Instant coffee is my standard coffee drink - one cup each night after dinner. It tastes fine to me. The flavour in other, more sophisticated forms of coffee may be slightly better, but not nearly enought to justify the extra expense and fuss.
Drinking it right now.
I usually only every have one cup, and I’m not too picky about what I drink, so for me a cup of instant coffee is far more convenient than using a coffee machine or a coffee press. [edit: Cunctator above just expressed the same sentiment better than I did.]
I also drink Starbucks Via, but not all the time, as it is too expensive (as others have noted).
All that being said, I can only drink instant coffee if I’m using real milk. The taste of instant coffee PLUS a coffee creamer or powder is just too artificial / chemical for me.
Maybe twice a year at my mother’s house in a fit of laziness. It’s not good, but I probably try and make it too strong. But made per the instructions, it reminds me a bit of the coffee served in my college cafeteria, which managed to taste exactly halfway between weak coffee and weak tea.
Also, I once dreamed I was busking in Dakar, Senegal from the back of a flatbed truck. The standard street coffee in Senegal was Nescafe instant mixes with condensed milk. Not bad.
Every work day. My “morning cuppa” is a 16 oz mug, a heaping tablespoon of instant coffee mixed with 2 ounces of hot water, stirred well. Fill remainder of mug with two ice cubes and vanilla soy milk. It’s pretty tasty. It’s kind of breakfast, and I take my supplements with it.
Sunday is real coffee day, where I break out the $16/pound organic stuff and French press. I just can’t afford it every day, nor can I be bothered, really.
I picked “Other,” based on my one and only experience over 30 years ago; it was terrible and I haven’t tried it since, although I realize it may have improved since then. 
I can’t wrap my head around the folks here who prefer instant to drip coffee. Even the Starbuck’s Via I tried recently tasted vile. But then to me nothing is quite as good as a fresh brewed cup with a healthy dollop of sugar. Last time I drank instant regularly was when I lived in China in 1984, and back then any kind of coffee was hard to come by. My folks sent me instant by mail.
I voted “within the last year.” I have several flavors of the General Foods International Coffees floating around. I don’t drink them often but they do make a darn good mocha cheesecake. Just use the recipe on the Philly cream cheese box and add about a third of a cup of the coffee. Yum.
Drinking Moccona instant right now. 10:47am.
Within the last month when I tried the Starbucks Via. I thought it was pretty good.
I like instant coffee – the last time I used it regularly, though, I was working and living in Europe, of all places. Too much hassle for me to make coffee now, even in a press pot – I just drink tea. Pretty good stuff, though – I like the simplicity. It’s rather popular in France, but the French tend to be addicted to all kinds of convenience foods.
“Other”.
Specifically, I do not drink coffee and have never tried it. I dislike the smell and I can’t see any point in acquiring the taste.
This morning.
Instant is the standard coffee you’ll find in most people’s homes and workplaces.
About half an hour ago. And when the snoring baby on my lap wakes, I’m off to get another 
In the UK, and couldn’t tell you when I last had a non-instant coffee. Probably over a week ago, and I find them far too strong and bitter!
Is this another thing connected to the availability of eletric kettles in the UK vs the US?
I fucking hate instant, it doesn’t taste like coffee to me, more some kind of bitter soup. The UK is finally waking up to the real stuff, but some places still persist. That said, the last time I actually had instant was in desperation for caffeine in Thailand last year where they have this dreadful “3-in-1” ‘coffee’ shit that combines milk powder and a truckload of sugar. Totally disgusting.
New Zealand. They’re different drinks to me. Instant is what I drink to wake up in the morning, to refocus at work and to relax when I get home. Really enjoyable, quick and thirst quenching.
Brewed coffee is an indulgent treat, which I may have twice a week if I’m lucky.
ETA - I prefer coffee without sugar and with fresh skim milk. Powders, creams and sweeteners ruin it for me.
It’s a chicken and egg thing which you could also attribute to the non-availability of coffee machines in the UK/Australia. A drip machine is a cheap, ubiquitous appliance in the US found in nearly every home, workplace, dorm room, church or synogogue social room, or any place you could think of where people gather.
Try to imagine how you’d react if an American said they not only regularly consume powdered instant tea, they actually prefer it because brewed tea is “too strong.”. :eek: Instant coffee is vile!
Probably over 20 years ago come to think of it. Instant coffee is vile compared to drip, and it’s just as easy to make either. If boiled water is the only option, I’ll make tea instead.
I’ve been drinking it by the pound in South Africa, where filter coffee is hard to come by outside of the big cities. I also drank tons of it in China (3+1 Nescafe packs that include sugar and milk powder) where filter coffee is very expensive outside of big cities. In small town China, coffee shops are expensive, often quite tackily done up places where you might go on a first date and a cup could cost more than a nice meal out.
I agree that the use of electric kettles plays a key role.
Other–you could not get me to drink instant coffee if you put a gun to my head.
I know that feeling. It’s the one I get in every tea thread where an American begins “I’m a total tea snob. For a start, the teabags must be fresh…” Tea bags? They’re the instant coffee of the tea world!