Probably sometime in college, unless it was unknowingly.
For clarification: that would have been ca. 1986-1990.
Will echo the chorus about Starbucks Via brew. They’re quite lovely. I keep a pack at my grandparent’s house when I visit them, because their coffee maker is gross! So, I had one yesterday!
I like my coffee al dente. We’re talking strong. Not bitter, I like good, smooth coffee, but please put at least twice as much into the carafe as you normally would.
Nobody else at the office likes this, however, and they can’t seem to deal with filling a cup halfway with coffee and half with hot water. I can get away with making the pot with two packets of the dreck they order in, but no more.
So in order to prevent a mutiny, I had to start either making my own coffee in a French press
(which I really don’t have time to clean up afterwards) or adding instant. I find that half a packet of via (or a teaspoon of Bustelo Instant) added to a fairly strong cup of normal coffee, makes it just about palatable for me.
I use instant half a cup at a time, Monday through Friday.
Instant is what I drink at home when I want a cup to help me wake up in the morning. I don’t own a coffee maker, and when I did, I rarely used it because it was too much trouble to make just one cup that way. Under those circumstances, I’m not drinking it for the taste, and I’ll often add flavored creamer.
I use the Starbuck’s Via when I am staying over with friends who don’t start their day with real coffee. I think it is unspeakably vile, but it beats babbling incoherently all day.
Holy cats. Reading this thread reminds me of how extremely cool and self-satisfied I used to feel in the 90s that I could zomg eat Chinese food with chopsticks!
At Casa Aankh, our morning coffee ritual is all about grinding fresh and brewing the pot. However, my favourite treat for a rare Sunday morning is a cup of instant made with whole milk, lots of coffee granules, lots of sugar and a smidge of vanilla. Creamy, rich yumness.
I tried the new Starbucks instant several months back. It wasn’t terrible, not as terrible as traditional instant coffee, but still not something I’d want on a regular basis.
I bought some for camping two years ago, but didn’t use it camping. I drank it sometime in the last two years.
Tim Horton’s French Vanilla count? If so, an hour ago.
I last drank instant coffee almost 13 hours ago. We save the real coffee for the weekends, when the wife and I can drink it together. I always do instant during the week. Specifically, Moccona brand, although Nescafe is the market leader.
Thailand for years was the Land of Nescafe. When I first arrived, you pretty much had to go to a five-star hotel buffet to find drip coffee. Normal restaurants all served Nescafe. Finally, the first Starbucks appeared in 1998 – in the main branch of Central Department Store in Bangkok, and it’s still there today, along with 142 other branches nationwide at last count – and other fresh-coffee chains followed, both local and international. But instant coffee still seems to rule overall.
Yup, it’s the usual way to drink coffee here. To me it tastes completely different to filter coffee, and I much prefer it; filter coffee I will only drink if I’m about to collapse with exhaustion, like it’s medicine.
My husband absolutely hates the smell of coffee. So in order to have coffee at home without having to listen to him moan about the smell all day, I drink instant. It took me a while to find a brand I liked, but now I prefer it.
I prefer drip coffee, so that’s what I make at home; and local coffee places all make drip anyway. So pretty much the only time I’ll ever have instant is when I’m visiting my Dad or my sister, both of whom prefer instant. However, since they live in different cities, visits (and thus, cups of instant coffee for me) are rare.
I answered other because I’ve only tried coffee three times in my life and twice it was not instant. The third time was most likely instant (but it was decades ago so I don’t remember,) but was one of those chocolate flavored coffees so I don’t think that’s in the spirit of the OP.
about 11 months ago… it was awful. Tasted like a coffee flavored hard candy soaked in hot water.
I’m shocked to see so many “hate” the smell of coffee. I always thought the smell of coffee was universally considered a good smell.
My wife had gotten some of the Starbucks instant packs a while ago, and last year when we ran out of regular coffee, I tried one, and it was decent - not nearly as good as drip-brewed or espresso, but way better than your average cheap-breakfast-joint coffee.
I haven’t had standard instant coffee (Taster’s Choice, Sanka, etc.) in 15 years or so, and probably never will again in my life.
My aunt always offers me coffee when I visit, usually brewed, occasionally instant. I don’t much like instant, but I guess it’s better than nothing.
I actually buy instant coffee, but not for drinking. I use it in cooking to impart a strong coffee flavor when I don’t want to add too much liquid. I use it a couple times a year for the coffee icing that I put on spice cake.
I drink it all the time.
There are basically three types of coffee available in Israel: espresso and espresso-based drinks, Turkish coffee, and instant. “Filter”, as it’s called here, is considered a weird affectation.
I drink espresso drinks in coffee shops, Turkish when I’m outdoors with men doing manly things, and instant at home. Seeing as I work from home, instant is what I drink the most. With sugar and milk, obviously - otherwise, what’s the point?
Ditto.