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.

[SES1066]

You can chalk this up to WW2 and the American GI in the field. Nescafe is from the Swiss megacorp Nestlé (Nestlé Cafe/Coffee) that has been an international food provider since the late 1800s. While there had been many coffee powders over the years since the first British Patent in 1771, none were very successful in taste.

It was in 1930 that a bonanza coffee crop in Brazil led to Nestlé experimenting (again) with a better outcome. This resulted in the first Nescafe being marketed in 1938, just before WW2’s start.

While their Swiss HQ was isolated in the war, Nestlé had multiple factories in the United States and it became a major supplier of soluble coffee powder found in almost every combat ration (C & K). The one thing that characterized the men who earned the CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) was that they frequently had no mess tents and the need to eat in the field.

[Pollard]

I’ve got a Mocha Pot but it takes a lot of heat. I got used to espresso when I worked for a company down in Hollywood, FL. of 100 people with 80 of them being Hispanic. They made it every mid morning.

[Hammerhead]

Starbucks instant is amazing. Just like the real stuff.

[NormsRevenge]

strain it? heck.

My Dad had a ritual, coffee pot, water, grinds, heat, boil over, pour, strain thru teeth.. tip it, pick teeth, smoke Camel straight,, he made it to 82.

He did this for a decade or so, eventually, went to an electric pot, lite menthol cigarettes. Last few years, it was Folger’s instant, no cig.

[Osage Orange]

How do you do it?

Here's how I do it.....

Start with vessel...pour a lb. of coffee in it...

Pour water over it to cover it.

I have a filter and a plug..

Sit over nightish...

Pull the plug and let the coffee run out.

Now I have some super concentrated coffee...

Take about 1/2 in. of the brew..and add good water to it...in a coffee cup. Nuke it...add whatever you want...

Vanilla ice cream works for me...

And it's a nice, very nice smooth cup of Joe.

No tannins or acids...

It's really good stuff....addictive.

FWIW-

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Has to do with the same reason they use dried eggs in Europe.

During the war you wanted to ship what was lightest and longest lasting.

That would be dried. Dried milk, dried eggs and dried coffee.

In the US and in South America they did not have this so we still make real coffee.

Nothing to do with CharBucks.

[Reeses]

It’s common in S.E. Asia as well.

Hot drinks are not popular in tropical weather, and fresh cream is hard to come by. Instant with coconut cream poured on ice is the way to go.

[Nachoman]

The last time I had instant coffee I was in college. A teaspoon of instant in a mug, turn on the hot water tap, wait until it reaches maximum heat and mix thoroughly.

I was a rather sparse existence.

[dinodino]

Here in Singapore, the fave is sweetened condensed milk, from a can.

[gundog]

Crack in a cup.

[dfwgator]

[Don W]

The ONLY way to drink coffee

[Fiji Hill]

My favorite coffee is Kona, but I also like Green Mountain coffee from Vermont.

[M Kehoe]

Hi.

Long ago in a place far away, there was a thing called, C rations.

Came in a pack, with all kind of goodies. A P 38, Lucky Stikes, gum and a couple other things.

Anyway, instant coffee was a life saver in the woods, freezing your ass off.

Oh, gotta have a steel pot and C 4.

5.56mm

[infool7]

Yeah pretty much

those things are AWESOME!

Starting at around $1,500.00

they sure should be.

7

[smoky415]

I use a plastic water bottle. Grind the beans, put in bottle and add water. Shake. Leave on kitchen counter and shake once in awhile. Next morning strain thru a Melita. Add organic milk. Enjoy. I drink it cold (from the milk).

[doorgunner69]

Kona even from our local semi-scret source has gotten a bit expensive for a fixed income.

The local Costco has started carrying Kauai and Moloka’i beans. Not quite as smooth as kona, but affordable and quite good.

[Mr170IQ]

I usually go with Taster’s Choice or similar, although when I feel like having something a little fancier, I go with a Nespresso with steamed foamed milk.

When I was younger, I used to splurge on the freshly ground Jamacain Blue Mountain.

[Osage Orange]

Sounds good!!......I might try that!!

[SaxxonWoods]

Instant coffee?

Hell to the no with that crud.