Granted, I have my own espresso machine (as well as a drip coffee machine), but I still can't understand why people drink instant coffee. Actually, that's not true. I can understand why they drink it: it's fast (instant!) and incredibly easy. In a pinch, I suppose that it is better than nothing when you really need a cup to get you going. The real question is why do some people prefer it to a decent, freshly brewed coffee when taste tests have shown that instant doesn't even come close to non-instant coffees. In fact, one done by the St. Petersburg Times this week tested 11 brands of instant coffee and, out of 100 possible points, the best score was 31. Only one panelist said that she would consider buying the winning brand (Nescafe Taster's Choice) and the others all said that they would not buy it at all.
Instant coffee is made from coffee that has been made and dried . It was invented by a chemist around the turn of the last century, but was not sold commercially until 1938. Generally, the lowest quality beans are the ones used to make instant coffee and the higher quality ones are kept for other brewing methods.
If you drink coffee so rarely that instant is all you want to keep on hand, I can't argue with that, though you might as well pick up a cup at Starbucks instead. But if you drink coffee on a regular basis, isn't it worth the few extra seconds to put a filter and a spoonful of grounds into a machine and hit the "start" button?







