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 think I'd rather have instant coffee than some of the coffee that I've experienced in offices while working in the US.

Some people also put 'creamer' in it which was this yellowy coloured powder which comes out of a cardboard shaker thing, a bit like shake-n-vac or Vim for anyone who can remember those.

I'm not sure a lot of the coffee drunk in the US, outside of coffee shops, is particularly better than instant!

(NB: I don't drink instant myself, either.)

I don’t drink instant coffee, hate it. But I hate the weak filter coffee you generally get in USA too; I’ve rarely been served good coffee in the States. I make coffee at home in a stove-top espresso pot: very easy and takes up little space.

Years ago I used to make coffee in a jug and strain through a tea strainer. It’s only recently it’s become paraphernalia heavy.
A cafetière (French press) is quick and easy and gives reliably nice coffee, the grounds just go in the compost.

@mediumbrownmug
I'm pretty sure that restaurants here don't use kettles either and have something a bit more industrial/commercial than a huge kettle but maybe wrong on that one!

Instant coffee is just quick and easy.

On a side note, when I was in America and asked for a cup of tea, they asked me if I wanted warm milk. What a horrifying thought 😲

Honestly I don’t have a clue how to make proper coffee. I’ve looked at all the cafetières and aeropresses etc and I just don’t understand it.

I hate the pods becsuse it’s a lot of plastic generated when I can just buy a glass jar of instant.

I only really have 1/2 cups a day so I think buying everything and learning how to make ground coffee is ott for the amount I drink.

Ultimate I don’t care tbh, I like instant so I drink it.

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

It'll be the kettle thing no? That the 110 volt electricity makes electric kettles unbearably slow and doing it on the stove top is a hassle, so you may as well have the hassle of making proper coffee.

@Justilou1

Up there with why Americans call English people (and Scottish/Irish/Welsh) people Brits, I guess…..

I thought the English, Scottish and Welsh were part of Great Britain? Are you not “Brits”? Is it better to say British? Genuine question, I want to get it correct because if I’ve been wrong, I’ve been saying it for a long time and need to find a floor to sink through.

Have been drinking filter coffee since I was 18. DP the same. It is definitely one of our 'must' luxuries. We occasionally have an emergency jar of instant in the cupboard (which DD has discovered and can be found using for making her iced coffees) but it really is only ever the last resort option when we've somehow overlooked replenishing our supplies.

I can still recall taking full advantage of bottomless coffee in the US and having palpitations I'd drunk so much!

I think a lot of it is taste to be fair. I like the taste of a decent instant gold roast, whereas I don't really like proper coffee unless there's a lot of milk, sugar and syrup.

So I stick to instant unless I fancy a bit of a treat.

Cost is also quite a big factor.

I can get a nice quality instant for about a fiver, but a bag of beans costs quite a bit more.

@SofiaMichelle

I think I'd rather have instant coffee than some of the coffee that I've experienced in offices while working in the US.

Some people also put 'creamer' in it which was this yellowy coloured powder which comes out of a cardboard shaker thing, a bit like shake-n-vac or Vim for anyone who can remember those.

I'm not sure a lot of the coffee drunk in the US, outside of coffee shops, is particularly better than instant!

(NB: I don't drink instant myself, either.)

Ah yes, the dreaded powder “creamer.” That was mostly popular decades ago, but thankfully is less common now except in big office spaces where it’s provided by management (in which case, someone usually brings in a real one).

@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

This is one of the weirdest things about the US.

As for coffee - I can't be doing with the faff of bean grinders and the rest of it. Fine if someone else is doing it for me. Not at 7am when I just want a coffee.

I have definitely bought instant coffee in America, and don't remember it being particularly awful. I never buy the cheap stuff though.

Does anyone, even in the U.K, still make tea in the only way our parents/grandparents would have found acceptable? Warm the pot;
spoon in leaf tea; Pour in boiling (not " just gone off the boil") water; stand for 2 or 3minutes so that it can "brew". Of course, you needed a tea-strainer to pour it through. And then there was milk in first or milk in last...

@habibibibi

Why are Americans not capable of making public toilet partitions which fit and allow a modicum of privacy? More puzzling to me than drinking instant coffee or not!

Anyway, I lived in America and drank instant coffee. There was tons of it available in the supermarket so I assume other people are drinking it too and not just Brits abroad.

And American coffee isn't THAT good to be honest.

Excellent point about the toilet cubicles. Done so people don’t use them for aught but their intended purpose, but I can’t say that it works.

Americans .

History of instant coffee, invented for American soldiers in WW1, USA still consumes 11% of world production.

@sashh

Some of us don't, some of us actually like real coffee.

I think partly it is because we are such a tea loving nation, if you are making a round of drinks in an office you are making drinks in mugs whether it is tea, coffee, herbal tea.

Putting a pot of coffee on is different. I have made coffee in offices (I've usually supplied the coffee machine when Argos sold them for £5) and it's more of a 'I've put the coffee on if anyone wants it"

Also offices, until fairly recently did not have a fridge and coffee not kept in the fridge soon looses its taste.

Yes, I've experienced this. I've lived and worked in the US and it took me a while to cotton on to the fact that making a round of drinks for your neighbouring colleagues was not a thing, although the expectation was that if you drank the last of the coffee in the jug you would put more on.

I was the lone user of the kettle, which took twice as long to boil because of the lower voltage. I wonder if that is a factor in the (lack of) instant coffee - it is noticeably less 'instant' in the US.

More interestingly, why do so many Americans drink so much sugary sparkling crap of the kind which is much more widely consumed by children here? I'd much rather an instant coffee! For me, I'll drink what tastes good or OK. and not worry really about what others think. I like barista coffee. I have American relatives. The coffee in America is not comparable to proper coffee here and honestly, to me, tastes more like instant coffee. It has little depth and is quite weak.

I'm from the US, and was also shocked that instant is so popular in the UK because in the US, instant = disgusting. But here there are hundreds of varieties of instant, most of which are very good. I'm now a firm instant convert and whenever Americans have visited they've been surprised that it tastes just like "real" coffee. My mom even took a few jars home with her!

Sweet tea is not the same as all iced tea. In the south you always have sweet and unsweet, that's why they ask!

I think it just depends what you’re used to. When I was growing up in the 70s, my dad would grind the beans and make coffee every morning. So I never developed a taste for instant - I think it’s revolting. We use cafetieres and also have a Nespresso machine, but that doesn’t get much use.

I have a lovely bean to cup machine, but I've been drinking instant decaf after my first cup in a bid to cut down on caffeine.

What has actually happened is I've cut down on coffee completely as I'd rather go without

I might get some decaf beans next time I order.

I don't, it's disgusting, though to be fair better than much of the drip coffee sold in American diners. Convenience and it is better quality than the instant sold in the USA

Instant was popular in the 80s when I was a kid but I don't know anyone who drinks it regularly now. The last time I saw a pot in a private house it was where none of the people who lived there drank coffee so they just kept some instant to offer visitors if they were desperate for one.

Also why are American soft drink brands such as Fanta so lurid in colour compared to the UK / European varieties? It's so lurid in colour it's practically glow in the dark.

I cannot understand the problem with being called a Brit!?!

I am, depending on who I'm talking to, English, British, from the UK, European - all perfectly acceptable depending on context/informational requirements, there must be some niche group who's upset about it, but it's certainly not this Brit or anyone I know!

I thought the English, Scottish and Welsh were part of Great Britain? Are you not “Brits”? Is it better to say British? Genuine question, I want to get it correct because if I’ve been wrong, I’ve been saying it for a long time and need to find a floor to sink through.

Don't worry, you've got it right, not sure what the PP was trying to imply.

English and British are not equivalent, but it sounds like you know that. I would usually refer to myself as British, not English. Or I might say that I live in the UK, which also includes Northern Ireland.