - I hope you've had your answer about instant coffee

Could you tell me why, if you order a cup of tea in an American restaurant or cafe, they'll bring you a mug of barely hot water, with a teabag on the side? And they always forget the milk...[/quote]
Restaurants here don’t generally have kettles. They’re really not a very common appliance here, so your cup of hot water will have either been microwaved or dispensed from a hot water machine, so not the proper temperature. The teabag is on the side because most of us basically dunk it in for a moment and then drink it, usually with the bag in. Milk in tea is unusual here, we put creamer (half milk, half cream) in our coffee, and that’s probably what they’d assume you wanted with your tea too! I can make a “real” cup of tea, but only because my family have always been tea drinkers.

I have a bean to cup, and various other ways of making 'proper' coffee (including one of those capsule machines - which I don't get, I always think the coffee tastes funny from them - either plasticy or papery depending on which pod I'm using)

I still drink instant most of the time.

I haven't read all three pages, but it should be noted that we have a wall of different instant coffees to choose from, some are better than others. I do agree that it's basically a different drink though, and one that having grown up with, I'm very happy to drink.

Personally, it's that filter coffee in the glass jugs from 7-11/Tim Hortons/wherever else that I think tastes absolutely foul.

I think often it's because we have a habit of asking a while room, "Would anyone like tea or coffee?" It like a reflex, it's hardly possible to offer one without the other. And the process of making a cup of tea or instant coffee is achieved the same way in that you just boil the kettle and they all are started and finished at the same time.

Gosh there are some snotty responses on here!

I think, instant coffee is quick and cheaper. Coffee machines aren’t very popular in homes I’m the UK, they are expensive and take up quite a lot of space in our fairly small kitchens.

I do think machines are becoming more popular though and there are an increasing amount of coffee shops for decent take away so people often buy their coffee.

I am a tea drinker so I just have a jar of coffee incase I have a guest that wants a coffee.

Whole

@FourTeaFallOut

I think often it's because we have a habit of asking a while room, "Would anyone like tea or coffee?" It like a reflex, it's hardly possible to offer one without the other. And the process of making a cup of tea or instant coffee is achieved the same way in that you just boil the kettle and they all are started and finished at the same time.

That makes quite a lot of sense. So much so that I wonder why we haven’t caught on here!

People with tumble dryers still line dry, though. Tumble dryers are seen as back-ups for when the weather is bad, or you are in a rush. On the first warm dry day of spring, people will start rhapsodising about the joy of line-dried bed linen. Also, lots of clothes aren't really suitable for tumble drying.

Regarding coffee, I think it's because the main hot drink is tea, so that is where people put their time and effort. I don't think that instant coffee is particularly popular nowadays. I don't know anyone who has it as their standard coffee, but people have it in the house for cooking, or extreme sleep deprivation, or if they don't drink coffee themselves but might need to make some for someone else unexpectedly.