Is the whole world drinking instant coffee?

Try Backyard Farming ^ | Jonathan Davis

[CondoleezzaProtege]

I recently left Ohio and spent a week in Europe, and what I immediately noticed was that apartment dwellers, at least where I was, in Belgium and The Netherlands, didn’t brew their own coffee.

I found this to be amazing, given that in Ohio, I have been grinding beans and using a Chemex to brew the most delicious coffee known to man.

If Portland has every grind and bean imaginable, then I would guess that the Europeans would have us topped; but Europe was Nescafe land.

An Italian-French woman living in Belgium joked that she could not believe anyone would buy pre-made mayonnaise or tomato sauce. “It is so easy to make,” she would rant. But she made instant coffee! How can this be possible?

I must say that her Nescafe gold instant coffee made in 45 seconds with those 220 volt electric kettles was very tasty–but it is not as good as my freshly ground pour over-style coffee.

A friend of Mexican descent and I were discussing this, and I remarked that I could not easily find a non-instant coffee in Mexico. He related to me that in Mexico, generally speaking, they don’t like “American coffee” and prefer Nescafe.

He later produced a special blend of Nescafe instant coffee that can only be purchased in Mexico. I have to say that it too was quite tasty, but nothing beats my freshly ground pour over. What is going on?

Is everyone in the world drinking Nescafe instant coffee?

After Europe, I traveled to the Middle East where I will be living for a year. These guys will be small-batch roasting and hand grinding Arabian beans, yes? No. Nescafe land once again.

Upon entering what would be my new apartment, I found the 220 volt kettle and a jar of Nescafe, purchased by my wife, a coffee aficionado, on the kitchen counter. I felt like I was in the last scene of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Nescafe had gotten to her?

This situation was going to get corrected…but not without some difficulties.

After a few days in Abu Dhabi, a very large and wonderful metropolitan city, I came across a dry goods area of a supermarket that had beautiful, oily coffee beans, as well as more spices, branches, dried fruits, leaves and things than I have ever seen in my life–barrels of things everywhere.

I requested about a half of a pound of the best looking coffee beans and asked the attendant if he could grind it.

“Grind it to a powder?” he asked.

I tried to reply with words and pinching hands that I only wanted it to be grinded a little bit, and then he turned to the machine and grinded it to a baby powder. He then bagged it and sealed the bag in another bag, all with the utmost delicacy.

When I got home, I clipped with clothespins, a generic coffee filter to the top of a glass pitcher, fired up the 220 volt kettle, and brewed my first batch of “American coffee.”

The filter broke immediately, and I had to double up. I had not anticipated the very strong flavor of cardamom, which was, no doubt, a result of the grinding machine (kind of like how Hazelnut creeps into one’s coffee back home, seemingly out of nowhere), and the coffee itself was chalky due to the extreme grinding process; but it was a start, and when one is living abroad, a start is all that one is looking for.

In my next article, I will show how to brew a delicious pour over coffee in any setting, regardless of one’s lack of equipment. I’ll show many ways to grind your own beans, roast them if necessary, and filter them using a variety of ways.

You don’t need a glass Chemex container or other store-bought solutions and, as I have discovered, you do not even need filters. You don’t necessarily need a stove or tea kettle either. If you have some of these things and not others, we’ll cover how to make it work with what’s available.

Assuming you can buy coffee beans, you’ll be making guerilla-style pour over coffee at the camp site, in the desert, in the bush, or in Brussels.

[higgmeister]

Netscape was the best in its day but I adjusted myself to Chrome.

[IndispensableDestiny]

My parents were instant coffee drinkers. One jar of regular and one jar of decaf. They also kept a percolator on the counter which I used when visiting. I drink coffee black; the instant is unbearable to me that way.

Mom got rid of the percolator so no I buy a bottle or two of pre-brewed iced coffee when visiting. I don't need to have it hot.

[Cecily]

I think the Italians are still known for good coffee.

[NotSoFreeStater]

True, I think that way with the many food snobs as well.

[Romulus]

Nescafe has always been a prestige item in Mexico. Maybe because it’s an import? Sounds disgusting.

[sitetest]

I drink freshly-brewed coffee, but avoid Starbucks. I’d pick a good instant over Starbucks, too. Just not good coffee.

[Seruzawa]

Lol. Cowboy coffee poured through cheesecloth. Nothing beats it. Along with the bacon and beans.

[uptowngirl]

The recipe I use for hot chocolate mix calls for some instant coffee. That’s as close to drinking coffee as I get.

[TianaHighrider]

perculator coffee is my favorite. But sharing a home with my blind father we use a very basic drip model. Also because cheap to replace since everything is made in china and breaks so much.

However, we always have instant coffee too. I drink it regularly when making just one cup or two. I Grew up ONLY on instant in the house.

Taster’s Choice is my buddy!
Several jars on hand too.
While people at work are ‘k-cupping’ their money away. I love my frugal yummy easy coffee.

:)

[Deaf Smith]

What would happen if someone secretly replaced their Nescafe with Folgers Crystals?

[Berosus]

The best coffee my wife and I have had lately is Nescafe from the Philippines. Before cargo ships got stuck off the California coast, we were briefly able to buy the Philippine brand, Nescafe Brown, from a Korean store near us. You can recognize the brand because it comes in a bag with a photo of a Philippine coffee farmer on it. The text under the photo says his name is Arnold Abear, and that he has been growing coffee for Nescafe since 2009.

It seems that like Europe, Asia is going for instant coffee, because the Asian stores around here have carried instant coffee from Vietnam, South Korea and Indonesia as well.

[smoky415]

Cold brewed is the best!

[fightin kentuckian]

Holland and Belgium have very good coffee, Dowue Egbarts comes to mind. But yes, the euros do drink a lot of instant coffee.

No shit there I was,....in a nice restaurant in Brno, Czeck Republic 1999. I saw an espresso maker and ordered an espresso. I was all set for some “real” coffee after a very long drought then I looked over and the waitress was filling it with instant coffee. AARRGGHH

[Carriage Hill]

I’ve used Chemex since the early 80s, to brew my Kona Hawaiian Volcanic Mtn Estate and Jamaican Blue Mountain coffees, all ground to Turkish Powder grind.

The more area of the bean exposed to hot water, the more flavor one gets.

https://coffeefool.com

&

https://www.coffeeam.com/

[hardspunned]

That’s one of the bad things about visiting Europe, their tiny crappy cups of coffee.

[marktwain]

I found it difficult to find brewed coffee in rural Australia.

Only instant coffee was available.

Next trip, I brought my own in single serving brewing bags, much like tea bags.

[BusterDog]

Advantage, it's finely ground and can be snorted like snuff.

[mass55th]

I've noticed in a lot of the foreign TV programs, that when they drink coffee, they use instant. My father used to perk coffee on the stove every morning for his breakfast. My mother used to use instant coffee during the day. I use a drip machine, and was into grinding my own beans for many years. Used to get my beans from a place in Baton Rouge, La., but on my last order, they failed to communicate with me that one of the flavors I'd ordered was unavailable, so when I got the package, I assumed they'd forgot to send one bag. I called them, and was told about the item not being in stock, and that I'd been issued a credit to my card. I mentioned that it would have been nice if they'd put that info on the packing slip in the package, because it showed six bags having been shipped, not 5. They'd always had a good product, but with their failure to let me know ahead of time that one of the items I'd ordered wasn't available, along with the fact that at least two of the five bags I did get, had little or no flavor, I've parted ways with them. Their coffee wasn't cheap either...$12 for a 15 oz. bag.

In the meantime, I tried a bag of McDonald's Caramel Mocha ground coffee, and loved it, but when I went back to the same store a month later, the only McCafe coffee they had was in K-cups, which I can't stand. I've had coffee from them at my sister-in-law's, and at my son's place, and the coffee sucks. Somehow, the full cup of water you put in the machine, disappears, and you get a 2/3rd cup of crappy dishwater. The only place I was able to find the McCafe Mocha flavors I liked, was from Keurig. So I signed up for auto-delivery. Got one full order from them in April, and since then, the McCafe Mocha flavors (3 out of 4 of them), are out of stock...so I've skipped several orders because they've only had one flavor available.

So I've moved on to Dunkin' Donuts ground coffee as they are producing more flavors, other than their French Vanilla and Hazelnut. I have no idea if Keurig will ever get those flavors back in stock, but until they do, they won't be getting any money out of me.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

I've had that Folger's instant too, and it is not bad at all.

When I've been off the grid I usually resorted to Cowboy Coffee: Boil up some coffee in a pan with a couple of egg shells. That is really the "American classic". If available, I will use a tea strainer to filter the grounds out. Otherwise they settle to the bottom of your cup. Not a problem.

[pepsi_junkie]

An Italian-French woman living in Belgium joked that she could not believe anyone would buy pre-made mayonnaise or tomato sauce.

Two things from having lived in Spain.

1. Pre-made tomato sauce in Europe is god-awful. I used to ask co-workers who came on trips to bring me a jar of tomato sauce from the USA because the stuff in supermarkets there (from italy!) was terrible. No wonder they make their own everywhere.
2. In Spain apparantly it's illegal for restaurants to serve home-made mayo because it's not pasteurized. But everyone ignores that because, again, the store bought stuff is brutal. And I don't like mayo much but man, freshly made mayo is a revelation. Yum!

Takeaway: if people all make their own, the factories won't waste time trying to make it good. Then if it isn't good, everyone will make their own. This is the feedback loop that goes on there.