"instant" news and stories

There is a new product out in Japan that I would love to get a hold of. It's an instant, fresh matcha tea, two words that usually aren't paired together when talking about tea, especially the bottled kind. The unique bottle design allows the tea to be both.

The design makes it so that when you twist the air tight cap a portion of matcha tea is released into mineral water. All you have to do is shake it up. Matcha is a traditional Kyoto (Japan) green tea that is very green and is usually the go-to flavoring for anything "green tea". It's made from leaves that have been covered so that it grows more slowly, which makes it a little sweeter.

As a big fan of tea, I would really like to be able to try an instant, fresh matcha tea. Does anyone know if this is available in the US?

[Via Trends in Japan]

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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?

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Just what it sounds like, Java Juice is a .5 ounce packet of "liquid coffee concentrate," meant to be mixed with water when you can't brew a proper cup. Each packet makes one 10 to 12 ounce cup of joe. Java Juice's site also suggests making a "red eye" by adding a packet of Java Juice to your gas station, sex-in-a-canoe, cup of coffee. Surprisingly, they don't advocate slurping the stuff straight out of the package. It's unsweetened, so that might be kind of intense. Still, I'm sure there are college students somewhere pounding this stuff without a coffee mug in sight. Another suggestion from the manufacturer is to use it as a baking supplement when a recipe calls for a few tablespoons of coffee. Assuming the stuff tastes decent, and you don't normally have fresh coffee on hand, it might not be a bad cooking back-up.

[Via Cool Hunting]

I know that there are plenty of people who enjoy ramen noodles, but I can't help but associate them with the image of a "starving student." Many college-age men and women still rely heavily on this ultra-inexpensive packaged meal. While none can really be considered "health food," they still make a better and more economical meal than relying on McDonald's to get you through lean times.

If you're going to eat it, you may as well make an effort to pick out a good one. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has done a very comprehensive taste test of one dozen different flavors of Ramen across a range of different brands. Their favorite was the Myojo Chukazanmai Soy Sauce flavor, while the Ve Wong Peppered Beef is one to be avoided at all costs, especially since one taster described it as "the worst instant noodle I've ever tasted in my life." Read the whole review for a rundown of the all options, with critiques of the various flavorings and noodle quality.

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I recently saw an article on the Drinks Business Review that mentioned the release of an instant yogurt smoothie from a company called Yokit. Up until now, I wasn't familiar with the original Yokit, which sounds kind of bizarre to me. Basically, it's a powdered yogurt to which you add water. Maybe it's this step in the directions that weirds me out: "shake vigorously for about 20 sec or until the content feels heavy." Supposedly it still has the beneficial bacteria that yogurt products are prized for. It also has sugar and some artificial dyes though. Anyone tried it?