You have a point. I suffered through years of overheated, poor quality office coffee. I remember the first time I was in an office I had Keurig I was thrilled by the freshness and choice of styles with the Green Mountain. But maybe, as with Starbucks, the coffee was better when the product first launched. No reason to bring this product into the home though, it seems to me. There are plenty of excellennt home coffee making methods.
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Your comments resonate with me. Keurig was a significant advance when it first came out. I remember my classmates generously bought a k-cup brewer for me as a graduation gift, $100 in 2004. At the time I was already somewhat picky about coffee, but I did appreciate it very much and had a decently high regard for Keurig coffee then.
Now I make home espresso, pour over, or drip with a moccamaster machine. Aeropress can be great too, as can my favorite brand of instant.
Speaking of instantā¦in a moment of desperation this weekend I tried a cup of Via instant and was pleasantly surprised at what a decent cup of coffee it made.
Iāll be adding the packets to my work travel arsenalā¦its head and shoulders above lousy hotel-room coffee
My parents reached a point later in life where the only coffee they made was Yuban instant. They mustāve made tankers of the stuff, because I probably recycled 200 of the empty jars.
This was back in the day when instant hot water dispensers first became a thing.
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A lot of specialty coffee companies are offering āinstantā options, either soluble coffee or Steeped bags (steep for 5 minutes like tea). Theyāre worth seeking out and are much better than Via.
Do you have any brands? Via was all that was available. And it was more than acceptable (not an everyday, but great in a pinch)
I keep packets of Via for exactly the situations you mention. I also just tried Illyās instant. Itās really not bad, nut only comes in a wee can - no packets.
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Here in the Bay Area alone, Equator, Ritual, Verve, and Red Bay all have some form of soluble or Steeped option, and those are just the roasters I can name off the top of my head. If you have a favorite roaster, it might be worth seeing what they might have and then ordering a supply for future trips. Youāll probably need to buy them online or through cafes, rather than at supermarkets.
Interesting that the guy said that instant coffee is made from robusta and not arabica beans. The 3 instants I think I remember as judged pretty good: Tasterās Choice Columbian (sticks, like the Via packets), Starbucks Via Columbia packets, and the new-to-me Illy instant in the little can, are all labeled arabica.
Iāve never seen the Illy in the grocery store. They only have tiny boxes of the Via, and while I sometimes see Tasterās Choice sticks, the Columbian is hard to find. I always ordered it online. Last time (checks Amazon account) was 13 years ago. Probably to keep in my teaching backpack.
For the curious: I do grind and brew coffee - espresso, pour-over, French press, Moccamaster. Iām not a total heathen. 
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He did? I think what was presented is that robusta bean production is mostly used in instant. As in Nescafe blends arabica and robusta for their soluble coffees.
I didnāt single out NescafĆ© āInstant coffeeā is generic.
I drank lots of Nescafe when we lived in Europe. I always had a handful of packets in ky bag, and most breakrooms had a kettle and a giant box of sticks.
I have a hard time finding it here or Id keep it in the pantry still.
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Amazon has the sticks!
I spoke w an older, knowledgeable barista about coffees i disliked and Starbucks dark roasts were at the top of my list, and his, due to the overpowering bitter notes.
His observation was that the SB dark roasts were over roasted to give them a longer shelf like, albeit a bitter life.
YMMV.
Well, OK. Are you thinking this person is claiming other brands of instant are 100% robusto?
My suspicion is that something about the process allows blending with the (much) cheaper robusto beans without skewing the flavor.
I found tasters choice instant packets at target. Not my favorite but on the road for skating competitions or camping they get the hot caffeine fix taken care of
One of the hotels I stayed at had sticks of NescafĆ© Red Cup for guests and I was so happy that Iād finally found an instant coffee I liked. I bought a pack of 48 sticks to bring with me back to Japan and figured I could find some here after I finished the pack.
I got back to Japan and searched & searched for it to no avail. NescafĆ© is king of instant coffee here with many sub-brands, but for some reason or another, NestlĆ© doesnāt sell Red Cup or a similar product. I couldnāt figure out why NescafĆ© Red Cup tastes MUCH betterā¦almost like brewed coffee until I found out (by researching it) that Red Cup is a mixture of soluble coffee and instant coffeeā¦such a product, whether made by NestlĆ© or not, doesnāt exist in Japan. If I had known that, I would have bought a lot more in Thailand!
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It sounds like a well-insulated thermal pot would solve this. Or if you donāt want to replace what youāve got, invest in a good glass-walled Stanley thermos or insulated cup instead. We use Kleen Kanteen cups with lids when camping and they keep drinks fairly hot.
Iām in the āreally dislikeā Keurig camp. Itās just a flavor issue for me - thereās something almost jet-fuel like about it. The waste/price is just another nail in the coffin. Iād rather have hot, bad drip (but it just barely eaks out a win).
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Huh, next time I have a K-cup, Iāll taste for JP4. You think itās somthing in the pod or in the water boiler?
