There is a newish product of intense brewed liquid coffee that one dilutes at home from small pods: Cometeer.com It also serves as a platform for individual boutique roasters.
Thanks for this observation. Cometeer is mentioned in this blog post, albeit far near the end. (It's always possible it was added after the first draft and/or due to your comment.)
Instant coffee was the coffee a lot of us knew before coffee became a hobby, a personality test, and a reason to own seven objects that all need rinsing. That’s why I like this. It takes the pantry jar seriously without pretending the stuff is secretly magnificent. It isn’t. It's brown, hot, available, and hard to kill.
There’s a quiet dignity in something that got people through cold mornings, shift work, camping, offices, war, and houses where “coffee equipment” meant a kettle and a teaspoon. Not everything useful needs to be dragged into taste culture and given a tasting note.
Sometimes it only has to be there when people are tired, broke, cold, rushed, or not yet ready to begin the day as a boutique consumer.
There’s something satisfying about a problem that refuses to yield quickly. Instant coffee looks simple at the surface, but underneath it’s decades of trial, failure, and small refinements stacking on top of each other.
It feels a lot like watching a market build a real move. From the outside, people only see the breakout. What they miss is the long stretch before it, where nothing quite works, where every attempt is slightly off, where progress is almost invisible.
Most ideas die in that phase. Not because they’re wrong, but because they’re incomplete. The ones that survive are usually the result of someone staying with the problem longer than expected, making incremental adjustments until the thing finally holds together.
And when it does, it suddenly looks obvious. As if it was always meant to work that way.
But anyone who’s spent time in a chart knows better. The clean move at the end is just the visible part. The real work happened in the messy middle, where nothing quite tasted right yet.
Wonderful. Instant was all I knew of coffee long ago - I found this fascinating. Thank you.
There is a newish product of intense brewed liquid coffee that one dilutes at home from small pods: Cometeer.com It also serves as a platform for individual boutique roasters.
Thanks for this observation. Cometeer is mentioned in this blog post, albeit far near the end. (It's always possible it was added after the first draft and/or due to your comment.)
Plus, I don’t intend to disrespect something everyone had in their pantry, but we had this in the UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Coffee
I’m not certain if there was an American equivalent.
Instant coffee was the coffee a lot of us knew before coffee became a hobby, a personality test, and a reason to own seven objects that all need rinsing. That’s why I like this. It takes the pantry jar seriously without pretending the stuff is secretly magnificent. It isn’t. It's brown, hot, available, and hard to kill.
There’s a quiet dignity in something that got people through cold mornings, shift work, camping, offices, war, and houses where “coffee equipment” meant a kettle and a teaspoon. Not everything useful needs to be dragged into taste culture and given a tasting note.
Sometimes it only has to be there when people are tired, broke, cold, rushed, or not yet ready to begin the day as a boutique consumer.
Very informative and written so clearly!! Thanks for this gem!!
I love instant coffee, more than the "real" thing. Nice to know its heritage.
cometeer owes you a referral bonus! just signed up and enjoyed my first cup from them
There’s something satisfying about a problem that refuses to yield quickly. Instant coffee looks simple at the surface, but underneath it’s decades of trial, failure, and small refinements stacking on top of each other.
It feels a lot like watching a market build a real move. From the outside, people only see the breakout. What they miss is the long stretch before it, where nothing quite works, where every attempt is slightly off, where progress is almost invisible.
Most ideas die in that phase. Not because they’re wrong, but because they’re incomplete. The ones that survive are usually the result of someone staying with the problem longer than expected, making incremental adjustments until the thing finally holds together.
And when it does, it suddenly looks obvious. As if it was always meant to work that way.
But anyone who’s spent time in a chart knows better. The clean move at the end is just the visible part. The real work happened in the messy middle, where nothing quite tasted right yet.
It's more accurately known in your house as 'instant brown drink'.
Instant specialty coffee ? I have an open mind, I’ll see what Verve has created in this category.
Verve's instant is pretty good! I don't often have a need for instant coffee, but I enjoy theirs on camping/backpacking trips.